The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess elementary school principals' in the reading program. The findings confirm that the Cramer Inventory of Principal Involvement in Reading is such an instrument.A review of the literature yielded a list of 93 behaviors principals exhibit while working with the school reading program. A questionnaire consisting of these behaviors was mailed to 199 elementary school administrators in the United States Department of Defense Dependents Schools in West Germany (DoDDS-G). The administrators were asked to indicate the level of implementation of each of the 93 behaviors. Of the 199 questionnaires mailed, 147 were returned (73.8 percent). The 30 behaviors which best correlated with the total test were retained for the final instrument, the Cramer Inventory of Principal Involvement in Reading. This instrument was mailed to the principals and fourth-grade teachers of 15 randomly-selected DoDDS-G schools. Of the 15 principal questionnaires mailed, 10 were returned (66.6 percent). Of the 34 teacher questionnaires, 16 were returned (40.7 percent). A pairwise comparison of the 7 principal responses and the corresponding 13 teacher responses from their schools indicated significant differences in the two groups' perceptions of the role of the elementary school principal in the reading program.The following conclusions were supported by the findings of this study: (1) Principals' involvement in the elementary school reading program involves interacting with three populations: students, parents, and teachers. While interacting with these three populations, the principal supervises the curriculum and the instructional practices, sets and maintains high expectations, establishes a positive school climate, and monitors and assesses student performance. (2) Of the three populations--students, teachers, and parents-elementary school administrators perceive themselves as most involved with teachers in the school reading program. Involvement with parents is rated below involvement with teachers but above involvement with students. (3) Elementary school principals perceive their involvement in the reading program as greater than the teachers' perception of that involvement. (4) Elementary school principals rate their involvement in the school reading program lower when they are aware that their ratings will be compared to the ratings of teachers in their schools. / Department of Elementary Education

This study looked at possible relationships which exist between three personal characteristics variables believed to be associated with effective leadership in elementary schools. The three variables were (1) Principal Vision, (2) Principal Interpersonal Orientation and, (3) Principal Personal Values. The relationship between selected teacher, principal and school demographic variables and teacher's perceptions of their principal's vision was also explored. Data were collected from 51 principals and 841 teachers in elementary schools from 10 school districts in the Portland, Salem and Vancouver metropolitan areas. Teachers were asked to score their perceptions of their principal's vision on the School Vision Inventory. The principal was also asked to complete the Mach V interpersonal orientation scale, the Profile of Life Values and, his/her predictions of teachers responses on the School Vision Inventory. Data were analyzed by using one or more of the following statistical tests: MANOVA; ANOVA; Chi-square; and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. The major conclusions are: (1) principals perceived teachers to be less positive than they in fact were in their perceptions of the principal's ability to encourage others to make personal sacrifices to accomplish the principal's vision; (2) male teachers perceive that their principals include them more in the vision building process than do female teachers; (3) teachers younger than 26 were less positive in their perceptions of their principal's Internalization and tended to be less positive on other scales; (4) principals communicate their vision more effectively with those teachers who are in their first year with their current principal than any other group for vision exchange, sacrifice and total vision; (5) school and principal demographics have little impact on teacher perceptions of principal vision; (6) principals value being sensitive to the needs of others more than any of the other personal values and they value artistic expression the least; (7) with the exception of the Artistic values, male and female principals are relatively similar in their personal values; (8) principal vision and personal values are moderately related; and (9) the relationship of interpersonal orientation of the principal to teacher perceptions of principal vision is not statistically significant.

The purposes of this study were to determine if the following factors pertaining to elementary school principals; amount of undergraduate/graduate training in special education, previous experience with disabled students, and professional development training, had a relationship to their attitudes regarding the education of students with disabilities in the regular classroom. The study also sought to determine if differences existed between principals' attitudes toward the inclusion of different categories of disabled students into the regular classroom.The population of the study consisted of 230 randomly selected elementary school principals. Principals selected for the study were sent the data-collection instrument, The Building Administrator Survey, which was developed by the researcher. The survey instrument consisted of demographic questions which addressed the study's independent variables and 12 statements which were designed to ascertain the study's dependent variable, attitude toward the education disabled students in the regular classroom. Respondents were asked to rate each statement on a five-point Likerttype scale reflecting perceived attitudes toward each of five different categories of disability: emotional handicap, learning disability, mild mental handicap, moderate mental handicap, and severe mental handicap. A multivariate analysis of variance procedure was used to determine the of significance of relationships between the study's independent variables and principals' attitudes toward inclusion. A post hoc procedure was used to identify significant differences in principals' attitudes toward inclusionary practices relative to the study's five categories of disabled students.The following conclusions were drawn from the findings of the study:1. There is a statistically significant relationship between attitudes toward the inclusion of different categories of disabled students. Attitudes toward inclusion become less positive as the level of student disability increases.2. Principals receiving minimal amounts of professional development training tend to have more negative attitudes toward inclusion than principals receiving more extensive training.3. There is not a statistically significant relationship between principals' attitudes toward inclusion and the type of professional development training they have received, the amount of professional training in special education they have received, or their previous experience with students with disabilities in teaching and administrative settings. / Department of Educational Leadership

