The role of the principal as verified by the secondary school department chairpersons in Guilford County, North Carolina

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions which the secondary school department chairpersons, within Guilford County, North Carolina, have regarding the role of the principal according to a five conception framework initially designed by Brubaker and Simon (1987). The effects of four independent variables— the number of years experience as a department chairperson, the degree of the chairperson, the subject area of the chairperson, and the gender of the department chairperson--on the conceptual leadership roles selected by the department chairperson were also examined. Data were obtained from a survey of 142 public secondary school department chairpersons in the three public school districts within Guilford County, North Carolina—Greensboro City, Guilford County, and High Point City. An analysis of the data suggested the secondary school department chairpersons view the actual role of the principal as that of a general manager. For the preferred principal's role, the department chairpersons selected the administrative/instructional leader's role even though their comments on the open-ended question were considered to be managerial rather than instructional in nature