BENJAMIN H. DOTGER The School Leader Communication Model: An Emerging Method for Bridging School Leader Preparation and Practice ABSTRACT: School leaders make countless decisions but do not receive ad- equate preparation for communicating their decisions to parents, students, and teachers. Building on the need to prepare school leaders for a variety of complex professional situations, this article introduces the medical education pedagogy of standardized patients to the field of school leader preparation, outlining how simulated interactions serve as a pedagogical bridge between school leader preparation and practice. School leaders often engage in complex interactions that shape the sup- port of parents, the engagement of students, and the effectiveness of teach- ers. As school leaders interact with their school communities, they are frequently challenged to make and communicate good decisions. Making thoughtful principled decisions, however, requires a set of skills distinctly different from those required to communicate such decisions. The purpose of this article is to outline an emerging methodology for helping novice school leaders practice complex interactions with parents, teachers, and students. Drawing from a well-established pedagogy in medical education, I outline how simulated interactions within leader- ship preparation programs can help novice school leaders prepare for the complex communications they will face as active school leaders. I begin by reviewing the literature on leaders' communications within schools and how future school leaders are prepared to interact with others. Next, I review the medical education pedagogy of standardized patients, focusing Address correspondence to Benjamin H. Dotger, PhD, Department of Teaching and Lead- ership, Syracuse University, 161 Huntington Hall, Syracuse, NY 13244. E-mail: bdotger® syr.edu. Journal of School Leadership Volume 21—November 2011 871