Role acquisition of the elementary school principalship in rural and urban school districts in Texas

Vita.Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate how individuals become elementary school principals in both urban and rural school districts in Texas, and to determine if any differences exist in role acquisition by elementary principals in urban and rural school districts. Contributing objectives established to achieve this purpose were to: 1. Determine if any difference exists in becoming an elementary school principal in both urban and rural communities in Texas. 2. Determine if any difference in role acquisition by elementary school principals exists which may be associated with characteristic properties of the subjects. 3. Determine if any difference exists in reasons for acquiring an elementary school principalship in both urban and rural communities in Texas. 4. Determine if any difference exists in aspirations between both urban and rural elementary school principals. Procedures: Data from questionnaires were obtained from 139 respondents in the two groups, representing a 95% return. Data were also gathered from 20 non-structured interviews with practicing elementary school principals in rural and urban school districts in Texas. Four null hypotheses related to the objectives were tested using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, and Chi-square analysis. The .05 level of significance was used for testing the null hypotheses.