Volume 4, Number 1 (January - March 2009)

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is the federal government’s most recent effort to influence curriculum in America’s classrooms. Its requirements for high-stakes testing and Adequate Yearly Progress have put pressure on teachers and administrators to improve student achievement. Principals whose administrative training was grounded in a managerial model are struggling to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to become instructional leaders. State boards of education are insisting that postsecondary administrative preparation programs teach school leaders how to help teachers to improve student achievement. Alabama’s governor created a task force of educators, civic leaders, and business people to develop a shared vision of effective school leadership, which was published as a standards-based curriculum. Instructional Leadership faculty at the University of South Alabama spent two years designing what the state superintendent of education described as a national model for principal preparation programs. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS FULL MANUSCRIPT: http://cnx.org/content/m19557/latest/