School leaders in the United States live in an educational era characterized by a desire for and expectation that all students attain high levels of academic proficiency. There is an increased reliance on all types of educational assessment as a key component to help school leaders attain that goal. The purpose of this study is to understand how school administrators can foster a balanced system of assessment at the local level to genuinely harness the power of assessment to enhance student learning. The significance of the study rests in the fact that there is a general failure of states and school districts to conceive of educational assessment as a system that operates at all levels of the educational system from the classroom up to the district and state level. The findings of this study support the efforts of a group of administrators to develop a balanced system of math assessments in their school district.

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This research is an empirically based, comparative study of the inspectorates in two high profile areas of public concern, the education and police services and explores the realities and complexities of an increasingly politically favoured instrument, inspection, in regulation regimes. It uses case study methodology and data collected by semi-structured interviews and textual analysis of literature, and reports and other documents published by the two inspectorates and associated organisations. The study has the aims of contextualising the role and place of the inspectorates and of establishing if they are an aid to the achievement of accountability; whether they are independent assessors; and whether any aid given could be extended to a wider population of ”stakeholders”. It seeks to identify ways that any benefits given could be increased and to relate the findings to other scholarship and draw out new insights, particularly those relating to the factors which determine the nature of the regime. Considerably more conflict was revealed than might be expected within and between organisations commonly funded by the public purse. Four methods of resolving this were detected, “co-operation”, “constraint”, “collaboration” and “compromise”. The inspectorates give definite assistance to the accountable parties by the information they provide but this is restricted by their being agents of Central Government control rather than independent assessors. Greater assistance would be given (including that offered to a wider population of stakeholders) if they were made truly independent. Multiple factors were found to determine the punitive nature of regimes, by far the most important being Central Government’s attitude and wishes. Intensive, rigorous inspection is seen as the favoured way ahead in the short term but its extensive use in the longer term is challenged, given an improvement in the line management of public services and the establishment and extension of the use and influence of credible Performance Indicators

This study was conducted to gauge the perceptions of various groups regarding the elementary principal1s role in the public schools. The hypotheses for the study were the following. 1. There will be no significant difference between the role perception ratings given by the elementary school principal and the business representative regarding their perception of the role of the elementary principal. 2. There will be no significant difference between the role perception ratings given by elementary principals and public school board members regarding their perception of the role of the elementary principal. 3. There will be no significant difference between the role perception ratings given by business representatives and public school board members regarding their perception of the role of the elementary principal. 4. There will be no significant difference between the role perception ratings of elementary principals, business representatives, and public school board members regarding their perception of the role of the elementary principal relative to the age of the respondent, the sex of the respondent, number of years in present position, number of years residing in district, and educational level of the respondent. 5. There will be no significant difference among the role perception ratings of elementary principals regarding their perception of their role relative to sex of the respondent, number of years in the present school district, and number of years as an elementary principal.

The purposes of this study were to determine the predominant career paths of superintendents within the State of Texas and to determine the most important professional positions and areas of professional development as perceived by superintendents and educational experts. The study also compares actual experience and professional development of superintendents with those perceived as most important.

This study investigated the overall job satisfaction level and motivators of job satisfaction for elementary school principals in Central Virginia using the MinnesotaSatisfaction Questionnaire (1977) revision via Web-based survey through Virginia Commonwealth University's Inquisite Survey System. The research literature supports job satisfaction of school principals being a worthwhile topic of study. Researching aspects of job satisfaction is important because a job is not merely life-sustaining, but enriching and enhancing (Darboe, 2003), and the impact of leadership on everyone in schools is substantive. Elementary principals' general job satisfaction level was investigated using descriptive demographic data and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) through Web-based survey. Using 4 of Frederick Herzbergfs (1959) 6 motivators from the MSQ (i.e., Achievement, Advancement, Recognition, and Responsibility), job satisfaction level was examined in terms of variance in relation to the respondents' gender, age, level of education, salary level, years of experience, number of full-time assistant principals, school socioeconomic status, school size, or accreditation status assigned by the Virginia Department of Education. This study collected information from 85 out of a possible 151 public elementary school principals across 14 school divisions in Region I of Central Virginia. The findings of this study suggest that on an overall basis respondents were satisfied with their jobs. They were also satisfied with their job as it relates to Herzberg's four motivators associated with those particular scales of the MSQ. Findings demonstrated that job satisfaction level did not significantly vary in relation to the nine demographic variables except in one category, level of education. Respondents with education beyond master's degrees were more satisfied with their sense of achievement. The response rate for this Web-based survey was 56%. This response rate contrasts with most literature that described Web-based surveys as having lower response rates than mailed surveys (Fricker & Schonlau, 2002). This indicates that principals will answer Internet surveys in higher numbers when asked to do so, when using repeated contacts, and/or when a colleague requests their participation. It would be worthwhile to replicate this study using a wider demographic area or through the use of qualitative methodology.

