A study of the characteristics of the effective school principal as perceived by teachers

The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics of effective principals. This study's challenge was to narrow an infinite and diverse realm of research to identify the critical ingredients of today's most effective school principal and to determine if teachers' demographic factors affected their perceptions of the effective school principal.; The study was presented to 200 teachers in one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school in a suburban public school district in a midwestern state. 114 teachers completed a short survey on their perception of the ideal principal. The intervening variables (six demographic factors of school teachers) were tested to determine if each had any significant effect the dependent variables (characteristic of the effective principal).; The major results of the study indicated that gender does effect teachers' perceptions for the characteristics of organization, knowledge/intelligence, charisma, staff development, modeling, and vision/mission. The findings indicated that teachers with higher college degrees viewed the characteristics of support to staff and visibility differently than teachers with less college attainment. The study demonstrated that there was a negative correlation for the characteristics of organization/efficient, shared decision-making, and values/ethical commitment and overall job satisfaction. There were significant results for the female teachers at different teaching levels for consistency and culture/climate. Results revealed no statistically significant differences for the number of principals worked for, number of years teaching, and teaching level for any of the twenty characteristics.; The findings from this study indicate there are some differences in teachers' perceptions of the effective school principal according to gender, females at various teaching levels, highest college degree attained, and job satisfaction. The study's results have implications for institutions of higher education in developing curriculum, school boards in forming recruitment and appraisal polices, and school administrators in selecting school principals.