Naftaly S. Glasman

The School Principalship

In this introductory chapter, we discuss the concept of the school principalship in four ways. We first provide a brief historical overview of the evolution of the principalship in the United States. Next we provide a brief summary of research conducted in the past 15 or 20 years which has attempted to find out what school principals actually do. In the third section we introduce a discussion of some of the ambiguities that, we believe, are inherent in education and, as a result also, in the school principalship. In the fourth and final section, we present some theoretical perspectives on the school principalship.

Guiding Rational Solutions to Academic Problems of Low Achievers

This is the second of the three chapters that consider the involvement of school principals with the issues of student achievement directly. The decision-making area presented in this chapter involves the guidance of rational solutions to academic problems of low achieving students. This area involves organizing and stimulating decisions. When principals make choices about what to do with academic problems of low achievers, they, in effect, make all-encompassing student achievement-related structuring and implementation decisions.

Performing the Role of Teacher Evaluation

This is the last of three chapters that deal with the relationship between the school principal and the teachers. The decision-making area presented here encompasses the performance of the role of evaluating teachers in the school. This area is central to the principalship in two ways. It pertains to important instruction-related dimensions of the principal-teacher’s relationship. It also involves important evaluative decisions. When principals make choices about which roles of teacher evaluation they perform they, in fact, make all encompassing instruction-related personnel evaluation decisions.

Coordinating Student Achievement Testing

This is the last of three chapters that deal with the direct involvement of school principals with issues of student achievement. The decision area presented in this chapter is the coordination of student achievement testing. This area involves evaluative decisions. When principals make choices about student achievement testing they, in fact, make all-encompassing student achievement-related evaluative decisions.

Assigning Teachers to Classrooms

This is the first of six chapters that present a variety of decision-making areas in the school principalship in some detail. The decision-making area presented in this chapter involves the assignment of teachers to classrooms. This area is central to the principalship role in two ways. It pertains to some important instruction-related dimensions of the relationship between the principal and the teachers in the school. It also involves planning decisions. When principals make choices about which teacher is assigned to teach which students, they, in effect, make all encompassing instruction-related personnel planning decisions.

A Focus on Decision Making and Evaluation

This chapter summarizes what the literature has to say about the practice of decision making in the school principalship. In the first section, we outline decision-making approaches that have been used to describe and explain the principalship. The second section focuses on the tension that exists between the value-based and the value-free approaches to decision making in the principalship. We suggest that decision making in the principalship is both value-based and value-free, and that the dose of each varies as a function of how individual principals view their decision-making role. In the third section, we introduce what we call the evaluation dimension of the decisionmaking process. We suggest that much of what school principals think and do as they engage in decision making may be labeled evaluation.

Guiding and Evaluating Teachers on Student Achievement-Based Instructional Objectives

This chapter is the first of three that deal with the direct involvement of school principals with issues of student achievement. The decision area presented in this chapter is the guidance that principals provide to teachers in setting student achievement-based instructional objectives, including principals’ evaluation of teachers on the basis of these objectives. This area involves planning decisions. When principals make choices about what to tell teachers to do and how to evaluate teachers on that basis, they, in fact, make all-encompassing student achievement-related planning decisions.

How Evaluation Can Improve Decision Making in the School Principalship

Some of evaluation’s major resources are its theories, methodologies, and the expertise of professional evaluators. In this chapter we concentrate on possible ways in which such resources can be mobilized to help school principals improve their decision-making processes. The first section deals with ways in which evaluation may provide relevant information to principals as decision makers. We then outline ways in which evaluation may contribute to the principals’ understanding of their own decisionmaking processes. The chapter ends with a discussion of ways in which evaluation may strengthen the mechanisms that principals use to cope with evaluation requirements.

Making Schoolwide Decisions While Interacting with Teachers

In this chapter we present a second decision-making area in the school principalship. The area includes schoolwide decisions which principals make while interacting with teachers. Such conditions are commonly labeled as participative decision making. The area is also the second of three that pertain to instructional dimensions of the relationship between the principal and the teachers. It involves organizing, stimulating, structuring, and implementing decisions. When principals make such ongoing choices about ongoing school issues, they, in effect, determine many of the instruction-related personnel process decisions in the school.

Evaluation in Education

In this chapter we attempt to clarify the meaning of evaluation as it has been conceptualized and practiced in recent years in the field of education.