Chapter 6: Conceptualizing and Validating a Measure of Principal Support

The school principal has been long recognized as a critical element of an effective school. Consequently, researchers have attempted to identify specific characteristics of effective school principals for decades. One aspect of principal behavior that has been neglected by researchers is the level of principal support of teachers. Yet, teachers consistently report that the level of support principals provide has a significant impact on their effectiveness and job satisfaction. This study tested an existing measure of principal support based on House’s (1981) theory of social support. It produced a 16-item valid and reliable operational measure of principal support, the Principal Support Scale (PSS). The study also generated and refined the concept of principal support with two related dimensions—expressive and instrumental. Expressive support is the degree of emotional and professional support teachers perceive, while instrumental support is the extent to which teachers perceive their principal as providing support in terms of time, resources, and constructive feedback.