This article reports on a focus group which was one of four principal focus groups held across the United States in Florida, Virginia, New Mexico, and Missouri as part of Voices 3, a national research project on the status of the principal and superintendent roles, sponsored by the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA). In other areas, focus groups were also conducted regarding superintendent roles. The two previous studies, Voices Phase 1 (Kochan, Jackson, & Duke, 1999) and Voices Phase 2 (DiPaola, Acker-Hocevar, Grogan, Davis, & Ivory 2002), address principals' and superintendents' most vexing problems and challenges, and preparation, expectations, and challenges respectively. In Voices 3, these first four principal focus groups were pilot testing questions and gathering information to be analyzed related to responses. The focus group protocol used by the researchers was developed from Krueger and Casey's (2000) work on conducting effective focus groups. Based on areas identified by Murphy (2002), focus group questions addressed three strands: (1) student learning; (2) social justice and fairness; and (3) democratic community. One strand each was piloted in Virginia, New Mexico, and Missouri. The Florida principal focus group piloted questions that combined all three areas of student learning, social justice and fairness, and democratic community into one. Analysis of the process and responses will lead to refinements for the next stage of the research.