In a number of respects, principals of rural schools encounter problems different from their counterparts in urban schools, e.g., fewer supportive services are available to assist principals in administering programs for disadvantaged pupils, rural patrons often resist curriculum innovations and new teaching techniques, and any guidance services available are usually those provided by the principal. Principals trying to placate generally conservative school boards frequently resist the ideal of allowing teachers academic freedom and professional interaction among principals to foster growth and development is difficult because rural schools are geographically isolated. As a preliminary step to providing in-service activities and programs for elementary school principals in rural school districts in western Oklahoma, the needs of principals are identified and divided into categories of curriculum, instruction, communication, faculty and staff mangement, and student management; a Needs Assessment of Elementary Principals (NAEP) questionnaire is developed and administered to 269 principals in 177 school districts of 28 counties. Results from 133 usable rank order responses indicate that full-time and half-time principals perceive their greatest need to be instruction related and principals who also teach full-time rank faculty and staff management as their greatest need from in-service programs. (NEC)