This inquiry synthesized empirical findings on job satisfaction published in the first 26 volumes of Educational Administration Quarterly. A 14-stage model for quantitative synthesis was developed and validated to classify, record, and analyze study characteristics found in the synthesis population of EAQ articles. This synthesis yielded 330 distinct job satisfaction research hypotheses and 613 relational effect sizes. Nearly three fourths of these effect sizes were less than .30, that is, less than moderate in magnitude. Meta-analyses were performed for 6 of the 330 research hypotheses; the largest mean effect sizes were found for the relationships between overall job satisfaction and both role ambiguity and role conflict. These findings seem to lend preliminary support to the Situational Model of Job Satisfaction. Recommendations for reporting research findings and future research into job satisfaction follow from these and other findings.

The focus is on strategies used by 10 urban districts to reduce school dropouts. Thirty-eight strategies for dropout prevention were identified. Although the majority identified dropout prevention strategies, only two districts referred to "recovery programs." If district spokespersons mentioned their CEOs using a systems approach in reducing dropouts, the program plans were more specific and recovery programs more active. A surprise was the silence about instructional initiatives for early grade intervention and dropout prevention. The most common prevention strategy was punitive measures involving the criminal justice system, that is, police departments, district attorneys. Thus, it is not surprising that the dropout rate in several of these cities remains unabated during the past 5 years.

Persistent problems in the formal preparation of educational administrators and the background of the 1983 AASA guidelines are briefly discussed prior to the presentation of an overview of the guidelines themselves. As specific competencies and skills are presented, the rationale for each is set forth.

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