D.Ed. / The individual's right to basic education is entrenched by Section 29 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. Section 12 of the 1996 Schools' Act compels the state and each of the nine provinces to provide public schools out of funds provided for that purpose by the provincial legislature. Education is therefore a right and the state is compelled to provide the education. The constant growth in the demand for education and the amending of educational problems inherited from the apartheid era, have a substantial impact on available state and provincial financial resources. Education is expensive and the state contribution to education is dwindling, due to the enormous demands made by other state responsibilities. The Legislator has, through founding and implementing the system of governing bodies (Sections 20 and 21 of the SASA of 1996), handed the responsibility of education in the community, and the governance of and control over such education, to the parents. In the school the principal is the professional manager of education and is accountable to the local education authority. Individuals from the community, possessing certain skills and competencies, are needed to make the system of governing bodies work. The skills and competencies needed from the community, are those the schools lack, such as business experience, and financial expertise. The necessary personal experience and qualities are easy to come by in the more advanced middle class and upper class communities. The poor and less advanced communities suffer from a lack of higher order skills and competencies. These communities are not -iionly poor in materiality, but also poor with regard to skills, competencies and business experience. The control over the school's finances is one of the more sensitive areas when discussing the control responsibility to be exercised by the governing body. The principal, as professional manager of the school, is also the administrative manager. His duties include the managing of the school fund. The responsibility of the governing body is to make sure that the school fund is managed optimally so that learners, parents and community benefit.

The tension between the leadership of technology and technology as a means of school improvement are still issues of debate. Researchers have argued that education management technology has yet to make a significant contribution to school improvement, while others have experienced small pockets of success. This study seeks to contribute to the debate by exploring the tension associated with the implementation of an education management information system (EMIS) in The Bahamas from the experiences of school leaders. More specifically, this thesis explores EMIS from the understanding of six principals in their schools and its contributions to their schools. This study develops a social constructivist view and relies on the case study approach. Among the major findings of the study was that EMIS was often perceived by principals to be associated with conflict and the primary uses of the technology were for generating report cards, facilitating school administrative tasks and monitoring. Principals' expressed concern for the lack of support from senior management and the impact of using the technology on their role as leader. As conflicts hindered the implementation of EMIS, principals adopted a shared leadership approach. This study offers pertinent information concerning the reasons why EMIS is underutilized and the important contributions of leadership to the successful implementation of the technology. Such information can be useful for understanding EMIS in education organizations.

The purpose of this study was to analyze current practices in the revitalization of school buildings and assimilate data that can be used by school administrators to make informed decisions about the revitalization of school facilities. Through a review of literature, elements for planning the revitalization of school facilities were identified and analyzed. These elements were included in an interview guide used during on-site visits to selected revitalized schools. Nine schools renovated since 1985 in Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina were chosen to participate in the study. The treatment of data was reported around the use of identified elements of planning for renovating school buildings. Data from the schools were divided by states to make comparisons. The study indicated that structural soundness, program support, site, and cost are four areas of concern when planning for the revitalization of a school. The specific planning elements included the development of educational specifications; attention to site condition; consideration of playground areas; importance of the exterior appearance of school buildings; space utilization; condition of mechanical and electrical systems; importance of energy efficiency, development of barrier free environments, treatment of thermal environments; consideration of acoustics; management of visual environments; selection of furniture and equipment; and attention to aesthetics. As a result of the findings of this study, the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Planning for the revitalization of school buildings differs from one school to another even when the schools are in the same system. (2) States do not employ facility planners to help school systems revitalize their school buildings. (3) Many school administrators do not know how to assess the condition of the schools in their districts. (4) Administrators and other individuals involved in revitalizing school facilities want more information on how to systematically plan for the modernization of school buildings.

The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of computer use by school principals in administering their schools. Comparisons were made of the different techniques being employed by school principals as they manage the vast amounts of data that are present in today's educational process. A comprehensive collection of computer applications was identified and school principals were surveyed regarding their use of these applications. A random sample was selected from a population of 1,800 school principals in the state of Tennessee. School principals from 430 public schools and 70 private/parochial schools in Tennessee were surveyed for responses relative to their practices regarding the use of computers in the management of their school. Surveys were mailed in early January, 1992, to those principals who were identified in the sample selection. Surveys were received over a period of several weeks. A return of 71% was obtained. Findings include the determination that schools have computers specifically for the purpose of completing administrative tasks. Principals and office staffs are using administrative computers to improve their management of school data. The primary areas identified as being preformed by school principals were attendance, management of student data, wordprocessing, grade reporting, and transportation. Principals indicated that the major avenues for computer training is through seminars and workshops. The major conclusions included the need for additional computer training in principal preparation curricula, exposure to innovative uses of computers to enhance the administrative function.