A study of relationships between faculty and administration in certain elementary schools

Abstract

At its inception, it was the purpose of this study to appraise the extent to which democratic methods were being practiced by certain Virginian elementary school administrators as they and their faculties formed, regulated, and implemented school policies and procedures.

In order to construct instruments which would measure the extent to which democratic principles were being observed, it was necessary to list some of the specific ways in which administrators and teachers tended to work together. Graduate students and prominent people in the field of elementary education helped to identify those aspects of the administrator-teacher relationship.

A city school system in Southside Virginia was selected to provide the background of the investigation, also the school personnel to respond to the research instruments planned for use in this study.

Those two instruments, one for elementary teachers and the other for elementary principals, were constructed, again, with the aid of members of the Graduate Seminar at Radford College, and of prominent educators.

A search of the literature in the field of elementary administration resulted in the selection of the one criterion used in the study, as follows: A thoroughly democratic administration is needed to insure a successful and happy school.