A STUDY OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS REGARDING EDUCATIONAL LAW, LEGAL POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

This study was intended to provide administrators; elementary, middle/junior high and high school principals with an awareness of rights and responsibilities and to help motivate principals to translate basic legal concepts into actual practice. The study involved educational law as it was directly applicable and involved elementary, middle/junior high and high school principals. It presented specific legal principles that have been established and can be relied on for direction in many school areas. The research was intended to provide information about how education practice can be improved, so that it comports with the objectives of legal policy. It was meant to assist elementary, middle and high school principals to become more responsive to the realities of the education organization in relation to the legal policies of education. A survey questionnaire was developed and validated by a pilot-study committee. The population consisted of individuals in similar situations to those for whom the final instrument was intended. The final instrument was mailed to three hundred principals at the elementary, middle and high school levels, in both urban and rural school systems, who had been selected from the twelve counties in Massachusetts. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Computer Program was employed, utilizing FREQUENCIES, CROSSTABS and CHI SQUARE sub-programs. The findings indicated school administrators; principals at the elementary, middle and high school levels do not feel they are adequately informed about the laws that affect them and their schools. They also reveal that administrators themselves feel that information regarding education law would assist them, for they feel that there is a definite need for them to be informed about the laws that affect them in their positions as principals. It was also implied by the results of the study that knowledge of fundamental legal principles regarding education law would assist them in making administrative decisions. The findings of the study indicated that administrative training of principals at all levels, in both urban and rural school systems should include courses, seminars or workshops on educational law and policy