Critical tasks for the Texas elementary school principalship of the future

Abstract

The objective of this research was to identify the critical tasks that lie within the operational scope of the Texas public school elementary principalship of the future to establish the expected time of implementation of these tasks. Data were collected from currently practicing elementary principals in the state who had been identified by their peers as experts or thoughtful practitioners in this field. The research objective was accomplished by: (1) reviewing national literature relating to the present position of the elementary principal and the trends toward this future position; (2) reviewing literature relating to the use of the Delphi as a futuristic research technique; (3) generating critical tasks, assessing priorities and time estimates for probable implementation, and refining these data through the use of repeated questionnaire; (4) analyzing the data through the final or concensus round of the Delphi; (5) comparing the results of the study with present and future trends identified in the literature. Seventy-four practicing elementary principals participated in the four rounds of the Delphi series. In Round One each respondent was requested to identify a list of tasks he predicted would be critical to the elementary principalship by the year 2000. With the aid of a steering committee, the tasks were condensed to 100 critical tasks and were included in Round Two. Participants were asked to rate each task as to priority and probable time of implementation..