Education Reform in Alberta: Where Do We Go from Here?

This paper discusses what educational leadership might look like at the start of the 21st century, specifically within the context of Alberta. It also provides a brief synopsis of some of Alberta's major reforms of the past decade, and it presents some of the key findings and recommendations of a 1998 study entitled "An Analysis of Attitudes and Beliefs about Public Education in Alberta." It then links this work to the key findings and recommendations of recent research. School reform in Alberta suggests that educational leaders challenge their beliefs and assumptions and leads to the following questions: (1) How can the international components of teacher education and graduate programs at postsecondary institutions be made most meaningful? (2)How can the structure and function of schools be reconceptualized to maximize the possibilities offered by information and communication technologies? (3) What is the relationship between educators' traditionally conservative assumptions about schooling and imposed change by legislators? and (4) What is the limited capacity of public schools to change and the challenge this presents to the schools' credentialing, social, and custodial functions? (Contains 30 references.) (DFR)