Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of the study was to determine the perceptions of the California State Department of Education, Child Development Division directors and consultants regarding the relevancy of the director's identified management roles in child development programs. It also determined if there were significant differences between the directors and consultants' perceptions of the relevance of the roles. Further, it determined if the directors' perceptions of the relevancy of their roles differed based on their years of administrative experience, educational level, academic degree, number of sites supervised, program type and program size. Finally, the study determined if the prior formal education of the directors' matched the roles. Procedure. A stratified random sampling of 434 directors was drawn from the population of all California State Department of Education, Child Development Division directors, representative of the six program types that employ a director with similar administrative responsibilities. Sixty-three percent of the director's responded to the questionnaire, which consisted of seven major roles and 86 role statements, a role relevancy scale and a prior formal education scale. All of the consultants were included and 83% responded to the questionnaire that included only the role relevancy scale. Findings. The directors and consultants generally agreed that the seven major roles and 86 role statements were relevant in child development program management. The directors perceived the roles and role statements as more relevant than the consultants. There were significant differences between the directors and consultants in only five out of 86 role statements. Twelve role statements showed significant differences among the director's due to their demographics. The directors were well educated with 55% holding a Masters degree and 36% holding a Bachelors degree. The director's had a "moderate degree" of prior formal education in the educational leader role and a "limited degree" of prior formal education in the six other roles. Recommendations. Further study is needed to substantiate the relevancy of the director's role including field observation of the director's daily management role. Another recommendation is to determine staff and other program participants perceptions of the director's management role.