Exploring the Influences on Principal Behavior

ABSTRACT

What principals do and the effects they have on schools have been the object of much research over the past decade. Because some patterns of principals' practices have been demonstrated to have considerable impact on schools, it seems important to better understand the reasons for what principals do. The two studies reported in this paper looked for such reasons in the context of the implementation of a special education policy in the province of Ontario. We asked what “factors” influenced the policy implementation activities of principals. Study one data were collected through lengthy interviews with 23 elementary and secondary principals; study two data were provided by 114 principals in response to a questionnaire. Results identified the major factors influencing principals' implementation activities and explored such variables as previous training and patterns of practice. The study suggests that school boards have the option of fostering more or less autonomous, “empowered” patterns of school administrator practices.