The purpose of this study was to identify principal staff development needs as perceived by principals and superintendents in select Indiana school districts. Need ratings were analyzed by comparing superintendent and principal rating in eight categories of potential needs; "Instructional Leadership and Curriculum," "Community and Public Relations," "Personal Awareness," "School Management," "Personnel Management," "Student Rapport," "Principalship," and "Administrative Organization and Planning." The potential influence of five demographic variables: "Size of School District," "Levels of Graduate Education," "Grade Levels of Assignment," "Membership in Professional Organizations," and "Years' Experiences in School Administration," on principal ratings was also examined. Data were collected from30 superintendents and 181 principals employed in the 30 randomly selected school districts. Data were collected via a survey containing 76 items divided into eight categories. Data were analyzed using an analysis of variance, and research decisions were based on the .05 level of significance.In general, demographic variables incorporated in this study appeared to have little effect on principal ratings. There were three exceptions: (a) level of assignment (type of school) was found to be significant for ratings in the category of "Community and Public Relations," (b) level of assignment (type of school) was found to be significant for ratings in the category of "School Management," and (c) level of memberships in professional organizations was found to be significant for ratings in the category of "School Management."Findings in this study suggested that there was much common ground in principal ratings of their own staff development needs and the ratings provided by superintendents. Hence, the potential for planning programs that address both organizational and personal needs appeared to be high. Additionally, outcomes suggested that practitioner perceptions of principal staff development needs are not affected to any great extent by demographic variables. Additional research examining why principal needs are often ignored in staff development programs was recommended. / 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

In the frontier days of America, the school and the community supplemented one another. Frontier life as simple and the requirements for existence on the frontier were, more often than not, a strong back rather than a strong mind. The task of the school, therefore, was relatively simple. The school amply fulfilled its duties if it provided "Reading" with which one might read from the bible, "Ritin" so that simple letter might be written and records kept, and "Rithmetic" which could be used to keep account and make measurements. / "A Paper." / Typescript. / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: H. W. Dean, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references.

A recent study conducted by the National Association of Secondary School Principals found that 45% of principals report that pandemic working conditions are accelerating their plans to leave the profession (2021). The current principal attrition crisis has only been exacerbated by the chaos and uncertainty of the global health pandemic. These conditions combined with the stressors that already exist in public education have created a crisis that cannot be ignored. On average, 1 in 5 principals turn over each year (Levin, et al., 2020). In order to create strong schools, it will be important to prioritize the needs of current principals and recruit and train future aspiring leaders to take the helm (NASSP, 2020). The purpose of this phenomenological study is to explore with a group of female high school principals how they manage stressors in their professional and personal lives--specifically, what health and wellness strategies are used to remain in their roles over time, feel satisfied in their role, and experience a sense of efficacy. Four overarching research questions will guide this study to focus on how female principals identify challenges and stressors experienced by school leaders and examine how strategies are utilized to manage and overcome the inevitable occupational stressors associated with the role of the school leader. This dissertation study examines (a) how female principals in urban high schools describe the challenges they face in carrying out their dual role as leaders at work and at home, (b) how female principals in urban high schools learn to overcome the challenges they face, (c) the factors that female principals in urban high schools say facilitate and/or impede their ability to manage the personal and professional demands they face, and (d) the strategies that female principals in urban high schools use to improve job satisfaction, professional efficacy, and longevity in the role. A select sample of six female principals shared their experiences in in-depth interviews. This research makes an important contribution to the field of educational leadership by facilitating a more sustainable female workforce, strengthening school leadership, and increasing support not only for women in the role but for all school leaders who experience occupational stressors and role conflict.

Given the immense challenges of the principalship and the high turnover of school principals, school districts—and other organizations—have looked to assistant principals as a major source of leadership talent to take up the role of principal. In this qualitative dissertation, I explored how eight principals—from different USA locations—described, understood, and experienced the transition from assistant principal to principal. Specifically, I examined what they named as the professional learning experiences they had on the way to becoming principals and how, if at all, their prior learnings supported them in this transition. Additionally, my study used purposeful developmental sampling to explore how, if at all, participants’ way of knowing (i.e., internal cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal capacities), as assessed by an expert developmental psychologist who employed the Subject-Object Interview (a reliable developmental assessment tool), might help with understanding how they made meaning of their experiences in transitioning to the principalship and their learning experiences along the way.This study is unique in that it focuses on the experiences of assistant principals—who have become principals—and provides a rich insight during a particularly critical and vulnerable time in their career trajectory. The study has implications for how school districts and district leaders – superintendents and principals – can provide differentiated supports for aspiring school principals. I recruited an expert developmental psychologist to conduct Subject-Object Interviews in order to develop a purposeful sample of eight participants, four who have a predominately socializing way of knowing and four who have a predominately self-authoring way of knowing. Eight Subject-Object interviews and sixteen in-depth, qualitative interviews (approximately 36 hours, transcribed verbatim) were the primary data source. Data analysis involved several iterative steps, including writing analytic notes and memos; reviewing, coding, categorizing data to identify key themes within and across cases; and crafting narrative summaries. I learned from the participants that their transition to the principalship involved increasing complexity in their work in three dimensions: an increased breadth of responsibilities (8 of 8), including budgeting, scheduling, supervision of all staff, and, in some cases, district politics (4 of 8); more complex interpersonal conflict among a higher number of stakeholders as they transitioned to assume a new mantle of authority as principal (8 of 8); and looking inward to clarify their internal values, which they said helped manage the breadth and depth of the first two dimensions of complexity (8 of 8). I also found two types of professional learning experiences that participants named as most helpful during their transition. The first was receiving mentoring (8 of 8), and the second was leading a large, complex project during their time as assistant principal (4 of 8). An additional three participants said that they had wished most for the opportunity to lead a large, complex project like those described by the other participants (3 of 8). For all five of the major findings – the three dimensions of complexity referenced above and the two types of professional learning that were most helpful to the participants in their transition – I found that the participant’s way of knowing was connected to how they experienced, made sense of, and managed that aspect of their transition. Predominantly socializing knowers struggled to manage their time and determine which priorities were most important and often described that their rise to this level of authority left them feeling lonely or as an outsider (4 of 4) and that it was difficult to manage conflicts and the expectations that others had of them as principals (4 of 4). In addition, those with at least some capacity self-authorship described an awareness of how new principals needed to do the hard work to develop these internal values (3 of 3). In contrast, the predominantly self-authoring participants told me that they did not feel like they were being pulled in multiple directions and described systems they had created to manage this kind of complexity (4 of 4). They also understood and appreciated others’ expectations of them as the authority figure and could turn inside to clarify their own beliefs to effectively manage the conflicts that arose (4 of 4). Finally, they pointed to these inner values as foundational to meeting the different types of complexity inherent in transitioning to the principalship (4 of 4). For the aspiring principals who are predominately self-authoring, they shared a higher level of comfort in their own ability to handle the increasing complexities that come with the principalship, and each of them (4 of 4) shared that they felt like they got what they needed as assistant principals to prepare them for the transition. For aspiring principals who are predominantly socializing in their way of knowing, my research shows that their learning opportunities need to be designed to help them develop a level of comfort with conflict as an opportunity for positive change rather than something to avoid altogether. Furthermore, I recommend that principals mentor with developmental intentionality such that they tailor their mentorship and feedback to make it effective for each AP they mentor. Last, I recommend that principals provide opportunities for APs to lead large complex projects, appropriately scaled based on the AP’s developmental readiness.