The purpose of this study was to discover and compare perceptions of three different groups of Indiana elementary educators concerning the importance of areas of the principal’s literacy knowledge base, as well as responsibility for and use of this knowledge by principals to adequately support effective research-based literacy instruction. The educator groups selected to participate in the study included elementary principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy curriculum specialists from all Indiana public elementary schools containing grades K – 4. Using a survey specifically designed for this study, data on participants’ perceptions connected to the purposes of the study were collected and analyzed. Twelve different areas of literacy knowledge were identified for investigation. The areas included: Literacy Research and Best Practice, Role of Change Agent in Literacy Curriculum and Instruction, Literacy Instructional Components, District Language Arts Curriculum, Language Arts State Standards and Assessments, School-Based Literacy Assessments, Literacy Data Collection and Analysis, Literacy Classroom Environments and Schedule, Literacy Instructional Resources, Quality Children’s Literature, Meeting Struggling Readers Needs, The School Literacy Curriculum Specialist. The study used quantitative methods of statistical analyses. Results showed a large percentage of participants perceived all twelve identified areas as absolutely essential for the principals’ literacy knowledge base. Some areas were statistically more important than others. The results were similar concerning the principals’ ability to use and share the areas of literacy knowledge. Perceptions of who the principal should be able to share areas of literacy knowledge revealed faculty as being most important when compared with parents and children. Sharing literacy knowledge with parents was considered more important than children. While it was perceived as critical for principals to have a broad literacy knowledge base and have the ability to use this knowledge with various school constituent groups, all literacy areas with a few exceptions were seen as the responsibility of both teacher and principal equally. Finally, a comparison between perceptions of participating principals, non-permanent teachers, and literacy curriculum specialists showed more similarities than differences between groups overall. / Department of Educational Leadership

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between principals’ social and emotional skills and the academic and social outcomes of their schools. The Social-Emotional Educational Leadership Factor (SELF) survey was completed by 27 Indiana public elementary school principals and 30 Indiana public elementary school teachers to analyze the perceptions of the principals’ social and emotional skills. Results showed that principals’ self perceptions of their social and emotional skills predicted 49% of the variability of how they perceived their skills affecting their school’s academic success (R = .70, p < .01). A larger 57% of the variability was predicted from teachers’ perceptions of how their principal’s social and emotional skills affected their school’s academic success (R = .76, p < .01), while principals’ self perceptions of their social and emotional skills predicted 33% of the variance in iv student attendance rates. Results also indicated that principals and their teachers differed on their perceptions of principals’ skills (Wilk’s λ = .33, p < .001), as principals’ self evaluations of social and emotional skills were consistently more positive than the teachers’ evaluations of their principal’s social and emotional skills. It was determined that teachers’ perceptions of their principal’s social and emotional skills predicted 82% of the variability of their assessment regarding their principals’ overall leadership abilities. An in-depth analysis of six participating schools indicated that academic and socially underperforming schools consistently had lower average social and emotional skill scores throughout the SELF survey when compared to academic and socially performing schools. Finally, teachers tended to believe at higher rates that principals’ social and emotional skills can affect the principals’ ability to lead when compared to the responses of the principals. / Department of Elementary Education

If the intent of Public Law 94-142 is to be realized as it pertains to the provision of appropriate placement and programming within the least restrictive environment for handicapped students, there must be an improved understanding of the attitudes, training, and experience of the principal as they relate to his practices. The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes and training of elementary school principals in a large mid-Atlantic school system as they related to their least restrictive environment practices toward students with specific learning disabilities and/or emotional disturbances who are placed in self-contained, (Level 4) special education classes in their schools. A review of literature indicated no instruments emphasizing elementary school principals' attitudes, training, and current LRE practices. A survey instrument was developed that was sensitive to the above variables. The sample which responded to the survey instrument included 46 elementary school principals who supervise self-contained (level 4) learning disabilities and/or emotionally impaired classes out of a total population of 46 principals and 72 special education teachers working with these programs. The multi—part survey instrument completed by principals included 3 sections: LRE Practices, Opinions Related to LRE Practices, and Demographics. Thirteen LRE activities were delineated to provide a composite of the LRE practices over which the principal has direct influence. The special education teachers responded to a modified survey instrument that focused on their principals' LRE practices. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions,)[ elementary school principals of teacher evaluation practices in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Specifically, the current study was guided by the following research questions: 1) What are the perceptions of elementary public school principals regarding the effectiveness of teacher evaluation in public elementary schools? and 2) To what extent do elementary school principals' perceptions of the effectiveness of teacher evaluation vary by selected demographic variables (e.g. socio-economic status (SES), Academic Performance Index (API) score, student ethnicity makeup, and size of school)? The collective bargaining agreement for the school district was reviewed and the perceptions of the different principals regarding teacher evaluation practices as well as their specific evaluation procedures at the site level were compared. Results revealed that the collective bargaining agreement did not place serious limitations on evaluation practices. Results of this study also demonstrated that elementary school principals indicated overwhelmingly that teacher evaluation needed to be improved to be more comprehensive, including more informal observations and feedback to be taken into account during the evaluation!on process. In addition, concerns were present regarding the consistency of how the teacher evaluations were conducted and the meaningfulness of the teacher evaluation process. In addition, concerns were present regarding the consistency of how the teacher evaluations were conducted and the meaningfulness of the teacher evaluation process. Results further indicated that time constraints and other factors limited the ability of principals to provide meaningful feedback to teachers. The results of this survey reflect a desire on the part of elementary school principals to see the teacher evaluation process changed to become more effective. This change in the teacher evaluation process will help principals make a difference for everyone- principals, teachers, and students alike.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education