One of the primary challenges confronted by school principals is the ever-expanding number of duties that require a tremendous investment of time and effort (Portin, Shen, & Williams; Sergiovanni, 2001). Apart from dealing with managerial and administrative tasks, school principals in recent years are also being trained to take on the position of instructional leaders (Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium [ISLLC], 1996). Even more pertinent to this discussion, Rayfield and Diamantes (2004) have utilized the focus group discussion to identify 25 duties of a principal. The most important duties of a principal have been extracted from this list:
Assign teachers to specific courses;
Determine and set up professional development opportunities;
Develop a harmonious and cooperative work environment;
Deal with students' discipline problems;
Interact with parents with regard to students;
Ensure the overall safety of students;
Create and modify the curriculum as needed;
Take responsibility for instructional courses;
Develop and implement the budget; and
Each of these tasks is central to the day-to-day and long-term operations of the school. As the primary leader who is ultimately responsible for the work of the instructional and support staff, along with the well-being of the students, the school principal must also ensure the availability of all the resources necessary to provide quality education to the students. For example, the principal should ensure that sufficient qualified teachers have been hired to teach the courses offered at the school by selecting appropriate teachers and providinf professional ddvelopment opportunities. At the same time, the courses taught must also be in compliance with any existing and new state mandates. Certainly, the safety of all the students is also an important issue that cannot be neglected by the principal. Finally, the principal also needs to obtain a...