The Principal and the School: What Do Principals Do?

In our EPEL 8650 we recently discussed the article The Principal and the School: What Do Principals Do?  by Fred C. Lunenburg. As we approach the end of our leadership certification program, I know several of us are looking to move into the role of a  Principal or Assistant Principal, and I personally found the information shared in the article, not new, but still very interesting and eye opening! Some interesting points that I noted from Lunenburg's research includes:

• Heavy work load & Fast Pace: "On the average, elementary school principals work fifty-one hours a week, from seven to nine hours a day. High school principals average about fifty-three hours a week, dividing forty-two  hours during the day and eleven hours on school-related activities in the evening" (Lunenburg, 2010, p. 5).
• Variety, Fragmentation, and Brevity"...principals engaged in at least 149 different activities per day, half of which took less than five minutes each. This is a sharp contrast to many professional jobs, like engineering or law, which are characterized by long periods of concentration" (Lunenburg, 2010, p. 5).
• "Principals shift gears rapidly. There is no continuous pattern in their work"  (Lunenburg, 2010, p. 5).
• "An administrator's effectiveness was measured by subordinates' evaluations of their satisfaction, commitment, and unit performance" (Lunenburg, 2010, p.10).
• "Administrative success was determined by how fast the administrator had been promoted up the administrative hierarchy" (Lunenburg, 2010, p.10).

I invite you to read the article if you haven't already and share your thoughts on the research shared. If you are already in an active role as a Principal or Assistant Principal, how would you compare to  your workload, hours, and schedule to the research shared in the article?