Comparative Study Of Chinese And American Elementary School Principal Roles

A good principal is a good school, the principal is the highest leader of the school, and plays a vital role in the running and development of the school. Due to different countries have different political systems, economic and scientific and technological level, history and culture, education tradition and so on, their principal role have their own characteristics. To analyze and compare the principal role of the different countries can help us understand the principal role deepper and promote countries to learn from each other. The main research methods of this thesis are literature, interview and comparative study. Sandra Mond, the principal of Parkway school, in Greenwich district, Connecticut, the USA, and Ms. M, the principal of M primary school, in district Y, Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China, are the two cases of this study. The thesis describes the principal role of the two countries in the three aspects:the acquisition of the principal role, the duties of the principal, and the professional development of the principal. This description and comparation can privide references for the development of the role of primary school principals in China. This thesis includes the main contents of the following five parts:Chapter1:The preface. It described the questions and the significance of the research, literature review, research contents and methods, definition of concepts and the innovation and shortage of this study.Chapter2:Role of principal and the study case. This chapter explains the theory of role, the principal role, the importance of the principal role, as well as the selection of the case, to set up the theoretical basis and the methodology advising for the subsequent chapters.Chapter3:Comparison of the acquisition of the principal role in China and America. This chapter shows how to become principals of primary schools in the two countries from two aspects:the principal qualification and selection procedure. China and the America have different situations and China should continue to improve the the principal qualification system and selection procedure to develop principal professionalism, service awareness and the work competence.Chapter4:Comparison of the performance of the principal duties in China and America. The structure of schools influences the rights and duties of their principal, and their performance points to the school goals. This chapter firstly describes the structure and management goals of the two primary schools in China and America, and then from the human, financial, and things management to show the role behavior of the two primary school principals in their routine work, for example, the management of teachers and students, raising funds, and dealing with the relationship amoung schools, families, communities and the governors, which reflect that Chinese primary school principals should strengthen the teaching demonstration and guidance role, and strengthen the communication with the community, parents and co-workers.Chapter5:Comparison of the professional development of principals in China and America. This chapter describes the professional development of the principals of the two countries from three aspects:principals’ learning and training, to participate in education reform, school characteristics. China should enrich the training contents and forms for principals, participate education reform activities should based on the actual situation, build up advanced educational philosophy, strive to form school characteristics, and better promote the development of students and teachers.The role of primary school principals in China and America really have a lot of differences, America more in line with the requirements of the development of the times, and there are many aspects that need to learn and improve in China, at the same time, we should remember the different educational tradition and current national conditions of the two countries, and learn from American experience on the basis of Chinese reality.