The preparation of Illinois elementary school principals for the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 requirements

The research conducted for this dissertation has its origins the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLBA). The NCLBA requires a new level of accountability for schools to demonstrate student achievement among all NCLBA-identified subgroups of children. The accountability extends to principals and their roles as communicators, researchers, educators and implementers of school reform.; The research includes an inquiry into the preparation of Illinois elementary school principals and attempts to identify any factors included in that preparation which may or may not assist principals in their responsibilities to implement the requirements of NCLBA.; The findings reveal the following: (1) Principals have limited to no coursework in the areas of curriculum, instruction and assessment. (2) Principals have limited to no coursework in the area of statistics. (3) Principals identify as "shared" or "full" their responsibility to implement the requirements of NCLBA. (4) Principals have limited confidence in their ability to implement the two requirements that are at the heart of NCLBA: to identify and implement research-based school reform in order to increase the academic achievement of all children. (5) Principals with Ed.D. or PhD degrees have higher levels of confidence in their ability to identify and implement research-base school reform than do their peers with M.A. degrees.; The recommendations contained within this dissertation include a review of principal preparation programs by both the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) and certificating universities in Illinois. The requirements inherent in NCLBA have placed principals in position to implement research-based school reform. Sadly, principals do not feel confident in their ability to do so. It is incumbent upon the ISBE and certificating universities to provide the preparation necessary for principals.