The current study seeks to address whether
preparation programs are helping candidates anticipate and adapt to the
changing and increasing expectations placed on principals. Another guiding
question focuses on the nature and effectiveness of the internship. The study
also considers the kinds of mentorship and other support early-career
principals receive, whether that mentorship is formal or serendipitous.
Finally, the study probes how principal preparation programs might revise
current offerings to provide additional support for aspiring and early-career
principals.
The
purpose of the current study is to cull the perceptions of early-career
building administrators, focusing on their principal preparation programs,
their internships, their formal and informal mentors, and the kinds of support
they received—or wish they had received—as neophytes in the principal role.
