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The school principalship has undergone change in the past decade. Principals are expected to make daily decisions in the best interests of students within their school systems. Secondary school principals are socialized to choose between idealized (or desired) tasks and conventional (or actual) tasks associated with their job. A literature review discloses that discipline, feedback, efficiency versus effectiveness, and individual personality needs versus institutional role requirements are very real problems for today's administrator. This paper describes a survey of high school principals randomly chosen from 615 Oklahoma school districts; 350 questionnaires were mailed out, with a 58 percent response (N=200). Correctional analysis and analysis of variance were used to prove that no conflict exists between what Oklahoma secondary principals actually do and what they think should be done. Also, neither school size nor recent attendance at a higher education institution has any bearing on secondary administrators' actual and desired task priority. There is no difference between current and desired task priorities when compared to similar 1977 studies. While more research is needed, the present study should help higher education institutions understand secondary principals' tasks and principals understand the effects of their everday decisions. Included are 30 references. (MLH)

Now in the third year of operation, the Oklahoma Leadership in Educational Administration (LEAD) Project is implementing a professional development program for state educational administrators. The mission of the project is to develop and implement a research-based leadership skills training model to improve the effectiveness of practicing school administrators with preference given to beginning principals, women, and minority members. The strength of the Oklahoma LEAD Project lies in the involvement of practitioners in the design of materials for use by peers, and in the establishment of close working relationships with several groups in the state who deal with administrative preparation, certification, and professional development. The Oklahoma project is structured to provide support to practitioners working to implement the Oklahoma Minimum Criteria for Effective Teaching and Administrative Performance. A total of seven Instructional Modules have been designed to aid implementation, including the "Site-Based School Improvement" Module, which provides hands-on training in cooperative processing, collaborative planning, profiling, change and climate, and development of a site plan. A total of 45 people from 12 school districts, representing 43 school sites, were trained as "trainers" in the initial round of LEAD Project training. A second round of training conducted by the "trainers" has now begun. (KM)