THE RELATIONSHIP OF LEADERSHIP BEHAVIOR OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS TO EDUCATIONAL-EXPERIENTIAL VARIABLES

The purpose of this study was to describe the relationships which exist between and among administrative experience, formal training, school size, and leadership behavior of secondary principals of Nebraska Class III school districts, as perceived by teachers they superviser. The Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire (LBDQ) and the Questionnaire About Secondary School Principals (QASSP) were used to gather data to answer the following research questions: (1) Is there a significant, positive correlation between leadership behavior of secondary principals and level of formal training of principals? (2) Is there a significant, positive correlation between leadership behavior of secondary principals and previous educational administrative experience of principals? (3) Is there a significant, positive correlation between leadership behavior of secondary principals and number of staff members supervised by the principal? The population consisted of all Class III secondary schools in Nebraska. The sample consisted of twenty-eight secondary school principals of Class III schools and 161 teachers from the schools included in the study. The principals were categorized by years of administrative experience, hours of formal training, and number of teachers supervised by those principals. The principals were then classified into groups according to their mean scores from the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire. Three-way analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. The .05 level of significance was selected to determine statistical significance. Findings. Based on the data collected the findings of the study were: (1) There was no significant interaction between principals\u27 leadership dimensions, consideration and initiating structure, with principals\u27 formal training. (2) There was no significant interaction between principals\u27 leadership dimensions, consideration and initiating structure, with past administrative experience. (3) There was no significant interaction between principals\u27 leadership dimensions, consideration and initiating structure, with number of teachers supervised. (4) There was a statistically significant interaction between principals\u27 leadership dimension, initiating structure, with principals\u27 experience and size of school. It may be concluded from the data that leadership behavior may have a direct relationship to the amount of administrative experience and size of school. Future studies should seek to identify more specifically the effects of experience and school size, using a longitudinal study. Specific recommendations as a result of the study are as follows: (1) When selecting principals, information regarding the applicants\u27 formal training and past experience should be accompanied by additional information. Training and experience alone should not be considered as either valid or invalid predictors of effective leaders. (2) School districts need to develop and improve administrative staff development programs which allow for professional training and job re-design. (3) Principals, on a regular basis, should gather feedback from their subordinates regarding perceptions about leadership behavior. (4) Colleges need to stress the relationship of leadership as an interaction of sociological skills and task skills. More emphasis needs to be placed on the sociological aspects of leadership