The purpose of this study was to examine principal evaluation as conducted in the public school divisions of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Specifically, the study (1) described principal evaluation policies and procedures currently in place in the school divisions, (2) compared those policies and procedures with "state of the art" ” recommendations in literature, and (3) made recommendations that should prove helpful in the development of principal· evaluation policies and procedures for school divisions.

Data for the study were collected from the school divisions of Virginia in two ways. A questionnaire was sent to the chief personnel officer in each division and written policy and procedures were collected from each division.

The findings indicated there is a need for updating principal evaluation policy and procedures in many of the public school divisions in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Recent revisions in principal evaluation policy and procedures reported by some of the public school divisions do not evaluate effective leadership. However, it is not necessary for the Virginia Department of Education to develop a principal evaluation prototype since there are a number of excellent principal evaluation programs presently in existence in the school divisions.