Develop a leadership style that inspires an entire school community to achieve high goals! In this second volume of The Soul of Educational Leadership series, editors Paul D. Houston, Alan M. Blankstein, and Robert W. Cole offer creative perspectives on the challenges of reframing leadership practice. Presenting key strategies from leadership experts such as Thomas Sergiovanni and Dennis Sparks, this compact resource combines research, reflective exercises, and day-to-day school leadership procedures for motivating students and providing meaningful cultural change in school communities. An ideal handbook for principals, assistant principals, superintendents, and district administrators, this copublication with AASA and the HOPE Foundation discusses: Developing high-quality leadership Inspiring transformative leadership Embracing leadership alternatives Evaluating current school reform practices Meeting the challenges in leadership roles Out-of-the-Box Leadership is the perfect guide to help administrators rethink, reshape, and strengthen their leadership styles and provide confident, focused direction that will help build real success for students and all members of the school community.

EDITORS This introduction to the International Handbook of Educational Lead ership and Administration describes some of the motivation for devel oping the book and several assumptions on which is based much of the work represented in its 31 chapters. A synopsis of the contents of those chapters is also provided. SOME KEY ASSUMPTIONS It is sometimes suggested that the search for an adequate understanding of leadership is doomed to fail. After all, there is little evidence of agreement about the concept in spite of prodigious efforts dating back hundreds if not thousands of years. Such a view is captured, for exam ple, in Bennis' observation that: Of all the hazy and confounding areas in social psychology, leadership theory undoubtedly contends for top nomination. Probably more has been written and less is known about lead ership than any other topic in the behavioural sciences. (1959, page 259) We do not find this state of affairs discouraging (nor entirely accurate) and, of course, it did not prevent Bennis from proceeding either. One reason for our desire to continue in the face of such discouraging words is that a great deal of leadership research aspires to develop a general theory, a theory which applies to all or most domains of organized human activity. This aspiration inevitably produces decontextualized and, therefore, abstract categories of practice. Howard Gardner's (1995) depiction of leadership as story telling is a case in point.

Leadership, as a discipline, leadership education, as a field, and leadership educator, as a profession are still in their infancy and rapidly evolving. As professionals in higher education, we are constantly asked to provide opportunities for students to learn leadership, whether that is inside or outside of the classroom. However, very little, if any professional development occurs in how to create such learning opportunities. This book provides resources for leadership educators in three sections. The first section sets the stage for leadership education and the professional work of leadership educators, culminating with a variety of professional development resources for leadership educators. The second section introduces a leadership learning framework, provides characteristics and examples of strong leadership programs and assessment practices, and describes the transformative practice of leadership education. The third and final section offers specific instructional and assessment strategies ranging from discussion, case study, and reflection, to team-based- and service-learning to self-assessments, role-play, simulation, and games, to fulfill learning outcomes.