Critical Issues Facing School Principals

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to further extend research initially conducted in 2003 pertaining to the critical issues K-12 principals address on a daily basis. The study involved surveying school principals within the state of Mississippi to discover the critical issues they identified, the significance level of these issues, and the rationale behind the top ranked critical issue as identified by each principal. Findings indicated several changes in rank order of the issues, but accountability was once again noted as the most critical issue. A chi-square and Cramer’s V treatments suggested no statistically significant relationship between the independent variables, gender, age, school level, administrative experience, education system and highest degree, and the dependent variable, critical issue. Moreover, data indicated school safety was considered less critical than several other issues.