Elementary school principals\u27 perceptions of responsibilities and competencies for instructional leadership

The purpose of this research was to investigate elementary school principals\u27 perceptions of the responsibilities and competencies required of them for instructional leadership and thereby establish a baseline of knowledge for future decisions regarding the use of instructional leadership by elementary school principals as an aid to more effective teaching and learning. The research involved the construction and administration of a questionnaire based on a list of instructional leadership tasks guided by the literature on effective schools, instructional leadership, and task analysis for school principals. Questionnaire items were designed and questionnaire data were collected and organized to accurately reflect elementary school principals\u27 perceptions of responsibilities and competencies for instructional leadership. The findings of this study indicate that the elementary school principals rated themselves higher on the competency section of the questionnaire than on the responsibility section. There was little difference in the selection of the highest-ranking tasks for which principals perceived themselves to be responsible and the selection of highest-ranking tasks for which principals perceived themselves to be competent. On the responsibility section of the questionnaire, most frequent influence variables were: (a) educational preparation, (b) administrative experience, (c) gender, (d) number of staff supervised, and (e) school size. On the competency section of the questionnaire, most frequent influence variables were: (a) gender, (b) educational preparation, (c) administrative experience, (d) number of staff supervised, and (e) school size. This study provides insights that universities and school districts should examine their administrator training programs to provide for the growing need to educate principals in the area of instructional leadership. Elementary school principals should become more involved in curriculum decisions and become instructional leaders to their teachers. They should be given more assistance from the school districts in handling some of the bureaucracy, discipline, and “administrivia” they experience daily in order to provide more time for helping teachers as an effective instructional leader