Abstract
<p>Purpose of the Study. The purposes of this study were to: (1) assess the perceptions of principals toward two performance appraisal methods, the Performance Planning and Appraisal System (PPAS) and the Performance Standards Approach; and (2) relate these perceptions to principals' perceived performance in the area of curriculum.This study aided in determining if four independent variables, socioeconomic status of the school, principals' years of experience, educational degree of the principal, or type of school (elementary or secondary), were related to principals' perceptions of the two management systems.Statistical Analysis. An analysis of variance was used to examine SES since there were three groups involved. Two-tailed t-tests were used for all other variables since they contained two groups each. Principals rank ordered selected job factors. They also rank ordered curriculum roles of the principal.Population. All principals of a large, metropolitan school system in the Southeast United States employed in the school year 1978-79 served as the population. There were 275 schools.Instrumentation. Two questionnaires were developed, piloted, and modified for use in this study. The Alpha coefficient of both questionnaires was .93. The purpose of the Performance Appraisal Questionnaire was to measure principals' attitudes toward the two management systems under study.The Curriculum Practices Questionnaire was developed to measure principals' perceived performance in curriculum under the two management systems.Selected Findings. There was a significant relationship (p < .05) between the school SES and the preference of management systems. Principals of middle income schools preferred the Performance Standards Approach, a non-MBO system.Overall, principals in this study showed no significant preference between the PPAS and the Performance Standards Approach. No preference was found based on any variable other than school SES.Principals' perceptions of their job performance in curriculum did not differ under the two management systems regardless of the independent variable.Principals ranked opportunity to experience a sense of accomplishment as the most important job factor. Development of school goals and objectives to guide instruction was ranked first in curriculum roles of the principal.</p>