High School Principals’ Use of Time in the State of Missouri, USA

Accepting educational responsibility among educators depends on how they use their time. Time management and use among high school principals signals what is valued – and what is not. This study describes how public high school principals in the state of Missouri reported spending their time to various leadership tasks using selected items from International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) survey questionnaire. Design. Principals from all public non-chartered high schools in Missouri were asked to complete either a paper or online survey. Findings. Principals spend more time on management-related activities than curriculum and instruction-related activities. There is a strong association between time-use on curriculum and instruction with both gender and school size. The more leadership experience a principal has, the less time they are likely to spend on school management activities. Time-use on organization management is strongly associated with school size. Conclusion. If instructional leadership is a fundamental priority for principals, then development and support of principals to lead successful schools will require a redesign of their roles to free time for instructional leadership. School districts that hire their principals from a pool of assistant principals or invest in principal pipelines, need to develop a strategy to build the instructional and leadership skills of assistant principals as well.