The job of administering schools has become increasingly complex because of the many societal changes occasioning new demands on the school. Principals are held accountable for administration of their schools, and their effectiveness depends largely on their ability to respond appropriately to the many changing internal and external demands, and to maintain the stability and cohesiveness necessary to the achievement of established goals.

This paper tells the experiences and perspectives of six exemplary elementary school principals and their teachers participating in a regional project in the Caribbean. These principals all work in difficult environments and oversee schools which had histories of academic failure. The accounts drew on a number of sources: oral presentations made by the principals in a regional forum; written reports by the principals; interviews with the principals; and questionnaire data collected from teachers from the various schools.

This research was undertaken to investigate teachers' and principals' perceptions of the roles of principals in curriculum development in primary schools in central Jamaica. The sample consisted of thirty eight principals and three hundred and thirty-two teachers from thirty-nine primary schools. Data pertaining to teachers' and principals' perceptions were obtained through the Teachers' Evaluation of Principals Questionnaire and the Principals' Self Evaluation Questionnaire.

Leadership for Success: The Jamaican School Experience lays the foundation for an important discussion on school leadership and management in Jamaica. The foundational issues raised in the book may be summarized as: (a) the leadership versus management dialectic in interpreting the primary role of the principal; (b) the trait versus environment (nature versus nurture) influence on leadership; (c) the twin factors of leadership and quality of teaching and learning as the key determinants of students’ performance; and (d) the characteristics of effective schools.

The study seeks to determine school constituents’ rating of the leadership dimensions of high-performing principals based on school types. A questionnaire developed surrounding nine dimensions was distributed to school constituents from 125 schools across Jamaica which included classroom teacher, grade coordinator, senior teacher, head of department, vice principal, board chairmanship, PTA president and education officer. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) generated four dimensions or factors that conceptualized leadership performance in effective principals.

International research supports the view that principals play an integral role in ensuring the effectiveness of educational programmes for students with disabilities through assuming the role of instructional leaders. This research is qualitative and utilizes phenomenology to explore principals’ experiences and decision-making practices in assessment, curriculum and instruction in special education. The researcher conducted indepth interviews, analyzed transcripts using content analysis, and grounded theory to extract themes which characterized principals’ practices at the four schools.