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Gentilucci  \nCalifornia Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo  \nLou Denti  \nCalifornia State University Monterey Bay  \nCurtis L. Guaglianone  \nHeritage University, Washington  \nThis study utilizes Symbolic Interactionism to explore perspectives of neophyte principals. Findings explain how these perspectives are modified through complex interactions throughout the school year, and they also suggest preparation programs can help new principals most effectively by teaching “soft” skills such as active listening and trust-building in addition to traditional “hard” skills of finance, law, and program evaluation.  \nNew principals are asked to take on unprecedented challenges as leaders of K-12 public schools. Though they receive preparatory training at institutes of higher education or may have prior administrative experience, they often lack the skills, knowledge, and dispositions necessary to meet demanding challenges created by their multifaceted leadership roles. Much has been written about how to help new principals succeed in their appointments (see Davis, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, & Meyerson, 2005; Levine, 2005; Waters, Marzano & McNulty, 2003), yet only a fraction of this information is based upon direct reports from the source itself—the new principal (Gentilucci & Muto, 2007; Petzko, 2008) . We argue this knowledge gap is problematic because it is not possible to create more effective methods of training and supporting new principals without understanding their perspectives (i.e., thoughts, feelings, and beliefs) about issues they confront as they perform their day-to-day administrative duties.  \nEducational Leadership and Administration: Teaching and Program Development  \nVolume 24, January 2013  \nISSN 1532-0723 © 2013 California Association of Professors of Educational Administration  \nIn response, we designed an exploratory study to address this gap. The goals of our investigation were threefold: (1) to surface initial perspectives on site leadership held by new principals, (2) to investigate what these individuals thought was most challenging and/or rewarding during their first year as site leaders, and (3) to examine how their initial perspectives changed over time as they confronted the daily challenges of their jobs. We developed the following research questions to guide our investigation:  \n1. What were new principals’ initial perspectives oftheir role as site administrators?  \n2. What did they consider to be the most challenging aspects of their role?  \n3. How and to what extent were their perspectives oftheir role modified over time as they interacted with the challenges of their work?  \nTHEORETICAL FRAMEWORK  \nSymbolic Interactionism, with its focus on explaining human behavior in terms of meanings individuals attach to experiences, provides a cogent theoretical framework for investigating the perspectives of new principals. Noted University of Chicago sociologist Herbert Blumer (1969) outlined key elements of the theory, the first of which has particular relevance for this study. Blumer noted that people “act toward things on the basis of the meaning that the things have for them.” Simply put, new principals perceive events in school environments primarily as meaning-laden symbols, and their reactions to the meanings they attach to these symbols, rather than the events themselves, help explain why principals behave the way they do. For example, a directive from the central office requiring a change in school site administrative practice could be perceived very differently by two principals. One might perceive the change as making him or her temporarily incompetent by requiring a skill that s/he does not yet possess. Another may view the change as conflict, pitting his/her ideas about site leadership against those of central office administrators. In both instances, the symbolic nature of the change as perceived by the principals rather ","cbCainttOFuTQLmb","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCainttOFuTQLmb","pdf",38580,11,"English","# Volume 24, January 2013\n## Educational Leadership and Administration: Teaching and Program Development\n## Theoretical Framework\n## Methodology","[{\"question\":\"What theoretical lens does the study use to analyze new principals’ perspectives?\",\"answer\":\"The study uses Symbolic Interactionism to explain behavior through the meanings individuals attach to their experiences, allowing the principals’ interpretations to guide understanding.\"},{\"question\":\"What does the study aim to find about new principals during their first year?\",\"answer\":\"It seeks to surface initial perspectives on site leadership, identify what principals consider most challenging and/or rewarding, and examine how their perspectives change over time as they face daily work challenges.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the findings inform preparation programs for new principals?\",\"answer\":\"The study recommends emphasizing “soft” skills—such as active listening and trust-building—together with traditional “hard” skills like finance, law, and program evaluation.\"}]","New Principals’ Perspectives of Their Multifaceted Roles | PDF",1792094723,28]