Audit of Principal Effectiveness: A Process for Self-Improvement

Abstract

Feedback data provide an avenue to improved perceptions; in the educational setting, improved perceptions translate into personal growth and more positive organizational culture. To provide a valid, reliable, and practical instrument for faculty feedback regarding administrative skill, the Audit of Principal Effectiveness was developed in 1982. Over the next 4 years the instrument was statistically anaylzed, used in research and schools, refined, reanalyzed, and shortened; since 1986 it has been used in numerous research studies and in hundreds of schools across the country. The revised instrument provides the principal with teacher insight on 80 items of principal effectiveness. In addition, teacher perceptions are provided regarding three domains: (1) organizational development containing the factors of organizational direction, linkage, and procedures; (2) organizational environment containing the factors of teacher and student relations, and interactive and affective processes; and (3) the educational program containing the factors of instructional and curricular improvement. Factor scores within the three domains provide the principal with an understanding of personal administrative skills beyond the scope of each individual instrument item. Suggestions for use of the audit include providing anonymity for persons completing the instrument and summarizing and sharing the findings from the assessment with the faculty.