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Presidential Address: Go to the Principal's Office: Toward a Social History of the School Principal in North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

Kate Rousmaniere
Kate Rousmaniere*
Affiliation:
Miami University, Ohio
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Extract

Of the many organizational changes that took place in public education in North America at the turn of the last century, few had greater impact on the school than the development of the principal. The creation of the principal's office revolutionized the internal organization of the school from a group of students supervised by one teacher to a collection of teachers managed by one administrator. In its very conception, the appointment of a school-based administrator who was authorized to supervise other teachers significantly restructured power relations in schools, realigning the source of authority from the classroom to the principal's office. Just as significant was the role that the principal played as a school based representative of the central educational office.

Type
Articles
Information
History of Education Quarterly , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , February 2007 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © 2007 History of Education Society 

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