In order to study the process of school desegregation, it becomes necessary to pinpoint that administrative position most centrally involved in the alteration of the individual school: that of the principal. From the pilot study conducted with the principals and assistant principals in York County, Virginia, in the spring and summer of 1969, a picture of the principal adjusting to his situation was developed. The entire population of the principals of junior high, senior high, and combined schools in the State of Virginia was surveyed for the statewide study. This constituted a total of 481 principals in 134 school districts. Of the 481 mailed questionnaires, 326 were returned, or a 68 per cent return. (14 questionnaires were incomplete, and therefore not usable.) Respondents represent 123 of the 134 school districts in the state. The survey contains data from 113 principals from rural areas, 56 from suburban areas, 46 from small towns, 36 from cities of less than 50,000 population, and 61 from cities of over 50,000. Of the 302 principals who gave the level of racial mixture in their schools, 115 were principals of schools that were 96-100 per cent white, and 11 were principals of schools of less than five per cent white. When the survey was conducted, only 165 of the 312 principals were principals of schools with more than a five per cent racial mixture. Of the 312 respondents in the survey, 82 per cent were white. (Author/JM)