A questionnaire was sent to 16 rural and 16 urban elementary school principals in New Mexico to determine if professional tasks of elementary principals differed according to urban (towns of 50,000 or more) or rural (up to 2,500 population) location. Randomly selected, the principals were asked to respond to 22 questions related to tasks involving teachers and other personnel, tasks dealing with clerical work, professional duties, and other tasks. Questionnaire results from 13 urban and 11 rural principals indicated many common tasks regardless of population. Differences were that more urban than rural principals kept attendance records, more urban principals ordered supplies from the school's central office, while rural principals prepared their school's master calendar more often than urban counterparts. While most rural principals did not oversee the food service program, almost half of the urban principals had that responsibility. Implications for training of future administrators, both rural and urban, included emphasis on preparation of in-service faculty programs and personnel management, including interviewing procedures, hiring, formulation of job descriptions, personnel evaluation, and functions of special education personnel. (RS)