The problem of this study was to determine differences between parent perceptions of the actual and ideal amounts of involvement of parents, teachers and principals in decision-making at the elementary school level. This study was conducted in conjunction with two parallel studies that considered principal and teacher perceptions with the same hypotheses. The last chapter (six) presents a summary with conclusions and recommendations of all three studies. A questionnaire, designed to examine parent perceptions of the actual and the ideal levels of involvement of teachers, parents, and principal in decision making in elementary schools in the areas of budget, personnel, and curriculum, was distributed to 1325 parents of elementary school children in East Tennessee. Five hundred three parents (38%) responded. Based on the significant differences found, the conclusion was derived that parents desire more active involvement in decision making at the elementary school level for themselves and for the other stakeholders. Recommendations were made for improvement in the decision-making structure at the elementary school level and for further study.

The problem of this study was to determine if there was a significant difference among the expressed perceptions of selected school board members, principals, and students as related to specific aspects of the student activity program. The sample size of this study consisted of 359 participants in the following groups: school board members, principals, and students. School board members and principals were treated as intact groups while the students were randomly selected and stratified based on sex and rank in class. Each group was described based on demographic data. The t-test for independent samples and analysis of variances were used for statistical analysis. Eleven research questions, with six responses each, were analyzed according to six aspects of student activities: (a) athletics, (b) academic-class related activities, (c) performing arts, (d) student government, (e) career-oriented activities, and (f) social-oriented activities. A mean score for each group on each activity was calculated for test purposes. Significant differences were found between (a) school board members and students as related to academic-class related activities, and (b) school board members and students as related to social-oriented activities. Other important findings included the following: (1) Sixty-seven percent of students lived in the county, not towns or cities. (2) Career-oriented activities were the most popular among students. (3) Middle-ranked students had more favorable perceptions of the student activity program than top-ranked or bottom-ranked students. (4) There is general agreement among school board members, principals, and students concerning the student activity program.

The problem of this study was to determine some similarities and differences in selected Tennessee elementary principals' perceived allocation and ideal allocation of time for curriculum related activities. A questionnaire, consisting of the most prevalent curriculum activities, was developed and mailed to a randomly selected sample of 300 elementary principals. The t-Test was utilized to determine differences between perceived allocation of time and ideal allocation of time. Differences were determined for the four stages of curriculum related activities of studying, planning, implementing, and evaluating. Significant differences were found in perceived allocation of time and ideal allocation of time by principals for curriculum related activities. The respondents indicated a significant difference in perceived allocation of time and ideal allocation of time for each of the four curriculum phases of studying, planning, implementing, and evaluating. Significant differences were also recorded for perceived allocation of time between female and male principals, between female and male principals in the studying phase, between female and male principals in the implementing phase, and for ideal allocation of time between female and male principals in the implementing phase. In each case female principals indicated they spent more time and should spend more time than male principals on perceived allocation of time and ideal allocation of time in each phase of curriculum related activities. Certain conclusions were based on the findings in this study. It was concluded that principals feel more time should be spent for curriculum related activities. Principals believe more time should be spent in the studying, planning, implementing, and evaluating phases of curriculum related activities. Female and male principals disagreed on the amount of time spent and the amount of time that should be spent on curriculum related activities. The gender of the principal influences the amount of time spent in the studying and implementing phases of curriculum related activities. Several factors that did not have any influence on the amount of time spent or should be spent on curriculum related activities were the type of school system and the size of the school in which the principal was employed and the number of years since the principal had taken a graduate curriculum course.

The problem of this study was to determine if differences existed in the perceptions of elementary school principals regarding the amount of involvement parents, teachers, and principals had in school decision making. The study was one part of a more comprehensive project conducted in the First Tennessee Developmental District which also investigated parents' and teachers' perceptions of involvement. A questionnaire was developed to survey principals' perceptions of the actual and ideal level of involvement of parents, teachers, and principals in the areas of budget, curriculum, and personnel. A total of 95 principals (76%) returned the questionnaire. Based on the significant differences found, principals felt that parents, teachers, and principals should be more involved in each of the three areas studied. Conclusions from parallel studies regarding parents' and teachers' perceptions were similar. Principals, teachers, and parents would like to see more governance at the local school setting.

