A PROFILE ANALYSIS AND STUDY OF THE PERCEPTIONS NORTH CAROLINA ELEMENTARY PUBLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPALS HAVE OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL SCIENCE PROGRAM IN GRADES K--6

The purpose of this study was to examine and describe the perceptions North Carolina elementary (K-6) public school principals have of their role and participation in the science program of their schools.;Major findings and conclusions are as follows: (1) Twenty five percent of the sample population of elementary school principals have had teaching experience in science while 12.6% held undergraduate degrees in science. The majority of those sampled were comfortable to highly satisfied with their handling of the science curriculum. (2) Elementary school principals revealed, through their perceptions of their administrative role in the supervision of the science program, a wide and variable range of participation. Less than half (40%) of the principals provided science inservice during the past year while slightly over 50% of the sampled principals indicated the availability of local school funds for science. (3) Science fairs had been held in over 60% of the schools but less than 35% of the sampled principals reported use of NSF-developed curricula. Less than 50% indicated the presence of a special facility for science teaching. (4) Principals perceived their teaching staff as: comfortable with science material, primarily using the lecture/discussion method of teaching science, and teaching science for more than 30 minutes every day. (5) The science experiences of principals did not appear to make a significant difference in the direction or involvement of the principal in the science program.;Data from this study suggests that a study by an independent observer is necessary to obtain additional evaluation of what principals have perceived as their role in the science program.;Questionnaires were mailed to a random sample of 455 elementary school principals whose schools housed any of the grades from kindergarten through sixth. Of the returned instruments, 374 were used for a total response rate of 82%.