The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) sponsors the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education in order to collect data on public and private schools, principals, and teachers in the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau conducts the survey for NCES. The NTPS provides data on the…

We used interrupted time series to examine the causal effect of principals on school performance over time and whether the trajectory of performance is affected by school context and leadership practices. Results were based on a unique dataset that links responses from the National Schools and Staffing Survey with 10 years of California Academic…

Purpose: Using the collective leadership framework, this study examines (a) how principals perceive their own influence and that of other key stakeholders in various school decisions and (b) how principals' perceived influences of other stakeholders are associated with their own influence. Research Method/Approach: This study uses the nationally…

A safe school environment is essential for effective learning and the inculcation of civic values. The article presents a comparative analysis of school climate and safety in private and public schools using nationally representative data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) 2011-2012. Ordinal logistic regressions are used to study…

This report summarizes analyses of survey responses of approximately 101,310 teachers and principals who, between 1999-00 and 2011-12, answered the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) and the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), two national surveys. Their responses to most recurrent discipline incidents and to most serious problems facing…

Public and private school principals were asked to report whether their school had a staff member assigned to work on parent involvement; workshops or courses for parents or guardians; services to support parent participation such as providing child care or transportation; or a parent drop-in center or lounge. The Principal Questionnaire was…

While substantial school choice research focuses on student achievement outcomes, little has explored the mechanisms involved in producing such outcomes. We present a comparative analysis of private and public school principals using data from the School and Staffing Survey (SASS) 2011-2012. We add to the literature by examining the differences in…

Little research explores the relative influence of various stakeholders on school discipline policy. Using data from the SASS and ordered logistic regression, this study explores such influence while assessing variation across schools types and changes over time. Principals consistently rate themselves and teachers as the most influential…

Purpose: While school leadership literature has searched for practices with the largest effect on outcomes, we know little about how these behaviors vary by context. Further, recent shifts to include teachers in leadership have prompted a need for purposeful distinction between teacher and principal perceptions and roles. Person-centered…

Purpose: Decades of research on different leadership styles shows that effective school leadership is the degree of influence or synergy between teachers and principals around the core business of schools, instruction. While various styles, such as transformational, instructional, shared instructional, point to the similar measures of high…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the extent to which there is a typology of principals who depart from their schools in the U.S. using the 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey and the 2008-2009 Principal Follow-up Survey. Prior principal retention research has focused on identifying factors that predict principal turnover; however,…

Purpose: Effective styles of principal leadership can help address multiple issues in struggling schools, such as low student achievement and high rates of teacher attrition. Although the literature has nominated certain "idealized" leadership styles as being more or less effective, such as transformational, instructional, and shared…

This article discusses the characteristics of rural versus nonrural principals in the High Plains states. It is based on data from the Schools and Staffing Survey, examining the differences in preparation and experience and the extent to which characteristics of the rural principalship (perceptions of autonomy, workload, etc.) predicted retention.…

This study investigated public school principals' reports of professional development implementation at the school level while working in different state- and local-level contexts (state accountability level, geographic locations, socioeconomic status, demographics, and grade levels). I attempted to measure principals' reported changes in levels…

In the context of the charter school movement in the last 25 years, this author analyzed the 2007-2008 Schools and Staff Survey (SASS) data to answer two research questions: (a) after controlling for school level and school size what are the differences between traditional and charter public school principals when examining their personal and…