144 PREPARATION OF SCHOOL LEADERS
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the data, the following conclusions may be drawn: 1) principal preparation pro-
grams are perceived to be doing an “adequate” to “outstanding” job of preparing entry-level
skills/competencies for those seeking the principalship by all three responding groups, 2) su-
perintendents believe that principals are better prepared than reported by principals, and 3)
teachers perceive principals are less well prepared than either the principals or the superinten-
dents report. A limitation of this analysis was not disaggregating the data, namely, separating
superintendent, principal, and teacher responses by years in their profession.
Another consideration of the results is the role of the respondent in relation to their responses.
Do superintendents have the comprehensive big picture of the school district they serve and as
such have a better perspective of principals’ work? Do principals under-rate themselves? Do
teachers have a more systemic view of the school and as such have a better perspective when de-
termining the principal’s skills. Additional research needs to provide answers to these questions.
This gap analysis suggests other research questions: 1) what should be entry-level
skills/competencies versus those of an experienced principal, and 2) how can it be assured that
preparation programs are held accountable for the development of entry-level principal
skills/competencies versus the skills/competencies of experienced principals?
Equally important, are entry-level principals able to apply these skills/competencies to pro-
duce results? The data leads ineluctably to the conclusion that from the viewpoint of superinten-
dents, principals, and teachers, the 17 skills/competencies are the necessary skills to guide princi-
pals in their work. Data from superintendents, principals, and teachers have minimal variation in
their responses and the average of the responses for all groups was above 4 on a 5-point scale.
However, that is where the seeming overall agreement ends. As the data demonstrate, the
farther away from the classroom the respondent was, the wider the discrepancy between the
perceived attainment and the perceived importance of the skills/competencies. The under-
standing of the discrepancy is not able to be identified from the data. The surveys identified
the discrepancy; to determine causation further in-depth research is recommended.
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