New Principals: Problems, Priorities, and Preparation.

Findings of the first phase of a longitudinal study that developed a descriptive profile of new principals in New York City are presented in this paper. A survey of 216 newly appointed principals in New York City elicited 158 responses, a 73 percent response rate. Findings indicate that despite the emphasis on aspects of transformational leadership, the new principals' conceptions of their roles appear to be traditional: they view themselves as instructional leaders; give more attention to general managerial roles; and resist sharing authority. Within the district framework, the new principals see themselves as subordinates who have little autonomy and are expected to be compliant. They view bureaucratic obstacles as outside their control and lack strategies for dealing with obstacles that directly impact their performance. Given these findings, it seems unlikely that even those who espouse transformational leadership will be able to implement transformational-leadership strategies without additional district support. If superintendents want principals to act as change agents, they must convey those expectations clearly and provide principals with the authority, autonomy, and resources necessary to exercise leadership. (Contains 26 references.) (LMI) **************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * from the original document. *********************************************************************** New Principals: Problems, Priorities, and Preparation Karen E Osterman Hofstra University Gary M. Crow Jacqueline Rosen Louisiana State Univ. Bank Street College Introduction In summer 1991, the New York City Board of Education introduced an early retirement package that resulted in over 200 school principal vacancies. As a result, in September of that year, 216 new principals began their work in the New York City public school system. This turnover in the leadership of approximately 25% of the cityt schools was a potentially significant event. In conjunction with this turnover, the school system chancellor, Joseph Fernandez, recommended that the New York City Board of Education contract with Bank Street College of Education to provide a professional development program to serve principals from every community school district that requested assistance. Of the 32 school districts, 21 decided to participate in the program. As a result, the Bank Street New Principals Program began serving almost 75% of the new principals in New York City. Besides its program of service to new principals, Bank Street also began a longitudinal study of principal socialization. The study was designed to develop a more detailed understanding of principal leadership in this highly bureaucratic and ethnically This paper was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Atlanta, GA, April 14, 1993. U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Othce of Educatmnai Reseatch and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER Thts document haS been reprOduCed as reCetved from the persOn Or Organization Ortginafing Mmor changes have been made to (mprOve rePrOduchon Quality Petntspf vtew or opm(pns Stated (nth(sOCKu men, do not necesSardy represent OthCtal OE R1 DOSMon or pal(Cy 1 -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) and socioeconomically diverse urban environment. This paper presents the first phase of this study. Over the last twenty years, efforts to improve the quality of education at the school level have focused on the principal as one of the most important figures. Recognizing the significance of the leadership role, reform efforts have focused on the need to improve the quality of principal performance. M a result, in recent years, there has been a nationwide growth in the number of principal centers, tightening of certification requirements, and modification of administrative preparation programs at the university