An Investigation of Parents' Perceptions of the Junior-Academy Principal's Role in the Lake Union Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

<p>Problem. If he/she is to satisfy or accommodate the expectations of the various groups that interact with him/her, the principal needs to be aware of how they perceive his/her role; but no studies were found on parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine parents' perceptions of the role of the principal in Seventh-day Adventist junior academies in the Great Lake states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin.</p> <p>Method. A descriptive survey design was utilized for this study. A closed-type questionnaire developed by the researcher was submitted to a panel of eleven judges, modified, and pretested before it was sent to a stratified random sample of 434 parents whose children attended Seventh-day Adventist junior academies in the Lake Union Conference.</p> <p>The data collected were coded, and processed at Andrews University Computing Center. Chi-square was the statistical analysis used.</p> <p>Results. This study revealed the following results: (1) Parents agreed that the role of the junior-academy principal should include forty-eight of the forty-nine role responsibilities listed on the questionnaire. (2) The top three role responsibilities parents expected the junior-academy principal to perform were: (a) Promote unity among teachers; (b) Gain and maintain constituency confidence; (c) Hold personal conferences with teachers; (3) Of the seven areas of administrative responsibility identified, student personnel was ranked highest and spiritual leadership lowest. (4) There was a significant difference between parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role in relation to eight demographic and personal variables.</p> <p>Conclusions. Based upon the results of the study, these conclusions were made: (1) Parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role were similar to the expectations for that role as published in Seventh-day Adventist educational literature, and as expressed by Lake Union educational administrators. (2) There seems to be a relationship between parents' perceptions of the junior-academy principal's role and certain demographic and personal variables. (3) Parents regarded developing a good principal-parent relationship and a healthy principal-staff relationship as very important areas of administrative responsibility. (4) Parents regarded spiritual leadership the least important area of administrative responsibility.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Higher Education Administration EdD

Year

1984

Author dc:creator

• Carey, John

Contributors dc:contributor

• Edward A. Streeter
• Walter B. T. Douglas
• W.W. Liske

• Education
• Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research
• Elementary and Middle and Secondary Education Administration

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/263

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.andrews.edu:dissertations-1262