ABSTRACT R. BLAIR PETERSON: Principals’ Perceptions of the Technological Knowledge and Skills Necessary for Effective School Leadership (Under the direction of James L. Morrison)
This descriptive study addresses the problem of the current dearth of
literature concerning what principals of technology-rich schools perceive as the skills
and knowledge necessary for their work and the way these competencies should be
taught in principal-preparation programs. The population sampled for this study
consists of 4,506 principals of technology-rich schools throughout the country as
identified by Quality Education Data (QED). QED collected data for the CEO
Forum’s 1999 School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Report. The stratified
random sample (geographic region and school grade span) contacted for
participation in this study consisted of 15% (678) of the population. Three hundred
and eighty-five principals responded to a questionnaire survey in six sections—five
concerning: (a) the level of importance of technological skills; (b) the level of
importance of technological knowledge; (c) their frequency of use—by tool; (d) their
frequency of use—by task; (e) their preferred format for principal-preparation
programs; and the sixth (f) a general professional profile. Using two methods to
analyze the results, I first aggregated responses, reporting percentages and means.
Second, I used a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test to examine mean
difference amongst groups, treating school grade span as an independent variable.
The primary goal being to contribute data regarding principals’ views of their
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relationship to technology in the schools—not to explain differences among groups,
but to highlight them. Principals of technology-rich schools classify word processing,
electronic mail, World Wide Web search engines and navigation tools as very
important for effectively performing their professional responsibilities. They also
report they frequently use word processing, electronic mail and spreadsheets to
communicate to staff, collect, analyze and share data for decision making and to
make personnel decisions. The principals of technology-rich schools place a high
level of importance on knowledge of technology-related issues (e.g., evaluating
effectiveness of instruction when technology is integrated, planning technology
integration). No significant differences appeared between grade span mean scores
(see tables, Chapter IV) in the one-way analyses of variance tests. Results point to
need for inclusion of technology in educational leadership programs and expanded
research.