Purpose: Urban school districts often face challenges in filling principal vacancies with effective leaders, especially in high-needs schools. Prospective principals' engagement with the job application process may contribute to these challenges. The goal of this study is to better understand the job search strategies and behaviors of prospective…

Purpose: Urban school districts often face challenges in filling principal vacancies with effective leaders, especially in high-needs schools. Prospective principals' engagement with the job application process may contribute to these challenges. The goal of this study is to better understand the job search strategies and behaviors of prospective…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between ICF coaching and early career principals' self-efficacy related to their a) management skills and b) instructional leadership. The sample for this study were principals in a larger urban school district in the northeast who began their principalship between July 2017 and June…

Due to several factors, including salary and increased demands, there is a shortage of qualified leaders to assume the principal role. Although there is a shortage, there is also a bench of credentialed leaders in assistant principals. The problem is identifying how school districts and principals build the capacity of and prepare their assistant…

Supporting principals in building capacity to balance both instructional leadership and managerial competence is an essential task. Recognizing that principals do not directly teach students, their impact on school outcomes is broadly understood to be second only to teacher classroom instruction (Grissom & Loeb, 2011; Grissom et al., 2015;…

In spring 2024, the authors surveyed 156 American School District Panel member districts about principal pipeline activities across seven domains -- leader standards, principal preparation, selective hiring and placement, on-the-job support and evaluation, principal supervision, leader tracking systems, and systems of support -- to estimate the…

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how novice female principals experienced preparedness upon completing an aspiring leaders program through a regional leadership development organization. This study provided voice to female principals and highlighted their lived experiences. Purposive sampling was utilized to identify nine…

The purpose of this qualitative, explanatory, single, case study was to explain how new and experienced principals in one 9-12 school district located in California perceived their transition to the principalship. Data were collected with regard to perceptions of administrator preparation and induction programs, along with their perceptions of…

The main purpose of the 2019-2020 evaluation of the Department of Leadership Development was to evaluate the implementation of the newly developed assistant principal (AP) and principal hiring processes, designed to select a diverse group of equity-focused, effective novice leaders. The hiring process consisted of using an online video…

Public school districts in large cities like Philadelphia are especially challenged to provide every school with an effective school leader. Principal mobility--that is, transferring from one school to another or leaving the principalship entirely--is disproportionately concentrated in school districts serving more low-income students and has…

This study focuses on the perceptions of new principals toward their learning experience in one or more of a Perfect Time Public Schools (PTPS) district-run principal preparation programs. The research design uses a qualitative approach to identify in-depth information to describe new principals' perceptions of their learning experience in…

High rates of principal turnover nationally mean that school districts constantly are called on to recruit and select new principals. The importance of a school's principal makes choosing candidates who will be effective paramount, yet we have little evidence linking information known to school districts at time of selection to principal's future…

Mentoring is an established method of supporting principals as they begin their careers; however, early studies focus on how a veteran principal supports a novice principal in acquiring the skills to manage the school. As the role of a principal has evolved from a building manager to a leader of learning, the role of mentoring has also evolved.…

School districts across the United States are confronted with a shortage of highly qualified principal applicants, a situation compounded by a haphazard approach to leadership succession planning. While the vast majority of principals and superintendents endorse the promotion of assistant principals as the most effective way to develop successful…

The American Rescue Plan Act has made funds available to states and districts to speed up recovery from the effects of COVID-19, including addressing learning loss. The Wallace Foundation has distilled evidence from its work that may be helpful in informing choices about how to spend those funds, as well as how to implement key strategies.…