Date of Award

1984

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Program

Higher Education Administration EdD

First Advisor

Edward A. Streeter

Second Advisor

Walter B. T. Douglas

Third Advisor

W.W. Liske

Abstract

Problem. If he/she is to satisfy or accommodate the expectations of the various groups that interact with him/her, the principal needs to be aware of how they perceive his/her role; but no studies were found on parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine parents' perceptions of the role of the principal in Seventh-day Adventist junior academies in the Great Lake states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Method. A descriptive survey design was utilized for this study. A closed-type questionnaire developed by the researcher was submitted to a panel of eleven judges, modified, and pretested before it was sent to a stratified random sample of 434 parents whose children attended Seventh-day Adventist junior academies in the Lake Union Conference.

The data collected were coded, and processed at Andrews University Computing Center. Chi-square was the statistical analysis used.

Results. This study revealed the following results: (1) Parents agreed that the role of the junior-academy principal should include forty-eight of the forty-nine role responsibilities listed on the questionnaire. (2) The top three role responsibilities parents expected the junior-academy principal to perform were: (a) Promote unity among teachers; (b) Gain and maintain constituency confidence; (c) Hold personal conferences with teachers; (3) Of the seven areas of administrative responsibility identified, student personnel was ranked highest and spiritual leadership lowest. (4) There was a significant difference between parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role in relation to eight demographic and personal variables.

Conclusions. Based upon the results of the study, these conclusions were made: (1) Parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role were similar to the expectations for that role as published in Seventh-day Adventist educational literature, and as expressed by Lake Union educational administrators. (2) There seems to be a relationship between parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role and certain demographic and personal variables. (3) Parents regarded developing a good principal-parent relationship and a healthy principal-staff relationship as very important areas of administrative responsibility. (4) Parents regarded spiritual leadership the least important area of administrative responsibility.

Subject Area

Junior high school principals--United States, Parent-teacher relationships

DOI

https://dx.doi.org/10.32597/dissertations/263/

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