研究者由前導研究發現，國家教育研究院候用校長培訓方案的系統問題係「課程連貫性不足」與「評量方式未能評定真實能力」，而改進上述問題的關鍵指向「領導職能指標系統」之研發。本研究主要方法有三：焦點座談、德懷術和層級分析法問卷調查。為求研究之嚴謹性，一共邀請12位國中小校長與12位教育行政學者全程參與。具體研究發現如下：（1）候用校長六大領導職能，依其重要性分別為願景形塑、策略思考、團隊合作、溝通協調、創新經營和自我察覺；（2）候用校長每項職能皆有四項重要指標，共計24項；（3）願景形塑中的「能以學生學習和教師專業發展為一切決策與行動的基礎」，在所有指標中排名第一重要；（4）創新經營的四項領導職能指標權重皆相對較低，反應專家學者認為候用校長身為新手校長，校務經營上應先求穩再求突破。

Based on preliminary research, the systematic issues of the NAER training program for school candidate principals are the “lack of coherence in the curriculum” and “inability to evaluate actual abilities through assessment methods.” However, the key to addressing these problems lies in the development of a “leadership competency indicator system.” This research employs three main methods: focus group discussions, Delphi technique, and Analytic Hierarchy Process questionnaire surveys. To ensure rigor in the study, 12 middle and primary school principals and 12 educational administrative scholars were invited to participate throughout the entire process. The specific research findings are as follows: (1) The six major leadership competencies for acting principals, ranked by their importance, are vision shaping, strategic thinking, teamwork, communication and coordination, self-awareness, and innovative management. (2) Each competency has four important indicators, for a total of 24 indicators. (3) The most important indicator among all the indicators is “using student learning and teacher professional development as the basis for all decision-making and actions” in the vision shaping competency. (4) The four indicators of innovative management have relatively lower weights, indicating that the experts believe that acting principals, as novice school leaders, should first seek stability in school management before pursuing breakthroughs.