The administrative performance of elementary school principals in the Province of Newfoundland

Ludlow, Wayne Everett (1968) The administrative performance of elementary school principals in the Province of Newfoundland. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

The major purpose of this study was to investigate the administrative performance of elementary school principals in the Province of Newfoundland. Data collected from 128 principals and 206 teachers in schools of six classrooms and over provided the necessary information used in the testing of the various hypotheses. Statistical procedures used to test these hypotheses included 't' tests, 'F' ratios and Chi Square. -- Forty-nine administrative practices, identified mainly from related research, were used in the questionnaire. These were classified under five administrative task areas as follows: (A) School and Community Relationships; (B) Staff Personnel; (C) Pupil Personnel; (D) Curriculum Development and Instructional Leadership; and (E) Organization and Management of the School. Teachers and principals were required to respond to each administrative practice indicating the degree of performance. The response scale for each item of the questionnaire was 4, 3, 2, 1, N and A corresponding respectively to 'this practice is performed to a large degree'; 'to a fair degree'; 'to a very limited degree'; 'not at all'; 'this item is not appropriate'; and 'I do not know•. Personal data such as sex, age, professional preparation, experience, as well as certain environmental factors, assisted in establishing a profile of the elementary school principal in schools of six classrooms and over. -- Results of the analysis of data for the principals revealed that, generally, principals agreed in their performance of those administrative practices relating to the control, evaluation, supervision, promotion, reporting and grouping of pupils. They displayed little consensus in their performance of those practices relating to school board relationships, selection of teachers and teacher evaluation. Principals did not encourage teachers to visit the homes of pupils, did not work with committees in the planning of new schools and did not assist the school board in determining the school budget. -- Principals were classified and compared on the bases of certain selected variables such as sex, age, professional preparation, experience, size of school, hours taught per week and the number of children served by the school board. It was concluded that, when compared on these variables, principals differed significantly in their responses to the administrative practices. -- Findings also revealed that principals and teachers differed significantly on thirty-one of the forty-nine practices. Greatest discrepancies were found in the areas of curriculum development and instructional leadership, and organization and management of the school. It was also revealed that the principals rated themselves more satisfactory than did their teachers on twenty-three of the thirty-one administrative practices displaying significant differences. -- It was generally concluded that: (a) principals do display varying degrees of performance of selected administrative practices; (b) when compared on the bases of certain selected variables, principals differ in their responses regarding the degree of performance; and (c) principals and teachers differ significantly in their responses regarding principals' degree of performance.

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