Comparing Actual and Desired Tasks in the School Principalship.

The school principalship has undergone change in the past decade. Principals are expected to make daily decisions in the best interests of students within their school systems. Secondary school principals are socialized to choose between idealized (or desired) tasks and conventional (or actual) tasks associated with their job. A literature review discloses that discipline, feedback, efficiency versus effectiveness, and individual personality needs versus institutional role requirements are very real problems for today's administrator. This paper describes a survey of high school principals randomly chosen from 615 Oklahoma school districts; 350 questionnaires were mailed out, with a 58 percent response (N=200). Correctional analysis and analysis of variance were used to prove that no conflict exists between what Oklahoma secondary principals actually do and what they think should be done. Also, neither school size nor recent attendance at a higher education institution has any bearing on secondary administrators' actual and desired task priority. There is no difference between current and desired task priorities when compared to similar 1977 studies. While more research is needed, the present study should help higher education institutions understand secondary principals' tasks and principals understand the effects of their everday decisions. Included are 30 references. (MLH)