Current Issues and Research Findings in the Study of School Leadership. Project Report.

A set of objective instruments to assess school leadership and instructional climate were developed in this study designed to improve upon the primarily descriptive, individual-oriented leadership assessments of prior research. Self-reports on daily activities were elicited from 41 male and 40 female principals, and a leadership inventory was administered to compare the reported relative importance of behavioral descriptions with beliefs for the prediction of effective instructional leadership. Findings indicate that beliefs about work are a significant factor in explaining differences between leaders and that what is learned about instructional leadership is highly dependent on whom is asked. The implementation of an instructional leadership development program indicates that individually oriented programs are effective models for instructional leadership training. (35 references) (LMI)