Strategies for Transforming the Daily Work of Principals: A Study of Present Habits and Opportunities for Change 271Table 2. Analysis of Leadership Practices and Their Relationship to
Improvement of Student Achievement.Weak Mild Moderate Strong
Leadership Practice 1 2 3 4 Mean
Facilities and Services Management 89% 9% 2% - 1.13
Fiscal Management 83% 11% 4% 2% 1.25
Safe and Orderly Environment 77% 18% 4% 1% 1.29
Administrivia 75% 19% 5% 1% 1.32
Event Supervision 70% 26% 4% - 1.34
Parent & Community 68% 25% 5% 2% 1.41
Communication 65% 29% 5% 1% 1.42
Staff Issues 50% 31% 14% 5% 1.74
Special Education and 504 45% 36% 15% 4% 1.78
Instructional Leadership 12% 23% 39% 26% 2.79
conducting frequent classroom walkthroughs and providing teachers with feedback. Many
strategies were replicated by independent teams of interns and principals who worked
collaboratively to design them. Other strategies varied according to criteria that emerged
from the data. For example, school culture had an influence on the type of strategies
employed to reduce the time principals spend on school discipline. In cultures where the
principal and assistant principal were perceived as the key providers of order and discipline,
the strategies focused on how to engage the faculty in greater ownership of this responsibility.
In other situations, strategies appeared to be influenced by the level of autonomy that the
principal possessed. For example, the principal’s presence at athletic events was a strong
expectation in some school settings, while in others, interns and their principals identified
strategies that would significantly reduce the time invested.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Findings revealed answers to each of the three research questions. First, principals and
their interns identified ten major categories of daily tasks and responsibilities that consumed
the time of the principalship. The breadth of work under each category was considerable and
caused many participants to conclude that the roles of the school principal are too extensive
and disjointed. Second, principals and interns identified that most tasks and duties performed
had little or no relationship to what they understood as leadership work that influenced the
improvement of teaching and learning. Third, given the opportunity to collaborate on
strategies to reshape the daily work of principals, participants were able to target practices that