A study of the career paths of African-American women principals in the elementary schools of Chicago, Illinois, appointed before and after the implementation of school reform

The purpose of this study was to examine the career paths of African-American women principals in selected Chicago public elementary schools of Chicago, Illinois, in order to develop a profile and determine the major themes which impacted women appointed to this position before and after the implementation of school reform.A 33 item closed-form and open-form type questionnaire was sent to the 137 African-American women who were elementary principals during the 1992-1993 school year. The questionnaire was designed to elicit general data, personal characteristics, career data, and preparation data pertaining to the principalship position and the patterns of career ascendency of African-American women elementary principals appointed before and after the implementation of school reform.Interviews were also conducted with six principals, three who were appointed before school reform and three who were appointed after school reform. Principals were selected for the interviews whose questionnaire responses were illustrative in highlighting the unusual or unique nature of the career paths of African-American women elementary principals.A comparison was made between the African-American women elementary principals who were appointed before school reform and those appointed after school reform. An analysis of the data from the study revealed that four major themes: policy changes, job security, academic preparation/career paths, and mentoring evolved which impacted the success of African-American women elementary principals.The study revealed that these women encountered few, if any, barriers once they became elementary school principals. There are several limitations of the study, one of which was that the findings of the study were only applicable to African-American women elementary principals.U of I OnlyETDs are only available to UIUC Users without author permissio