The problem of this study was to determine if collective negotiations had restricted the perceived managerial authority of Tennessee's public school principals within selected demographic variables. Fourteen demographic variables (the independent variables) were selected for the study. Pauline's Principals On-Job Discretion Scale (the dependent variable) developed and validated by Robert A. Pauline was selected as the appropriate instrument for use in this study. The instrument listed ten responsibilities of public school principals which might or might not be registered by the terms and conditions of teachers' negotiated agreements with school boards. The principals marked the instrument as to how they perceived their managerial authority (discretion) under collective negotiations. The sample drawn included 315 of the 1260 public school principals who were under collective negotiations in the seventy-eight school systems in Tennessee during 1985-86. Respondents used in the study included 242 principals--19.21 percent of all Tennessee public school principals under collective negotiations. The statistical analysis of the data indicated there were significant differences in four of the fourteen null hypotheses. The significant differences found were: (1) The younger age group of principals perceived themselves as having less managerial authority than the older groups of principals. (2) Those principals who had been principals for five or fewer years perceived themselves a having less managerial authority than those principals who had been principals for more than ten years. (3) Those principals in city/town/special school systems perceived themselves as having less managerial authority than those principals in county school systems. (4) High school principals perceived themselves as having more managerial authority than those principals in elementary, junior high/middle/intermediate, and other schools. Although the findings indicated that Tennessee's public school principals did not perceive themselves as having "complete discretion" in their managerial authority under collective negotiations, the principals did perceive themselves as having "considerable discretion" in managing their schools under the teachers' negotiated agreements with school boards. Recommendations were indicated for future research.

The legislature of the State of Tennessee enacted The Public Education Governance Reform Act of 1984 as the first step in a restructuring and reform program for Tennessee education. One of the major elements of this piece of legislation was that the state board of education would "... develop and maintain current a master plan for the development of public education, grades kindergarten (K) through twelve (12)." A regulation was passed by the Tennessee State Board of Education mandating that each local board of education in the state should develop and implement a five-year educational plan to include a mission statement, goals, objectives, and strategies. The first plan was due September 1, 1990. The plan was to be evaluated annually. Direction was not given as to process, evaluation, or expected outcomes. In the absence of specific guidelines from the state, there was little understanding of the process followed by local school systems in Tennessee as they completed the educational planning process. The purpose of the study was to describe the process used by Tennessee school districts in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of a state mandated five year educational plan. A review of the literature on educational planning did not reveal a definitive planning process or model. There was no grand scheme or master plan on the state or national level which looked at the whole in an attempt to put all the various restructuring or reform components together to form a complete educational plan. Data were gathered using a survey instrument which covered seven research questions relating to the planning components found in the most accepted models in the literature. All Tennessee school systems were given an opportunity to participate in the study. The data suggest that local school systems did not receive sufficient information, training, and preparation materials to prepare an effective five-year educational plan. The educational plan was developed mainly by the local school boards and central office staffs in each school system. An accepted planning model as found in the literature was not used by the majority of the school systems, nor was any attempt made to correlate the local plan with the state master plan. Sufficient information from the local community to project a vision for the school system or identify present or future trends in the schools and community was not collected prior to the development of the plan. Implementation of the local plan was by top management in most systems. A formal evaluation process to measure success or failure in reaching the declared goals and objectives was not in place. Institutions of higher education were not given an opportunity to participate or have influence on the process of training, implementation, and evaluation of the local and state educational plans.

The problem of this study was to compare the content of principal evaluation instruments in use in Tennessee public school systems in terms of seven selected categories. The selected categories compared were (a) personal qualities, (b) professional skills and qualities, (c) human relations skills and qualities, (d) instructional leader skills and qualities, (e) manager skills and qualities, (f) decision-making skills, and (g) teaching skills. Of the 142 public school systems in Tennessee, 121 utilized a principal evaluation instrument consisting of either a checklist or rating scale. The evaluation instruments of these 121 systems were analyzed (using content analysis) for reference to the seven selected categories. From this data, the percentage of references to each category by each of the 121 instruments was calculated. Based on the calculated percentage of references to each of the categories, the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to determine what relationships existed between the percentage of references to the categories by the 121 evaluation instruments. Twelve of the 21 relationships tested were significant at the .05 level. The only two positive relationships were between the percentage of references to personal qualities and human relations and between the percentage of references to professional skills and qualities and decision-making skills. The content (percentage of references to skills and qualities) of the evaluation instruments varied, and the number of evaluation items found on the instruments varied (range = 211). The conclusions included the following: (a) Evaluations of Tennessee principals from differing systems cannot be compared due to the range in the number of evaluation items. (b) The relative importance of principal job tasks were not considered when local school systems developed principal evaluation instruments. (c) The Tennessee Department of Education has not monitored the content of locally developed principal evaluation instruments. (d) The findings of research studies defining the role of principals as instructional leaders, managers, and decision makers were not considered by local school systems when developing principal evaluation instruments. (e) The evaluation competencies of the 121 instruments utilized in this study differ from the evaluation competencies of the 21 instruments not included. Recommendations were given.

