The purpose of this study was to identify whether the types of previous extracurricular leadership experiences had by assistant principals was related to their current role as assistant high school principals. In particular, the study examined whether assistant principals were more likely to have athletic rather than non-athletic extracurricular activities as part of their background leadership experiences. In addition, type of background leadership experience was examined for relationship to a number of sociodemographic factors including principals' ages, number of years in the field of education, number of years as administrators, gender, and grade configuration of the school.
The study used survey methods involving a mailing to the entire population of secondary public school principals in the state. Findings of the study revealed that assistant principals were far more likely to have extracurricular athletic background experiences, especially if they were male.
Moreover, these experiences were found to be related to differences in the number of years principals had spent as administrators. Number of years spent in the field of education and grade configuration of the school were not observed to be related to the type of leadership background experience variable.
Greenfield (1991) has noted that effective school leadership requires an administrator to function as a leader in several roles simultaneously. These role include managerial, political, social, instruction, and moral roles.
Greenfield states that there are several variables such as personality traits, situational aspects, and organizational policy and practice, which influence the degree of effectiveness of school principals and assistant principals in these roles. One of the most important factors is the leader's degree of prior experience in school leadership roles.
One reason why prior leadership experience is so crucial to effective adm...