Ensuring the Capacity of University-Based Educational Leadership Preparation: The Collected Works of the National Commission for the Advancement of Educational Leadership Preparation

Abstract

The Educational Administration Quarterly’s (EAQ’s) editorial team at the University of Kentucky welcomes two special issue guest editors, University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA) executive director, Michelle D. Young, and UCEA’s associate director, George J. Petersen. This special issue demonstrates the ongoing role that UCEA has played in ensuring continued attention to university-based school leadership preparation. EAQ itself is a 38-year-old testimony to UCEA’s stewardship in developing a strong knowledge base for the complexities of an applied field such as educational leadership. The University of Kentucky’s EAQ editorial team read these manuscripts, much as we thought our readership might, anticipating insights into the demands for high-quality school leadership in our information age. If our readers react as we did, then this issue ought to generate debate and raise questions about the relevancy of university-based preparation programs to the complicated, tumultuous, and practical conditions of educational leadership today. Like commentator Usdan, we believe that this debate has barely begun with the presentation of these special issue articles. We strongly encourage our readers to comment and react.