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The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between school environment and student achievement in several high schools in an urban school division in Virginia. The subjects for this study were eleventh grade students, randomly selected teachers of eleventh graders and the principal of each school. Nine high schools buildings are in the school division, of which eight were used in this investigation. The one school not included in the study was an alternative high school whose students attended classes at various places throughout the division.;The initial group tested consisted of 1225 students, 114 teachers, and 8 principals. Incomplete test data resulted in 190 students being dropped from the study, leaving 984 students.;The school environment was assessed by the School Environment Questionnaire developed by Brookover, et al. at Michigan State University. Student achievement was measured by the students' composite score on the SRA Achievement Test Series administered to all eleventh grade students in the State of Virginia in the fall of 1979. The questionnaires were categorized by groups of respondents (students, teachers and principals) and by school within groups. Three separate varimax rotation factor analyses were performed. Correlations were performed on climate factors, socio-economic status, percentage-white students and STEA with achievement. A series of stepwise regression analyses on the dependent variable achievement and the various predictor variables were also performed.;The first tested hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between student perceptions and staff perceptions of the school environment was accepted. Correlation analyses between student climate factors and teacher climate factors and between student climate factors and principal climate factors resulted in 19 significant correlations at the .05 level. Since all six student climate factors correlated significantly with three teacher climate factors and with two of the principal climate factors, a relationship existed between student and staff perceptions.;The second tested hypothesis that a positive relationship exists between achievement and school environment was also accepted. Correlations indicated that: (1) student perceptions were more related to achievement than teacher and principal perceptions; (2) teacher perceptions were more related to achivement than principal perceptions; and, (3) the schools with the highest mean achievement also had the highest number of positive correlations between climate factors and achievement.

Educators are required by federal and state mandates to use data in order to improve student achievement and teacher performance in public schools. The public's faith in public schools is dependent upon the school organization's ability to respond to the data and to make changes that will improve schools. The perceptions of members of the school organization regarding barriers and facilitative strategies that either hinder or promote the effective use of data, respectively, inherently impact the effective use of data. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of school staff members regarding the use of data to make educational decisions.;Although the use of data to make informed decisions to improve an organization's capacity to reach defined goals holds promise, the process of implementing an organizational structure and developing a culture and climate that facilitate the use of data within the public schools presents challenges. This study showed that although the respondents generally agreed that the school and/or district had the cultural components to facilitate greater student achievement, barriers existed that limit the most effective use of data within the organization.

Superintendents of residential schools for the deaf were the subjects of a study to determine what effects career orientation had on the implementation of role changes since the passage of Public Law 94-142 in 1975. Career orientation is a construct concerned with whether an individual succeeds to an executive position from a lower rank within the hiring institution from inside (place-bound) or from outside (career-bound).;Prior to this study career orientation had only been examined in terms of superintendents of public school districts where the variable was found to identify a 2 to 1 ratio of career-bound to place-bound. The current study examined the role of career orientation among top administrators of a residential school.;The study used a questionnaire mailed to 66 administrators of residential schools for the deaf. There were 58 (88%) useable surveys returned. Significant differences were found among career-bound and place-bound superintendents in residential schools for the deaf. First, career- and place-bound superintendents were found in the same ratio as public school superintendents, 2 to 1. Second, superintendents with differing career orientations also had significant differences in: age of completion of doctorate degree, full-time attendance in doctoral programs, number of years lapsed between master's and doctorate degrees, geographical mobility, attitudes of mobility, and publication rate. However, implementation of institutional change did not show significant differences between the two groups of superintendents varying in career orientation.;It was concluded that the many similarities in educational preparation and professional behavior between the two groups may account for similar administrative behavior. Further, the 1975 mandate for change was applicable to all educational programs receiving federal funds. Therefore, changes were important to nearly all educational administrators.;It was recommended that the relation between career orientation and change implementation be studied in a context free of legislative mandate, and applied to a group of educational leaders with a greater likelihood of difference in educational preparation. (Abstract shortened with permission of author.).

