Self and staff perceptions of evangelical Christian school principals on leadership behaviors, ideological issues, and choice issues

Purpose of the study. The purpose of this study was three fold: (1) to describe the self-perceptions and the staff-perceptions of evangelical Christian principals in the areas of leadership behaviors, ideological issues, and choice issues; (2) to determine if there existed a significant difference between these perceptions; (3) to determine the effect of gender, level of education, and denominational preference on those perceptions.;Findings. (1) Principals and staff perceive the principals strong in eleven of the twelve leadership factors but weak in production emphasis. (2) There were significant differences in two of the leadership factors, Reconciliation and Tolerance of Uncertainty, between the principals and their subordinates. (3) The principals and staff agree that the pastor of the church should not be the ultimate authority regarding the content of the curriculum and that all publishers may be considered if the review of the content proves to be nonoffensive to the doctrines of the church. (4) A majority of the principals and staff agree that they should have the responsibility of developing the policy regarding discipline and curricular policy. (5) Principals and staff agree that teachers and administrators should not only be qualified by the church but trained in their fields. (6) Principals and staff strongly agree that tax credits benefit the family. (7) The high percentage of "no opinion" from the staff on choice issues may have affected the outcome. (8) There were significant differences between the principals and staff in four of the ideological statements; curriculum, training of the administrator, disbursement of budgeted funds, and establishing curricular and discipline policy. (9) Gender had a significant effect on the factors of persuasion, representation, structure, and consideration among principals, but had no significant effect on the responses from the staff. (10) Level of education and denominational preference had no significant effect on the mean scores in the areas of ideological or choice issues.;Conclusions. The Christian school principals have strong feelings in the areas of curriculum, discipline policy, qualification of teachers and principals, and expenditure of budgeted funds from tuition and vouchers. Principals and staff perceive the principals' weakest behaviors are Production Emphasis and Role Assumption. The responses from both principals and staff indicate principals' views on curriculum, discipline, budget control, and teacher qualifications may differ from established policy. Tax credits and vouchers are viewed positively by the principals. Gender had a significant effect on persuasion, representation, structure and consideration among principals, but no effect on the responses of the subordinates. Level of education and denominational preference had no significant effect on the mean scores of the principals and staff in the areas of ideological and choice issues. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).