The problem of this study was to determine if a relationship exists between selected personal characteristics of higher education administrators and their perceived levels of power motivation and power style. The techniques of ex post facto research were used in this study. The Power Management Inventory developed by Jay Hall and James Hawker was selected as the appropriate instrument for use in this study. The Power Management Inventory was designed to provide a comparison between one's espoused theory (power motivation) and one's theory in action (power style). A personal data sheet was used to obtain information concerning the personal characteristics of the administrators. The statistical analysis of the data for hypotheses 1 through 24 was intended to determine significant differences in the power motivation types and power style scores of the administrators based on a comparison with selected personal characteristics of those administrators. The differences showing significance in the study warranted the following conclusions: (1) The power motivation of administrators can be directly related to the ages of the administrators. (2) The power style of administrators can be directly related to the ages of administrators. (3) The power motivation of administrators can be directly related to the method by which they were selected for their positions. (4) The power style of administrators can be directly related to the method by which they were selected to their positions. (5) The power style of administrators can be directly related to the number of years of service in their positions.

The primary objective of this study was to identify determinants of upward mobility for individuals who subsequently achieve elementary principalships. Since many educators aspire to elementary principalships, awareness of tangible and intangible determinants is important to principalship candidates in their upward movement to the elementary principalship. The basic research tool was a qualitative research interview. A purposive sample was used involving individuals with identified expertise and with access to certain desired information. Therefore, the study involved two levels of administrative personnel--superintendents who recommend and elementary principals who have been appointed to positions within school systems. The sample included 21 school superintendents who had recommended elementary principals in the last three years and 33 elementary principals hired because of their recommendations. Superintendents in the First and East Tennessee Development Districts, and elementary principals hired in those districts were identified as the sample. Findings of this study reveal that superintendents and principals were generally in agreement concerning the existence of selection influencing determinants. Superintendents reported they relied heavily on an aspirant's track record, professional appearance, professed loyalty, direct thought processes, extra work without complaint, professional growth, curriculum experience, confidence, leadership abilities, visibility in the school setting and community, and "fit." Elementary principals reported selection determinants as an excellent track record, visibility in a school setting and the community, direct thought processes, confidence, positive with people and parents, professional dress, knowledge on administration, positive attitude, extra work without complaint, loyalty, leadership, curriculum expertise, ability to communicate, and having a mentor relationship with one presently in an administrative or supervisory position within the school system. Even though superintendents and principals were generally in agreement concerning determinants of selection, they identified different determinants as being more important when it came to making the final decision of selection. Superintendents reported they relied heavily on what they identified as professional opinion, sixth sense, or "fit." Elementary principals reported the deciding factor dealt more with their past successfulness as a teacher and their knowledge of administration.

Problem. The problem of this study was to determine the importance of competencies within critical administrative task areas as perceived by selected elementary school principals. Methods. Participants for the study were randomly selected from a total population of 429 elementary principals serving schools containing kindergarten through grade six in the state of North Carolina. A questionnaire was mailed to the 250 principals selected to participate in the study. Of the returned instruments 187 were complete and used for statistical analyses, with the data being analyzed using the SPSS Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. Fourteen null hypotheses were formulated and tested at the .05 level of significance. Each hypothesis was related directly to a demographic variable specified on the questionnaire. These hypotheses were then tested using the Kruskal-Wallis statistic, a nonparametric one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). ANOVA's were performed across each demographic variable for each competency within the five established critical administrative task areas. Findings. The findings of the study indicated the following information. No statistically significant difference in mean ranks was found in the following demographic variables: sex of the principal, age of the principal, geographic population of the school, school's level of student enrollment, principal's level of educational attainment, date principal's latest degree was earned, time served in the elementary principalship, principal's level of activity in professional organizations, and the occupational goals of principals. A statistically significant difference in mean ranks was found to exist overall between perceptions of the importance of competencies within critical administrative task areas held by principals who devote different amounts of time to professional growth weekly and by principals with different levels of membership in civic organizations. Conclusions. Significant differences were found in two of the demographic variables used to test the hypotheses for the study. Principals who devote more time to professional growth and those principals more involved in civic organizations tend to perceive these competencies as more important than other administrators in the state of North Carolina.