Restructuring schools requires a new conception of the role of principal. Institutions which train potential administrators are confronted with how best to help them conceive their new role in a way that facilitates restructuring. If we are to reform schools successfully, we need to understand how individuals, in the process of moving from novice to professional, change their conception of the role.This article reports on a study of candidates in a non-traditional principal preparation programme in order to examine the socialization process of developing a conception of the role. Because the programme was designed to train principals to lead restructured schools, the socialization process focused on developing innovative rather than custodial conceptions of the role[1-3].The article begins with a review of the research context on role conception and professional socialization, then describes the methodology and reports the findings. The article concludes with implications for training principals and for research on the socialization of principals. Research contextThe following review of literature is organized in terms of four questions: Why is the principal's role conception important? What are the sources of role conceptions? What are the components of a role conception? What is the process of socialization to a new role conception?Before examining literature that emphasizes its importance, we will define role conception from two perspectives: societal and individual. The societal perspective defines role conception as an image of a profession as seen by the community at large or the occupational community in which the profession exists [4,5]. This image consists of "shared beliefs about the meaning and mission of occupational group membership in relation to society'' [6].The second approach to defining role conception is from the individual's perspective. Becker and Carper[7], Davis[8], and Hughes[9] identify the A version of this article was presented at the annual conference of the University Council for

The past decade has occasioned a dramatic increase in research on relationships between school size and a variety of outcomes, including measured achievement, high school completion rates, and postsecondary enrollment rates. An interesting interaction effect which has been found in replications across seven very different states is that as school size increases, the "achievement test score costs" associated with the proportion of economically disadvantaged students enrolled in a school also increase. In short, as schools get larger, average achievement among schools enrolling larger proportions of low socioeconomic-status students suffers. A traditional argument against smaller schools, however, is that they are simply

Reform strategies for upgrading educational administration call for a revised conception of the role of principal as transformational leader and a different mechanism for recruiting and selecting principal candidates, especially women and minorities. This article reports an investigation of the attractions to the principalship perceived by women and minorities recruited into a preparation program that emphasizes a more transformational view of the principal's role. A cohort of 14 women and minorities received questionnaires upon entry to the preparation program and were interviewed at the end of the program to identify attractions, disincentives, and aspirations to a reformed view of the principalship. The findings suggest that perceptions of the critical nature of the plight of urban youngsters, the commitment to improving learning environments, and the desire to create change are attractors for women and minorities. The study also found that these recruits are not attracted to any school setting but look for contexts which support their commitment to urban education and the desire to make changes. The article identifies implications for recruitment and preparation programs.

Despite more than a decade of research on bottom-up school change, the principal/ superintendent relationship continues to be studied primarily as a traditional flow of power from the top down. There is little research that considers the proposition that power vested in principals can be exercised upwardly within the school district hierarchy in the form of independence from and influence on the superintendent. Given the lack of research on these phenomena, it is not surprising that we could find no studies that explore the effects of hierarchical independence and influence on school climate. The present study investigates both. Two schools form the basis of this comparative case study. The schools were chosen based on scores obtained through the OCDQ and TAI instruments. The first school is selected for its high scores on both instruments and the second school is selected based on average scores on the OCDQ and the TAI. Both schools are in the same school district and a brief description of that district begins the discussion. Individual case study findings as well as a comparison of the two case studies follow.

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