Principals are the key to a school’s success. Social changes over the past thirty years increased the need for solid preparation of principals for the increasingly challenging job they face. A rise in school violence, an aging teacher population, new technologies, an increasingly diverse student population, and a federal and state push to hold teachers and schools more accountable and responsible for performance are just some of these changes. A principal must solve problems and communicate across a wide variety of stakeholders, including administrators, parents, teachers, government officials and others. Today’s principals face a number of decisions that not only impact a number of stakeholders but also communicate a specific message. As Richardson (2001) maintains, “Principals send large cultural messages to staff and students with every decision regarding budgets, curriculum, instruction, as well as interactions with central office and community leaders” (1).
Because of the enormous challenges on principals who often toil twelve hours or longer during most school days, communication and problem solving skills are extremely important for success. According to the literature, the higher expectations and demands on principals reduced number of educators interested in taking such positions has declined (Richardson 2000). Despite such high expectations and demands on principals, the key to school success, traditionally and currently principal training has been inadequate to handle the challenges of the position. According to National Staff Development Council (NSDC) Executive Director Dennis Sparks, “Unfortunately, principal development, which had traditionally been given an even lower priority by school systems than teacher development, too often turns participants into passive recipients of information rather than active participants in solving important educational problems” (Richardson 2000, 1).
The literatu...