Principals are accountable for juggling multiple competing tasks daily. This study explored the degrees of emphasis placed upon leadership and management behaviors of school principals in Virginia by determining the congruence of job descriptions and evaluation instruments with state and professional standards. State expectations were communicated to varying degrees by responding school divisions in both job descriptions and evaluation instruments. School divisions universally expected principals to focus upon instruction and parent and staff communication, while other state responsibilities received less attention. Organizational management that focused on facilities maintenance was communicated as an important responsibility by a majority of school divisions but was not mentioned in state standards. A high level of congruence was found between job descriptions and evaluation instruments for most Virginia state responsibilities. A majority of school divisions' evaluation instruments encompassed professional standards. However, less emphasis was revealed for responsibilities related to the larger society. Implications of this study indicate the need for Virginia school divisions to align job descriptions and evaluation instruments with state standards to support the work of principals, and for Virginia state standards to include major responsibilities required by a majority of school divisions.

The major purpose of this study was to identify and document the responsibilities of current assistant principals in the Commonwealth of Virginia and compare them to those found in the extant literature on the assistant principalship, as well as the responsibilities outlined in the Code of Virginia. Additionally, the responsibilities of current assistant principals were compared to the responsibilities of current principals in Virginia.;A survey instrument adapted from the Maine Principals' Study of 2001 was used to collect data from a random stratified sample of 50 elementary, 50 middle, and 50 high school assistant principals, and 50 elementary, 50 middle, and 50 high school principals from Virginia. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed to determine whether any significant differences existed between the mean averages that assistant principals reported for seven Activity Clusters when considering the gender, school level, or ethnicity of assistant principals (p < .05).;Student discipline, supervising and evaluating teachers, responding to teachers' needs, contacting parents about their children, and working with special needs student issues were reported as the top five responsibilities performed by assistant principals. However, the data also confirmed that assistant principals in Virginia occasionally to often perform duties in the Activity Clusters of personnel and student management, instructional leadership, professional development, interactions with education hierarchy, and public relations. Further, assistant principal respondents consistently reported that they rarely to occasionally perform duties in the Activity Cluster of resource management and lack exposure to the responsibilities of budget preparation and purchasing and accounting procedures. Assistant principal respondents seemed to have a clear picture of the duties that they reported performing and complimented the duties of their principals in 15 out of 38 identified individual responsibilities. These results did not support the findings reported within the literature, which portrays assistant principals as devoting the majority of their time to student discipline and personnel supervision and evaluation.;No significant differences were reported in the responsibilities of assistant principals when compared by gender and ethnicity. The Activity Cluster of instructional leadership reported a significant difference between the mean averages of middle and high school assistant principals at the .05 confidence level.;Virginia assistant principals perform a wide variety of duties that fulfill the 15 expectations set forth for principals in the Code of Virginia. However, they reported that they lack preparation in resource management, particularly in areas dealing with the budget, budget preparation, and accounting procedures.;Assistant principals and principals in Virginia showed strong comparability among the seven activity clusters. No significant differences were reported between the reported mean averages of assistant principals and principals within these seven Activity Clusters. Assistant principals in Virginia reported spending less time than their principals in budget and purchasing procedures.;Ninety-five percent (95%) of assistant principal and principal respondents reported that assistant principal duties are assigned by the principal. Two-thirds (66%) of current assistant principals aspire to a principalship. The remaining assistant principals indicated that they desire to become career assistant principals, retire, or assume a central office position, such as a superintendency.

The purposes of this study were: (1) to determine the factors that influence the decisions of local school boards concerning redistricting, and (2) to determine if the factors influencing redistricting decisions-are more instructional or non- instructional in nature. The study employed a case study methodology, examining a specific school board involved in a redistricting process that occurred in 1996.;Data for the study were collected utilizing the following: interviews with school board members; interviews with staff members; interviews with members of the media who covered the redistricting process; interviews with community members; newspaper articles; school board meeting minutes and other internal documents about the redistricting process; and correspondence from the public to the school board about the redistricting process.;The study's conclusions were as follows: (1) The superintendent and the recommendations he made were a very strong influence. (2) Interest groups had an influence on the board, but not an overwhelming one. (3) Individual values influenced the board's decisions as members weighed the various alternatives. (4) Cultural/normative factors influenced the board's decision, especially in terms of the process to reach a decision. (5) The high level of emotion present during the process and the lack of viable alternatives influenced the board's decision. (6) The board was influenced by several concrete measurable criteria, including: building capacity/projected growth; cost effectiveness; feeder patterns; minimizing numbers redistricted; neighborhood schools/proximity of schools; socioeconomic/ethnic diversity; and travel distance and time. These factors served as a buffer against the high level of emotion in the process. (7) Non-instructional factors were the strongest influences on the board; however, instructional factors also played an important role.;Major implications of these conclusions included the need for accurate information on measurable instructional and non-instructional criteria; the need for establishing community and board consensus on priority redistricting criteria; the need for adequate time for decision making; the need for alternative means of gathering public input; and, the importance of process.

