Abstract:
This qualitative study is an examination of a body of films portraying school
administrators (principals, heads of school, deans, superintendents, assistant
principals or assistant superintendents) to ascertain: (1) the dominant images,
(2) if the portrayals present favorable (positive or neutral) or unfavorable
(negative) images of school administrators, (3) if the images change over time,
and (4) if the administrators exhibit the competencies recommended by a
professional organization of school administrators, the National Association of
Secondary School Principals (NASSP). The researcher also explains how he
selected the films used in this study. He argues that film is an art form and that
school administrators in film have not previously been studied as a distinct
group. Using the techniques of qualitative analysis, including constant
comparison, observational analysis, and interpretive commentary, the
researcher records the depictions in each film and cham the presence or
absence of the twelve NASSP competencies in each school administrator
character. The researcher assembles an expert panel to view and rate
characters in representative films using the NASSP competencies list.
