Includes bibliographical references and index.

The American Educational Research Association (AERA)is the nation's leading organization of scholars and professors in education, and this handbook contains the latest findings on best practices in K-12 administration. It is a vital reference for researchers and helps set the agenda for continuing studies and policy development. In this newest edition, the field's most respected thinkers examine critical issues in leadership. Their papers focus on the pressures that bear upon administrators, the qualities that make them effective leaders, and the challenges they must face if our schools and districts are to be managed successfully.

Over the past ten years, a variety of leadership theories and practices have both influenced and responded to widespread changes in education. This volume examines the technical, managerial, and institutional dimensions of leadership and shows how they relate to changing views of teaching and learning, to new forms of school organization and governance, and to shifting trends in the social and community climate of schooling.