The central problem of the study was to determine the nature of the workday of the urban high school assistant principal. Specific questions guiding the investigation were as follows: (1)What are the workday activities of an assistant principal? (2)How long is this day? (3)How might the pace of the workday be described? (4)With whom does an assistant principal interact? How? Why? (5)To what extent is daily work proactive? Reactive? (6)Do the workdays of the various urban high school assistant principals differ? The investigator, in the nonparticipant observor role, employed five data-collection techniques: field notes; structured interview; review of written materials; and structured observation, employing the framework of Mintzberg (1973), whereby chronology, written communication, and verbal contact records were kept. The sample was composed of five assistant principals, representing a cross-section of administrative functions, in an urban school district on the West coast. Each assistant principal was observed throughout five days and evenings of school-related activities. The worktime of the composite sample was apportioned in the following manner: six percent, telephone calls; 17 percent, desk work; 24 percent, scheduled meetings; 24 percent, unscheduled meetings; and 34 percent, observational/informational tours. The average work week was 42 hours and 33 minutes; the average workday, 8 hours and 31 minutes. The dimensions of brevity, fragmentation, and variety were evident in daily work. In twenty-five days, 1,280 separate activities were undertaken. The average duration per activity was quite short: telephone calls, two minutes; unscheduled meetings, five minutes; desk sessions, nine minutes; tours, 12 minutes; and scheduled meetings, 36 minutes. Seventy-five percent of all activities lasted less than nine minutes. Only one percent exceeded an hour. The assistant principal interacted with many participant groups, with heaviest emphasis on subordinates within the building (64 percent of input mail, 79 percent of output communications; 49 percent of all verbal contacts) and clients, or students and their families (26 percent of all verbal contacts). Fifty-eight percent of all meetings and tours were with one other person. The prime purpose for interactions was to convey, receive, review, or exchange information (66 percent of input mail, 74 percent of contacts, and 79 percent of contact time). The assistant principals initiated 54 percent of their verbal contacts and 46 percent of the number of pieces of mail received. The factors tentatively isolated as related to workday differences were physical facilities, personal style and philosophy of assistant principal, time of year, and assigned functions.

Principals have performed many tasks which either promoted or hindered facilitation of the learning process for all students in their schools. One of these tasks has been compliance with federal and state legislative procedural requirements for special education. Though there has been relative progress in special education, compliance has not been 100% in program visits performed by State Department of Public Instruction. The purposes of the study were to: (a) determine the relationship between the level of administrative knowledge of compliance requirements with the degree of application of legislative regulations of special education (b) identify the constraints or factors which prevented total compliance in a local education agency. A two-part study was designed to fulfill the researcher's purposes. The initial phase of the study consisted of an opinionnaire to determine the amount and source of administrative knowledge of state and federal procedural legislative requirements. The second phase of the study involved individual interviews to identify the constraints to compliance with special education legislative requirements. Major conclusions were (a) knowledge did not make a difference in the school system's compliance with state and federal procedural legislative requirements (b) there were numerous constraints six of which permeated the study as knowledge understanding of regulations, excessive paperwork, money, time, parent/community awareness and maintenance of records (c) local educational agencies who were in 100% compliance did not differ significantly from schools who did not comply in the identification of factors which prevent compliance with state and federal legislative procedural requirements. / Ed. D. / incomplete_metadata

This study investigated the relationships between two personality variables, Machiavellianism (i.e., manipulativeness) and locus of control as well as the combined relationships of these two variables with a third, affective variable, job satisfaction. A sample of 225 public school secondary level administrators were given the Mach IV Scale, the Mach V Scale, the Facet-free Job Satisfaction Questionnaire, the Rotter I-E Scale and a bibliographic personal status questionnaire. The literature reveals that high Machs outperform low Machs When three personal and situational conditions occur. Moreover, Mach orientation correlates with external locus of control and low job satisfaction. All three of the predicted relationships were found to be significantly related as hypothesized. / Ed. D.

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