Cynthia J. Reed

Situated Self-Regulation: Modeling the Interrelationships among Instruction, Assessment, Learning Strategies, and Academic Performance.

To succeed academically, college students must actively construct course information, synthesize this information with information from texts and other resources, understand this information so that they can succeed on various forms of assessments and ultimately retain this information for the long term. While the complexity of these demands has been modeled somewhat metaphorically, there has been little ecologically valid research into learning in authentic classroom contexts. The present study examines the interrelationships among student perceptions of the learning context, test complexity, study strategies, and academic performance. Results of a path analysis demonstrated that perceptions of the teaching format and test complexity were positively related to the study strategies reported, and these study strategies were further related to the reported course performance.

Raising Standards for Tomorrow's Principals: Negotiating State Requirements, Faculty Interests, District Needs, and Best Practices

Many states are mandating reforms in university-sponsored principal preparation programs, but faculty and school system personnel often have concerns about the prescriptive nature of state mandates related to these reforms. Auburn University served as one of four pilot principal preparation program redesigns in Alabama, a process that took over two years. Redesign efforts involved negotiating state requirements, faculty needs and research interests, school district needs and interests, best practices, and common sense. The re-design was developed and is being implemented in partnership with seven school districts. In this article we interrogate the issues, challenges, and successes faced throughout one universitys principal preparation program redesign process, offering reflections, insights, and lessons learned for others currently engaged or soon to be negotiating competing agendas for how they should prepare principals.

Students as Documenters: Benefits, Reflections, and Suggestions

School restructuring often calls for modifying the roles and responsi bilities of teachers, students, and administrators, yet most efforts to restructure schools involve educators, rather than students. Changes are made for students, but without the involvement of students. If stu dents are expected to change as a result of school restructuring efforts, they must be involved in determining the changes to be made.

The Complexity of Leveraging University Program Change

This article identifies four elements of complexity that influence how university educational leadership programs can leverage program change: faculty reward systems, faculty governance, institutional resources, and state-level influence on leadership preparation. Following the discussion of the elements of complexity, the article provides a vignette of a university program change in educational leadership to further highlight the complexity and to provide examples of the opportunities for program change. The article ends with a discussion of implications for change.

Creating a New System for Principal Preparation: Reflections on Efforts to Transcend Tradition and Create New Cultures

When selected as a pilot redesign site, we decided to both refocus the underlying assumptions guiding our program and to engage in processes allowing us to model best practices while creating a new program. This article summarizes key aspects of our redesign work and offers reflections on the processes used and challenges faced. Murphys (2006) guiding principles for “fostering the reculturing of preparation programs” serves as our point of reference for conducting this programmatic critique, examining where we were, where we are now, and where we are headed.

Leveraging Standards to Promote Program Quality.

Standards provide a foundation for thinking about leadership development and practice. This article explores three sets of standards that impact educational leadership preparation: (a) the recently revised Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards, which are now known as the Practice Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL); (b) the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) standards, which are currently under revision; and (c) the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) standards. In addition to reviewing each set, how they are used, and how they differ, we share findings from a survey of preparation program directors focused on how influential and beneficial these standards are in promoting leadership preparation program improvement.