Principals\u27 degree of effectiveness in initial compliance with the Aspira Consent Decree, attitudes, and administrative styles

This investigation sought to determine and compare the perceptions of New York City public elementary school prinicipals who demonstrated high or low degrees of effectiveness in initial compliance with the Aspira Consent Decree, concerning their self-perceptions and teachers\u27 perceptions of the principal\u27s attitude toward the Decree and his or her administrative style, in schools with high or low percentages of Hispanic and Spanish-surnamed pupils. Principals\u27 administrative styles that were explored in the research were based on the conceptual framework of the Educational Sciences (Hill, 1968). The sample for this study consisted of a stratified random sample of 100 principals and 40 teachers selected from the population of New York City public elementary school principals and teachers. The major materials used to collect data for this study were the Aspira Consent Decree Perceptionnaire, the Administrative Style Inventory, and the Program Design Forms issued by the Board of Education, New York City. The statistical techniques employed in the analysis of data derived from the study included frequencies, means, standard deviations, two-way analysis of variance, Pearson product-moment and point biserial correlation coefficients. Analysis of the data revealed that the majority (68%) of all administrators perceived themselves as cooperative in their decision-making, processes-oriented, and reciprocity-oriented in their Symbolic Mode of Communication. The majority of elementary school teachers perceived their principal\u27s style similarly. It was concluded that the cooperative administrative style was more effective for principals who demonstrated a higher degree of effectiveness in initial compliance with the Aspira Consent Decree. Furthermore, the positive correlation between principal\u27s attitude toward a philosophy of bilingual education and principals\u27 Demeanor indicated that the more positive the attitude the principal had toward a philosophy of bilingual education, the more cooperative style the principal demonstrated in his or her decision-making. The study supported the proposition that the Educational Science of Administrative style was a theory that had realistic implications on administrative attitudes and behaviors of New York City public elementary school principals