Date of Award

Spring 5-1-2005

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Gregory R. Ulm

Second Advisor

Robert Boyd

Third Advisor

Margaret Whitaker

Abstract

The findings within recent research conducted by Public Agenda, the National Association of Secondary School P1incipals, and the National Association of Elementary School Principals indicated a necessity for restructuring the role of the principal and rethinking principal preparation and state licensure requirements. These studies, however, do not reveal what principals do on a daily basis. Without a clear understanding of what principals do each day, and the time devoted to each task, these undertakings would be without merit. To restructure the principalship without clearly defining the day-to-day practices of our elementary, middle, and high school principals would not result in a better solution to the current overburdened role of the principal. Hypotheses one and two were analyzed using a two-way (factorial) MANOVA. The first hypothesis tested the effects of principal preparation, years of experience and gender on each of the five major areas of principal practices (i.e., Instructional Leadership, Communications, School and Community Relations, Student Interaction and Management). Hypothesis two tested the effects of school type (i.e., elementary, middle or high school), school size, and community type on the five major areas of principal practices. The third hypothesis examined the alignment of principal practices with the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards for an effective school leader through a qualitative perspective using an inductive model of thinking. Within the two hypotheses analyzed from a quantitative approach, hypothesis two was accepted and hypothesis one rejected. There was a correlation found between the major categories of principal practice and the ISLLC standards.

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