Virginia principals and school law

This study sought to determine Virginia Public School principals' knowledge of school law as it relates to the kind, length/quantity, and recency of preparation and years of administrative experience. Other variables measured included how knowledge is associated with geographic location within the state, grade level of school, principals' educational attainment level and how principals maintain a current knowledge of school law.

A survey instrument was designed to collect demographic information and to test knowledge of court cases and state statutes. Two hundred ninety-eight principals participated in this study representing grade levels K-12 and all regions of the state. The principals' knowledge of four categories of school law (pupil issues, teacher/administrator issues, tort liability, church/state issues) was measured by a forty item true-false test.

The data were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance. The findings of this study indicated that there is no relationship between Virginia principals' knowledge of school law and their preparation (kind, length/quantity, recency) or years of administrative experience.

Findings also indicated that although several areas of weakness were detected, principals displayed an overall adequate knowledge of school law earning a mean score of 31.3 out of a possible 40.