Observations

We have conducted time-use observations of school principals in M-DCPS, MPS, KCMSD, and SFUSD. In M-DCPS we have also collected time-use observation data of high school Assistant Principals.

For these time-use observations, trained Stanford researchers shadowed the principals for an entire school day, starting roughly 30 minutes before the start of school and generally ending when students were released at the end of the day. Researchers recorded the principals' tasks throughout the day at five-minute intervals. At each observation, researchers coded the task the principal was engaged in at the exact time of observation, the location of the principal, with whom the principal was interacting, and the nature of the activity (e.g., phone call, scheduled meeting, etc.). In cases where multiple codes were relevant, the more specific code was entered as the primary task, with other relevant codes listed as secondary activities. Between each five minute task assessment, the researchers recorded observer comments, including details about the nature of the task and notes about tasks that were completed within the five-minute intervals.

Principal actions were coded as one of a list of 48 activities as shown in Figure 1. We populated our list of task codes based on the categories for principal duties developed by Spillane, Camburn, and Pareja (2007). We further developed this task list through consultation with principals and district leadership in multiple states. Finally, we refined our expanded list through pilot shadowing of principals in local schools. Hard copy versions of the shadowing observation protocol were used until the 2011-2012 school year, when an electronic version of the protocol was used for data collection in both M-DCPS and KCMSD.

The tasks fall into three main leadership roles: administrative, instructional, and relationship building. Within each of these roles, there are two categories of tasks. Administrative leadership combines management and operations; instructional leadership combines day-to-day instructional tasks with instructional program planning; and, relationship building combines fostering internal relationships with brokering (i.e., building support and obtaining external resources).