Abstract
The problem. The principalship in the United States has been the focus of a tremendous amount of interest, study, discussion and controversy during the last decades. That interest might stem from the uncoordinated efforts of many forces that affect the principalship. Not only is the principalship under observation, education in general in the United States is under scrutiny. This study identified 16 selected criteria for the selection of principals in the state of California, compared the perceptions of 116 superintendents as to the current importance of these skills, and projected importance of these skills and identified the rank in order of the skills currently and within five years. Research methodology. Using a descriptive approach, data collected through a questionnaire were described and analyzed statistically for a population of 142 superintendents of schools throughout the state of California. In treating the data the Wilcoxon-Pairs Signed Rank Test and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov One Sample Test were applied. These test were used to determine the rank in order of importance of the administrative areas and compare the observed distribution of scores currently with the theoretical distribution which were the projected responses. Findings. Major findings included the following: (1) The superintendents practices and procedures for selecting principals generally did not correspond with the current criteria for selection of principals. (2) Establishment of formally structured principalship selection criteria is typically not a high priority for superintendents and boards of education. (3) Superintendents clearly indicated that those skills needed currently for the selection of principals are the same skills needed within five years. Although, when ranked the order of importance was different. Recommendations. Nine recommendation were proposed related to the effects of the changing role of the principalship on the selection process.