| The purposes of this study were (1) to identify the actual and ideal roles of the elementary school building-level curriculum coordinator as perceived by coordinators and their principals, (2) to compare perceptions of the actual and ideal coordinator roles with aspects of the role of the assistant principal for curriculum. To collect necessary data, statements describing role related tasks identified from the literature were developed into a survey instrument.;A total of 169 instruments were distributed by mail; 142 subjects--67 principals, 21 assistant principals for curriculum, and 54 curriculum coordinators employed in Florida elementary schools--responded, a return rate of 84%. To assist in data interpretation, structured interviews were also held with 11 additional randomly selected district and school level administrators.;Forty respondents indicated that the curriculum coordinators had a high level of responsibility for 12 of the identified tasks, which dealt with curriculum development, educational research, human relations, development of school and community relations, and instructional strategies, were identified as appropriate for the ideal coordinator role by the combined principal and coordinator groups. Tasks dealing with personnel selection and evaluation were rejected by both principals and coordinators.;No statistically significant relationships (.05) were found in perceptions of the actual and ideal responsibilities of the coordinators' role across selected variables (sex, age, position, and degree). The assistant principal for curriculum ideal role was similar to that of the curriculum coordinator, although the assistant principals did not perceive their actual level of responsibility for tasks described to be as high as that of the curriculum coordinators. |
