The development of an instrument to assess elementary school principals' involvement in the reading program

The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable instrument to assess elementary school principals' in the reading program. The findings confirm that the Cramer Inventory of Principal Involvement in Reading is such an instrument.A review of the literature yielded a list of 93 behaviors principals exhibit while working with the school reading program. A questionnaire consisting of these behaviors was mailed to 199 elementary school administrators in the United States Department of Defense Dependents Schools in West Germany (DoDDS-G). The administrators were asked to indicate the level of implementation of each of the 93 behaviors. Of the 199 questionnaires mailed, 147 were returned (73.8 percent). The 30 behaviors which best correlated with the total test were retained for the final instrument, the Cramer Inventory of Principal Involvement in Reading. This instrument was mailed to the principals and fourth-grade teachers of 15 randomly-selected DoDDS-G schools. Of the 15 principal questionnaires mailed, 10 were returned (66.6 percent). Of the 34 teacher questionnaires, 16 were returned (40.7 percent). A pairwise comparison of the 7 principal responses and the corresponding 13 teacher responses from their schools indicated significant differences in the two groups' perceptions of the role of the elementary school principal in the reading program.The following conclusions were supported by the findings of this study: (1) Principals' involvement in the elementary school reading program involves interacting with three populations: students, parents, and teachers. While interacting with these three populations, the principal supervises the curriculum and the instructional practices, sets and maintains high expectations, establishes a positive school climate, and monitors and assesses student performance. (2) Of the three populations--students, teachers, and parents-elementary school administrators perceive themselves as most involved with teachers in the school reading program. Involvement with parents is rated below involvement with teachers but above involvement with students. (3) Elementary school principals perceive their involvement in the reading program as greater than the teachers' perception of that involvement. (4) Elementary school principals rate their involvement in the school reading program lower when they are aware that their ratings will be compared to the ratings of teachers in their schools.Department of Elementary EducationThesis (Ph. D.