{"id":{"repo_id":"vt","oai_identifier":"oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/143422"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/vt/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/143422","repository":{"repo_id":"vt","name":"Virginia Tech","base_url":"https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Virginia Principals and School Law","abstract":"This quantitative study examined the level of school law knowledge possessed by secondary principals and assistant principals in Virginia public schools, including its relationships to the type, length, quantity, and recency of their law-related professional preparation and training, and years of administrative experience. The following questions guided this study: 1) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' actual knowledge of school law and their self-reported confidence in their understanding of school law? 2)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the kind of school law preparation received? (College course, school system workshop, non-school system seminar, other)? 3) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law in relation to the length/quantity of preparation received? (semester, quarter, three weeks minimum, one day or less, other)? 4) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the recency of school law preparation? 5)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the years of administrative experience held? Findings that came out of this research include: 1) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated moderately high overall school-law knowledge. 2) Virginia high and middle school secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated major overconfidence on two legal topics. 3) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals reported relatively high confidence in their school-law knowledge, yet this confidence showed little relationship to actual performance. 4) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated good alignment on the specific topic of warrantless searches of cell phones, with low knowledge scores corresponding to appropriately low confidence levels. 5) The type of school-law preparation received was not significantly related to knowledge scores. 6) Due to extreme skew in the data, the relationship between the length or quantity of school-law preparation and knowledge scores could not be meaningfully tested. 7) Neither the recency of school-law preparation nor years of administrative experience was significantly related to knowledge scores.","abstract_html":"This quantitative study examined the level of school law knowledge possessed by secondary principals and assistant principals in Virginia public schools, including its relationships to the type, length, quantity, and recency of their law-related professional preparation and training, and years of administrative experience. The following questions guided this study: 1) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' actual knowledge of school law and their self-reported confidence in their understanding of school law? 2)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the kind of school law preparation received? (College course, school system workshop, non-school system seminar, other)? 3) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law in relation to the length/quantity of preparation received? (semester, quarter, three weeks minimum, one day or less, other)? 4) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the recency of school law preparation? 5)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the years of administrative experience held? Findings that came out of this research include: 1) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated moderately high overall school-law knowledge. 2) Virginia high and middle school secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated major overconfidence on two legal topics. 3) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals reported relatively high confidence in their school-law knowledge, yet this confidence showed little relationship to actual performance. 4) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated good alignment on the specific topic of warrantless searches of cell phones, with low knowledge scores corresponding to appropriately low confidence levels. 5) The type of school-law preparation received was not significantly related to knowledge scores. 6) Due to extreme skew in the data, the relationship between the length or quantity of school-law preparation and knowledge scores could not be meaningfully tested. 7) Neither the recency of school-law preparation nor years of administrative experience was significantly related to knowledge scores.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["McClure, Amy Newcomb"],"institution":"Virginia Tech","degree_name":"Doctor of Education","degree_level":"doctoral","degree_discipline":"Educational Leadership and Policy Studies","degree_department":"Educational Leadership and Policy Studies","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":["Cash, Carol S."],"committee_members":["Lowery, Charles L.","Brabrand, Scott Sorensen","Alexander, Michael D."],"year":2026,"date_issued":"2026-06-15","date_published":"2026-06-15","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:56:18Z","subjects":["Virginia","Principal","School Law","Public School"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["In Copyright"],"rights_urls":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:46822"],"render_values":[{"text":"vt_gsexam:46822","href":null,"code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/10919/143422","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.committeechair","label":"Committee Chair","values":["Cash, Carol S."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.committeemember","label":"Committee Member","values":["Lowery, Charles L.","Brabrand, Scott Sorensen","Alexander, Michael D."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Educational Leadership and Policy Studies"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["McClure, Amy Newcomb"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-06-16T08:04:02Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-06-16T08:04:02Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2026-06-15"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Virginia Tech"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Educational Leadership and Policy Studies"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["doctoral"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Doctor of Education"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Virginia","Principal","School Law","Public School"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["In Copyright"]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["vt_gsexam:46822"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/143422"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This quantitative study examined the level of school law knowledge possessed by secondary principals and assistant principals in Virginia public schools, including its relationships to the type, length, quantity, and recency of their law-related professional preparation and training, and years of administrative experience. The following questions guided this study: 1) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' actual knowledge of school law and their self-reported confidence in their understanding of school law? 2)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the kind of school law preparation received? (College course, school system workshop, non-school system seminar, other)? 3) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law in relation to the length/quantity of preparation received? (semester, quarter, three weeks minimum, one day or less, other)? 4) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the recency of school law preparation? 