Volume 4 - Issue 1 - DBU Journal of K-12 Educational Research - Page 45

Journal of K-12 Educational Research 43 Introduction School system leaders need to understand the campus principal role, as well as the support and preparation experiences needed by campus principals. The role, preparation, and support of principals is impacted by the changing nature of the global economy, changing demographics of teachers and students, and policy and funding decisions (National Policy Board for Educational Administration [NPBEA], 2015; Ng & Szeto, 2016). The role requirements have expanded beyond operations and management requirements to include safety, accountability, operations, capacity building, and aligning vision. In addition to these new responsibilities, building administrators are also held accountable for improving student performance, evaluating teacher performance, turning around failing schools, and serving as the campus instructional leader. There is an expectation that principals will adapt to these changing conditions, serve as campus instructional leaders, and effectively manage and operate the campus. Principals feel increasingly alone and unprepared for all of these roles (Robbins & Alvy, 2014). These increasing demands require additional support and intentional preparation as campus principals are subject to removal if performance is unsatisfactory (Williams & Szal, 2011). In recognition of increasing role complexity, there is a new focus on properly developing and supporting principals (Campbell & Grubb, 2008; Ng & Szeto, 2016), and there has been an increase in efforts by national and state agencies to create performance standards for school leaders to guide principal preparation and support (Canole & Young, 2013). Principal preparation and support efforts are being launched within school systems and via partnerships between school systems and universities. Traditional university preparation programs are also being reviewed, analyzed, and modified to ensure new principals are effectively prepared. The latest versions of national and state level standards include recognition of the responsibilities of the principal to include community engagement, staff capacity development, equity, cultural responsiveness, and development of values statements, while also including the traditional roles of operations and instructional leadership (NPBEA, 2015). These new standards and other guidelines produced by educational leaders, universities, and foundations provide direction for the principal role and for the support and preparation of principals. The need for effective principal preparation and support is a special concern of public charter school system administrators due to role requirements, growth, and turnover (Campbell & Grubb, 2008). Charter principals face additional difficult challenges not shared by their traditional principal counterparts (Campbell & Grubb, 2008). Charter administrators face responsibility for the success and failure of their school as well as their entire school system (Bowman, 2000; Campbell & Grubb, 2008). Summary of Findings and Interpretation of Results Four research questions were explored in the current study. All four questions were studied using qualitative Journal of K-12 Educational Research 2020, VOL. 4, ISSUE 1 www.dbu.edu/doctoral/edd PRINCIPALS’ PERSPECTIVES OF PREPARATION AND SUPPORT IN A TEXAS CHARTER SCHOOL SYSTEM: A CASE STUDY Troy Mooney, EdD