Principalship, History of

Kathleen M. Brown

Until the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, full-time building administrators were not typically found in schools. Since then, the role of the principal has constantly been reshaped, redefined, and renegotiated due to changing demographics, conflicting societal values, and shifting expectations. Throughout the history of the modern American school, differences in political, social, and economic philosophies have had a major impact on the development and organization of education in general. Immigration, urbanization, the rise of great corporations, the traumas of two world wars, the Great Depression, the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s, and the high-stakes accountability movement of the 1990s influenced the values of society, reshaped the purpose of schooling, and increased the demands of the principalship. This entry reviews that history. The emergence of the principalship during the late 1800s created the shift of the administrative leader from “head teacher” to ...

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