Do school district central offices and school principals have the same level of influence on school decisions? What does the district-principal power relationship look like? These two questions are discussed but are rarely examined in the literature. Based on a nationally representative sample from the 2007-2008 Schools and Staffing Survey data,…

Purpose: Teachers' satisfaction with their jobs has reached the lowest point in 25 years. One contributing factor is when teachers experience information-poor hiring processes and do not obtain an accurate preview of their positions, their person-organization (P-O) fit, and person-job (P-J) fit. Sparked by a renewed focus on the variables that can…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine school leaders' preferences and practices in an environment of widespread decentralization, privatization, and school choice. In New Orleans, such reforms have been enacted citywide since Hurricane Katrina, making it an ideal site to examine what happens when policy makers lift restrictions for…

Purpose: New teacher effectiveness measures have the potential to influence how principals hire teachers as they provide new and richer information about candidates to a traditionally information-poor process. This article examines how the hiring process is changing as a result of teacher evaluation reforms. Research Methods: Data come from…

Purpose: Relatively little is known about how principals make decisions about teacher hiring. This article uses mixed methods to examine what characteristics principals look for in teachers. Research Methods: Data were gathered using a mixed method approach, including in-depth interviews with a representative sample of 31 principals as well as an…

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to provide a better understanding of how instructional leadership responsibilities are distributed in International Baccalaureate (IB) schools in East Asia. Research Design: Case studies were conducted in five international schools located in Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, and China. These schools were selected…

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to explore how the characteristics of the principal preparation programs of newly hired elementary school principals might influence school achievement through the development of well-qualified teams of teachers by the school. Of primary interest is whether elementary school principals from preparation…

In this article, the authors explore how school-based hiring reforms play out among schools serving different students in different locations within a single district. In particular, they consider how the intersection of school-based capacity and local school context affect teacher selection practice and outcomes. The analysis is based on a…

To examine staff selection within the context of federal age and race discrimination in employment legislation, high school principals screen hypothetical job candidates of varying chronological age and national origin for either a teacher or an assistant principal position. Finds the screening decisions are influenced by age and national origin.…

In a simulated teacher selection experiment, 44 school administrators were randomly assigned as interviewers to dyad or panel interview situations, along with 66 teachers as either interviewees or panel interviewers. Administrators conducting dyad interviews had different evaluations of interviewee employability and interview performance than did…

Purpose: Teacher hiring decisions have far-reaching consequences for a school, its students, and faculty. This article examines how new teachers in four states are hired and explores whether the process leads to good matches between these individuals and their schools. The authors conceive of hiring as a two-way process and examine the extent to…

Background: The quality of a school's teaching force has a significant effect on student learning. One potential lever for increasing teacher quality is through selecting and rewarding teachers with desired characteristics. Purpose: To analyze differences and similarities in the salary determinants of Michigan's charter and traditional public…