TEACHER PREFERENCES FOR ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL SITE ADMINISTRATIVE MODELS

Abstract

Public school teachers with high leadership potential who stated that they had no interest in being school principals were surveyed on their attitudes about six alternative school site administrative organizational models. Of the 391 teachers surveyed, 53% identified the Co-Principal model as the preferred school site administrative structure. In order of prefer ence were the Co-Principal model, the Principal/Business Manager model, the Multi-Principal model, the Principal/Associate Principal model, the Principal Teacher/Principal Administrator model, and the Principal/Educational Specialist model. Among teachers at the elementary, middle, and secondary levels, the only significant difference was on the Multi-Principal model, which was favored more by middle and high school teachers than by elementary teachers. The findings suggest that teachers who had previously reported a lack of interest in becoming school principals might be interested in the position if the organizational structure of the school site were different from the traditional organizational model.