The purpose of this study was to write a job description for the secondary school English department chairman and to test it with active English chairmen. The job description and questionnaire were sent to 50 percent of the membership of the Conference for Secondary School English Department Chairmen, a National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) affiliate; 65.5 percent of the questionnaires, representing 44 states were returned. Among the conclusions were: (1) There is an obvious need for a written job description for the English department chairman. (2) Many chairmen are new to the job. (3) Most chairmen want to and do teach at least one class. (4) Evaluation of chairmen is haphazard at best. (5) Nearly one half of the chairmen have or take no responsibility for teacher evaluation. (6) Chairmen are concerned with their own professional growth as evidenced by reading habits, participation in professional organizations, and graduate work. (7) Only 30 percent of the chairmen have teaching loads meeting the NCTE recommendation of being released from one class for every five full time English teachers. (8) Administrators must give chairmen greater support before the chairmen can be expected to do an effective job. (Author/DI)