An examination of how three elementary school principals make decisions about teacher development

For this phenomenological qualitative study, three elementary school principals were interviewed to gain an understanding of their responsibility for developing teacher practice and how the decisions they make affect how this responsibility is carried out amongst all the other duties of a principal.;Methodologically, semistructured interviews were conducted and the responses were analyzed for evidence of how teacher development fits with models of leadership, sociological paradigms, and dimensions of teacher development. The results of the research show that these three principals approach this responsibility with different philosophies and beliefs.;The intent is to inform the practice of current elementary school principals. The underlying premise for this thesis is based on research that identifies the many demands and responsibility placed on principals. The literature review explores existing research that describes the role of the principal in terms of a manager, supervisor, and leader and the high level of expectation placed on principals for student success and school improvement.