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This book describes outcomes of the Maine Academy for School Leaders (MASL) a professional development program designed to improve student-learning outcomes through improved leadership performance. It evaluates the impact of new leadership behaviors on the 58 participants' schools. One-half of the participants were teachers or other staff who held nonadministrative positions. Some innovative features of the 16-month program included: (1) the concept that school leadership is a matter of a person's professional ambition rather than a function of his/her position; (2) leadership effectiveness requires behavioral change; and (3) change is the leader's personal responsibility. The chapters trace the evolution of MASL members' professional and personal development. Chapter 1 introduces the program and explains how the experiences of its participants were distilled to fit the framework of the book. Chapters 2 and 3 address the preparation stages for professional growth. The second chapter describes how participants assessed leadership needs in their schools and set development goals. Chapter 3 explores the process of specifying and refining these goals for action. Chapters 4 through 6 document the processes by which MASL members changed their leadership behaviors. The fourth chapter describes what happened as members adopted new behaviors in their daily school lives. Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the roles and influences of the Support and Development Teams and the MASL facilitators. Chapters 7 and 8 examine the effects of these efforts to change, reporting the evaluations of progress by members themselves and by others. The concluding chapter reflects on the nature of leadership development and the prospects of linking leadership growth to student performance. Appendices contain documents used by the program--diagnostic tools, a leadership-development plan, a team evaluation form, and a portfolio of leadership training. Contains 24 references. (LMI)

This book presents the stories of a group of Maine educators--teacher leaders, teaching principals, and principals--who met at the Maine Academy for School Leaders (MASL) in 1992 to share their experiences and frustrations and to help each other improve their understanding and practice of educational leadership. They share personal accounts of how they developed new skills, including dealing more constructively with angry and demanding parents and colleagues, and forging working teams out of faculty groups greatly divided by philosophies and personal histories. Following the foreword, "The Voices of Practicing School Leaders," by Roland Barth, and information about the authors and the MASL network mission, nine chapters include: (1) "Conflict With Mrs. Z: Lessons from an Unlikely Source" (Norma Richard); (2) "Surprising Outcomes or Why Do They Read Macbeth?" (Elizabeth Wiley); (3) "From I to We: A Middle School Story" (Patrick R. Phillips); (4) "Living with Ambiguity: The Promise and Perils of Teacher Leadership" (Sally Mackenzie); (5) "The Marathon" (Ann Constantine Cheney); (6) "Alone at Sea: Maneuvering Through a School's Culture" (Martha G. Corkery); (7) "From Running Rapids to Running a School" (Donald Buckingham); (8) "Our Journey: Notes from the Writers' Collaborative Log" (George F. Marnik); and (9) "Writing for Professional Growth: A Double-Edged Sword" (Gordon A. Donaldson, Jr.). A glossary of MASL terms is included. (LMI)