The role of the principal as viewed by North Carolina assistant principals

The purpose of this study was to investigate the views held by North Carolina assistant principals of the role of the principal. This study investigated the views of the assistant principals about the roles of principals across North Carolina, their current principal, and elementary, middle/junior high, and high school principals. The independent variables considered were the assistant principals' years of administrative experience, level of educational attainment, gender, age, and view held of their current principals as effective or ineffective. Data were obtained from 50 assistant principals from a questionnaire mailed to a stratified, proportionate, random sample of 75 assistant principals across North Carolina. The data were analyzed according to nine research questions asked by the study regarding assistant principals1 perceptions of the role of the principal, the relationship between the principal and assistant principal, and training for the assistant principal. Frequencies and percentages were tabulated to determine group views. Chi-square statistics were used to analyze the relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variable - the assistant principals' perception of the role of the principal. Variables significant at the .05 level of confidence were determined