A study conducted in the winter of 1973 attempted to investigate how elementary school principals in innovative schools perceive their roles compared to the role perceptions of principals in more traditional school settings. Thirty-two schools were designated as innovative by a panel of four elementary school principals. It was assumed that the responses of a random sample of an equal number of principals of more traditional schools were representative of all elementary school principals in more traditional schools. A 6-page questionnaire was mailed to respondents that consisted of items designed to provide descriptive data about the principal, the school, and items concerned with experiences or activities of the principals in various task areas, such as instruction and curriculum development, school organization and structure, school plant and transportation management, and finance and business management. The general conclusion is that principals in innovative schools view their roles in supervision and administration as a cooperative effort with teachers to improve the teaching/learning situation more than do principals in more traditional schools. The conclusions made on the basis of the data collected in this study are, in part, that innovative schools are more likely to be in the larger school districts; all principals communicate with parents and the community by utilizing various media; and that principals of innovative schools have been in their buildings from three to ten years and have greater freedom to modify plant facilities than do principals in more traditional schools. (Author/JF)