Comparing the perceptions of public and Catholic elementary school principals about the relative importance and amounts of time spent on various administrative functions.

摘要

The primary purposes of this study were two-fold: (1) to ascertain the perceptions of elementary school principals about the relative importance of their school management functions and instructional leadership functions and the relative amount of time they actually spend on each kind of function; (2) to determine whether there were differences in the perceptions of public school principals and Catholic school principals about these matters. A secondary purpose was to find whether these perceptions differed according to the principal's gender, experience, and academic preparation.;The study was accomplished by surveying public elementary school principals and Catholic elementary school principals in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The survey instrument was developed by the researcher. Subjects were asked to indicate on a Likert-type scale their perceptions about "importance of" and "time spent on" each of 67 administrative tasks or activities that were organized into nine general categories: Supervision and Evaluation of Instruction, Home-School-Community Relations, Professional Development, Staff Personnel, School Finance and Business Management, Pupil Personnel, Program Development, School Plant Management, and Transportation Management. A mean score was calculated for each category.;From most to least important, the rankings were: Supervision and Evaluation of Instruction; Home-School-Community Relations; Professional Development; Staff Personnel; School Finance and Business Management; Pupil Personnel; Program Development; School Plant Management; and Transportation Management.;From most to least time spent, the rankings were: Supervision and Evaluation of Instruction; Home-School-Community Relations; Pupil Personnel; School Finance and Business Management; Program Development; Professional Development; Staff Personnel; School Plant Management; and Transportation Management.;Between public school principals and Catholic school principals, differences in perceived "importance of" were found for Program Development, Staff Personnel, and School Finance and Business Management, and differences in perceived "time spent on" were found for School Finance and Business Management and Program Development.;Based on gender, experience, and academic preparation, no differences were found in perceptions about either "importance of" or "time spent on" any category.