5)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the years of administrative experience held? Findings that came out of this research include: 1) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated moderately high overall school-law knowledge. 2) Virginia high and middle school secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated major overconfidence on two legal topics. 3) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals reported relatively high confidence in their school-law knowledge, yet this confidence showed little relationship to actual performance. 4) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated good alignment on the specific topic of warrantless searches of cell phones, with low knowledge scores corresponding to appropriately low confidence levels. 5) The type of school-law preparation received was not significantly related to knowledge scores. 6) Due to extreme skew in the data, the relationship between the length or quantity of school-law preparation and knowledge scores could not be meaningfully tested. 7) Neither the recency of school-law preparation nor years of administrative experience was significantly related to knowledge scores."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstractgeneral","label":"General Abstract","values":["The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the level of school-law knowledge possessed by secondary principals and assistant principals in Virginia public Middle and High schools, including its relationships to the type, length, quantity, and recency of their law-related professional preparation and training; years of administrative experience; and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of their school communities. Findings that came out of this research include: 1) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated moderately high overall school-law knowledge. 2) Virginia high and middle school secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated major overconfidence on two legal topics. 3) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals reported relatively high confidence in their school-law knowledge, yet this confidence showed little relationship to actual performance. 4) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated good alignment on the specific topic of warrantless searches of cell phones, with low knowledge scores corresponding to appropriately low confidence levels. 5) The type of school-law preparation received was not significantly related to knowledge scores. 6) Due to extreme skew in the data, the relationship between the length or quantity of school-law preparation and knowledge scores could not be meaningfully tested. 7) Neither the recency of school-law preparation nor years of administrative experience was significantly related to knowledge scores."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["Doctor of Education"]},{"key":"dc:format.medium","label":"Dc Format Medium","values":["ETD"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Virginia Principals and School Law"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.committeechair":["Cash, Carol S."],"dc:contributor.committeemember":["Lowery, Charles L.","Brabrand, Scott Sorensen","Alexander, Michael D."],"dc:contributor.department":["Educational Leadership and Policy Studies"],"dc:creator":["McClure, Amy Newcomb"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-06-16T08:04:02Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-06-16T08:04:02Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2026-06-15"],"dc:description.abstract":["This quantitative study examined the level of school law knowledge possessed by secondary principals and assistant principals in Virginia public schools, including its relationships to the type, length, quantity, and recency of their law-related professional preparation and training, and years of administrative experience. The following questions guided this study: 1) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' actual knowledge of school law and their self-reported confidence in their understanding of school law? 2)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the kind of school law preparation received? (College course, school system workshop, non-school system seminar, other)? 3) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law in relation to the length/quantity of preparation received? (semester, quarter, three weeks minimum, one day or less, other)? 4) What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the recency of school law preparation? 5)What is the relationship, if any, between the principals' knowledge of school law and the years of administrative experience held? Findings that came out of this research include: 1) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated moderately high overall school-law knowledge. 2) Virginia high and middle school secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated major overconfidence on two legal topics. 3) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals reported relatively high confidence in their school-law knowledge, yet this confidence showed little relationship to actual performance. 4) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated good alignment on the specific topic of warrantless searches of cell phones, with low knowledge scores corresponding to appropriately low confidence levels. 5) The type of school-law preparation received was not significantly related to knowledge scores. 6) Due to extreme skew in the data, the relationship between the length or quantity of school-law preparation and knowledge scores could not be meaningfully tested. 7) Neither the recency of school-law preparation nor years of administrative experience was significantly related to knowledge scores."],"dc:description.abstractgeneral":["The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the level of school-law knowledge possessed by secondary principals and assistant principals in Virginia public Middle and High schools, including its relationships to the type, length, quantity, and recency of their law-related professional preparation and training; years of administrative experience; and the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of their school communities. Findings that came out of this research include: 1) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated moderately high overall school-law knowledge. 2) Virginia high and middle school secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated major overconfidence on two legal topics. 3) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals reported relatively high confidence in their school-law knowledge, yet this confidence showed little relationship to actual performance. 4) Virginia secondary principals and assistant principals demonstrated good alignment on the specific topic of warrantless searches of cell phones, with low knowledge scores corresponding to appropriately low confidence levels. 5) The type of school-law preparation received was not significantly related to knowledge scores. 6) Due to extreme skew in the data, the relationship between the length or quantity of school-law preparation and knowledge scores could not be meaningfully tested. 7) Neither the recency of school-law preparation nor years of administrative experience was significantly related to knowledge scores."],"dc:description.degree":["Doctor of Education"],"dc:format.medium":["ETD"],"dc:identifier.other":["vt_gsexam:46822"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/10919/143422"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["Virginia Tech"],"dc:rights":["In Copyright"],"dc:rights.uri":["http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/"],"dc:subject":["Virginia","Principal","School Law","Public School"],"dc:title":["Virginia Principals and School Law"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Educational Leadership and Policy Studies"],"thesis:degree_level":["doctoral"],"thesis:degree_name":["Doctor of Education"],"thesis:institution_name":["Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:56:18Z"}