Today, public school administrators have the responsibility to provide a safe and secure educational environment for all who enter the school building. Amid continued drug use by students and a proliferation of weapons at school, principals at all levels face the unenviable task of maintaining an environment conducive to learning. In order to do so, principals often must balance the need to preserve individual student rights against the need to make schools safe.;The present study was conducted to determine if public school principals in Virginia meet minimum competency levels with respect to their knowledge of search and seizure law, and to compare the knowledge of search and seizure issues by Virginia public school principals with respect to their organizational level (elemcntary/middle/high). The study was designed also to examine theoretical perspectives by administrators as applied to search and seizure issues.;The study involved responses from surveys received from 91 public school principals in Virginia (37% of the 246 randomly sampled elementary, middle, and high school principals). Analysis of data revealed that one-third of the respondents fell below the mean, that 64.8% failed to achieve minimal competency, with no significant difference between building levels. Pragmatism was selected by 92.3% of the respondents as their legal perspective.

The purpose of this study was to investigate: (1) the relationship between the leadership style of an elementary school principal, as second-level manager, and the mathematics achievement of the students, and (2) the relationship between the degree of leadership style congruence of the elementary principal, as second-level manager, and the teacher, as first-level manager, and the mathematics achievement of students. Fiedler's Contingency Theory of Leadership Effectiveness provided the conceptual framework for the study.;Measurements were recorded for a sample population of 28 principals, 245 teachers, and 5373 students of grades four, five, and six drawn from an urban district in southeastern Virginia with a student population of approximately 35,000.;Four hypotheses were tested for statistically significant (p (LESSTHEQ) 0.05) findings: (1) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where principal leadership style and situation favorableness were matched, (2) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where principal leadership style and teacher leadership style were congruent, (3) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where principal leadership style and situation favorableness were matched and where principal and teacher leadership style were congruent, and (4) pupil gains in mathematics would be greater where teacher beliefs about mathematics and its instruction were informal and teacher competence in mathematics was high.;An analysis of variance for unequal cell size resulted in the rejection of each of the hypotheses. Significant findings, however, were found using student achievement as the dependent variable for the interaction between principal leadership style and situational conditions, for teacher leadership style, and for teacher attitude toward mathematics and its instruction.;It was concluded that there appeared to be a relationship between first- and second-level managers, teachers and principals, and the mathematics performance of fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students. The matching of principal leadership style and situational conditions as postulated by Fiedler appeared to be partially supported. Further, certain teacher-related constructs did strongly relate to student achievement in mathematics.

The Problem. The purpose of this study was to determine the quality of written job descriptions for the position of elementary assistant principal and to measure the observed role behavior, preferred role behavior, and effectiveness of assistant principals as perceived by principals, assistant principals, and teachers. It was hypothesized that the three study groups differed significantly in their perceptions of observed role behavior, preferred role behavior, and effectiveness of assistant principals; that there was a significant relationship between the rated effectiveness and the congruence of observed and preferred role behavior; and that there was a significant relationship between the rated effectiveness and the quality of the job description.;Research Procedure. The subjects were the principals, assistant principals, and 25% of the teachers of 54 randomly selected Virginia public elementary schools. A 66-item Role Analysis Questionnaire developed by the investigator was used to collect data. One-way analysis of variance procedures were used to test the hypotheses regarding differences in perceptions. Pearson Product Correlation procedures were used to test the hypotheses regarding relationships between effectiveness and congruence of role behavior scores, and between effectiveness and the quality of the job description.;Findings. There appear to be significant differences among principals, assistant principals, and teachers in their perceptions of observed role behavior and effectiveness of assistant principals; however, the three study groups do not appear to differ significantly in their perceptions of preferred role behavior. There appears to be a significant relationship between the rated effectiveness of assistant principals and the congruence of their observed and preferred role behavior. There was not a significant relationship between rated effectiveness and the quality of the job description.