Understanding and addressing the leadership needs of communities is important to program development of Cooperative Extension. As an initial step in the development of an instrument that could measure the effectiveness of leadership development programs upon the leadership skills of community leaders, the researchers used data from focus groups and interviews to assess community leaders' practices and behaviors as related to Kouzes and Posner's framework (2007). The themes identified provide strong evidence of leadership practices and behaviors of community leaders. The findings suggest that the Kouzes and Posner's instrument, the Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI), can be modified to become an assessment tool for use with community group leaders.

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This paper offers a commentary regarding the centrality of critical reflection in social work before discussing a research project drawing on a sample of ten social work students as they approached the end of their social work training in one English university. The original intention of the research was to focus solely on students' perceptions of critical reflection, but when using a more reflexive approach, we identified that participants utilised the focus groups as an opportunity to discuss their practice learning experiences per se before considering and discussing critical reflection. Most students were placed in child protection social work teams and discussed how they felt unprepared for such a fast-paced and stressful environment. Participants felt that the expectations some practitioners had of students were unrealistic, and not always commensurate with the Professional Capabilities Framework. Students highlighted the use of practice scenarios in developing their knowledge and skills particularly when considering their application of critical reflection. This study highlights the significance of adequate preparation for practice and argues for a more focussed agenda for future research exploring the culture of learning, including those factors that inhibit students sharing their concerns as well as the training needs of educators.

There is an ongoing need for community leadership development programs particularly in rural communities. Cooperative Extension leadership programs have focused on building leadership skills to enhance the capacity of communities to address the challenges of the postmodern era and the demands of a globalized world. To justify the resources needed to meet the leadership development needs, extension must demonstrate the effectiveness of leadership development programs. The Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI) developed by researchers at North Carolina A&T State University in collaboration with Virginia Polytechnic Institute State University will provide extension practitioners with a valid and reliable instrument to assess the performance of leadership development programs.