Under the leadership of Professor Chen Li from Beijing Institute of Education， the project team focuses on the professionalization of principal training and extracting the experience of senior high school feature development. The team has invested much time and effort on compiling research work of principals and published one book almost every year. Books published are Exploring All the Way， Singing All the Way-The Journey of Curriculum Reform With The Capital Senior High School Principals， Folloing the Dream-The Journey of Curriculum Reform With The Capital Senior High School Principals， We Are All Different， We Are All Good-The Journey of School Characteristics Construction With the Capital Senior High School Principals， Constructing Characteristics， Pursuing Quality-The Journey of School Characteristics Construction With the Capital Senior High School Principals， and Let Schools find their own ways to success-Characteristics construction in Beijing High Schools. The program has centered around the main theme of senior high school feature development. In order to better lead the training， the team has undertaken theoretical research based on practice. This book is one of the major achievements of the research， which also includes a lot of research outcomes of the principals participating the training.
This book is also one of periodical research achievements of the key discipline of School Management， which is one of 17 key disciplines set by the Beijing Institute of Education. Nowadays， everybody is busy day and night with their work and less attention has been paid to academic research. Thus， ensuring the quality of discipline development is a big challenge for leaders of the key disciplines. As the leader of School Management and the director of the “Auspicious Clouds Program”， I have made full use of the advantages of the two roles and integrated the research on school feature development into the discipline development of School Management as one research area， which has been highly recognized and supported by our institute leaders and relevant experts. The research team has organized group discussions over 20 times for more than one year. With collective wisdom， we have constructed the framework and theoretical arguments and formed logical analyses and supportive cases. The research procedure had gradually been clear and improved. In the process， the team members worked together， collaborated with each other， appreciated one another''''s thoughts and work， and developed close personal friendships. As the discipline leader， I had to spend lots of rest time such as weekends and holidays revising drafts over and over again. However， I feel really happy from the hard work. Thanks for the time we have spent together working hard and happily！
Although there are plenty of research findings about school feature development， this study has its own “features”. First， it focuses on the research into the feature development of general senior high schools. Second， it tries to investigate the planning and implementation of senior high school feature development at national， regional and school levels， in which the center is placed on the planning and implementation of feature development at the school level and the probe into the planning of school feature development at the national and regional levels is for a better understanding of the former. Third， it studies the issue from principals’ perspective and pays more attention to investigating and solving the problems concerning principals in the feature development of senior high schools. Therefore， this book neither is entangled with logical debates of conceptional and theoretical frameworks nor just makes a simple summary of the relevant experience. Of course， there must be some superficial arguments and inadequate cases because of the limit of our research. Thus， any comments and criticisms from other researchers and principals are high appreciated.
During the process of research， the project team has gained a lot of supports from different levels of leaders， experts and administrators， for which we feel really grateful. Our big thanks go to， namely， Mr.Luo Jie and Mr.Li Yi， commissioners of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education， Mr.Ma Ke， deputy director of the second office of Basic Education， Beijing Municipal Commission of Education， Professor Yuan Guilin from Beijing Normal University， Mr.Fang Zhongxiong， president of Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， Mr.Meng Fanhua， vice president of Capital Normal University， Mr.Ma Xianping， chairman of the Party Committee of Beijing Institute of Education， Mr.Li Fang， president of Beijing Institute of Education， Mr.Yang Zhicheng and Mr.Zhong Zurong， vice presidents of Beijing Institute of Education， Mr.Zhang Ruihai，director of the Educational Supervisor Office， Education Supervision and Education Quality Evaluation Center of Beijing Academy of Educational Sciences， Ms. Liu Pengzhi， principal of the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China， Mr.Li Xigui， principal of Beijing National Day School， Mr.Wang Zheng， principal of the Affiliated High School of Peking University， Mr.Wu Shen， principal of Beijing Guangqumen High School， Mr.Bai Hongkuan， principal of Beijing Jingyuan School， Mr.Lu Yunquan， principal of high School Affiliated to Beijing Institute of Technology， Ms. Chen Aiyu， principal of Beijing No.171 High School， Mr.Wu Weidong， principal of Beijing No.161 High School， Mr.Wang Zhijiang， principal of Beijing Fengtai No.2 Middle School. Our thanks also go to Mr.Zhang Zhou， Vice Dean of the Faculty of International Language and Culture， Beijing Institute of Education， and Dr.Hu Rongkun from the Faculty of School Leadership Training and Research， Beijing Institute of Education， who collaboratively did the English translation of the Foreword and Contents of this book. Last but not least， we would like to show our sincere gratitude to Beijing Normal University Press.
Chen Li
Beijing Institute of Education
July， 2014