What Influences Principals' Perceptions of Academic Climate? A Nationally Representative Study of the Direct Effects of Perception on Climate

Using a nationally representative sample of public high schools (N = 439), we examined the extent to which the principal's perception of their influence over instruction, the evaluation of nonacademic related tasks as well as academic related tasks, and their relationship with the school district relates to their perception of academic climate while controlling for school-level covariates. Little attention has been given to date to the principal's perception of their responsibilities and how it relates to their view of academic climate. The findings link academic climate with direct effects from principal perceptions of support and evaluation from the district.