Problems of Practice: From the Principal's Perspective

Abstract

This article explores the way that principals understand the nature of the problems that deter schools from better accomplishing their missions. The views presented are those of approximately 40 elementary and secondary principals in two urban school districts in the Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the United States. From the perspective of these principals, schools as organizational workplaces for administrators, teachers, and students are plagued by stress, frustration, and alienation. Although a multi-faceted and complex problem in itself, this organizational malaise is viewed as an outgrowth of an even more complex problem—a growing gap between the culture of the schools and the society of which they are a part. These observations emphasize the importance of examining the way in which organizational policies and procedures of schools and school districts impact upon the motivational needs of administrators, teachers, and students.