The pipeline into school leadership [electronic resource] : the recruitment and development of future school leaders
Keywords: Education.

As public accountability of schools has increased, so has the demand for effective school leadership. Many school districts report difficulty finding an adequate supply of high quality applicants to fill vacated principal positions. As standards for students have been raised, so have the standards for school principals. Districts are facing difficulty finding qualified candidates who meet these new standards. This dissertation examines the stages through which a district can build a high-quality principal pipeline. Using a "succession management" framework, this study analyzes the process of identifying, selecting and developing a pool of current teachers and assistant principals to become effective future principals. Data used in this dissertation come from surveys of all teachers, assistant principals and principals in the Miami-Dade County School District from the 2007-2008 school year. Linked to this survey data are school district administrative data on schools, staff, and students, as well as state data on school performance using unique survey identifiers. The methods utilized in this dissertation include exploratory factor analysis, as well as ordinary least squares regression, logistic regression, and multinomial logistic regression, with and without fixed effects. The findings from this study indicate that teachers with greater leadership capacity are more likely to be interested in pursuing the principalship. Compared to teachers with aspirations to move into other school leadership positions--such as the assistant principalship or non-administrative school leadership (i.e. coaches)-- principal aspirants exhibit higher leadership capacity, as measured by teachers' self-reports of preparation for leadership, school leadership experiences, value-added to student learning, predispositions for leadership, and certification for leadership . Teachers with interest in the principalship are drawn to the following aspects of the job: autonomy, responsibilities for student achievement gains, influencing school change, working with the central office, the number of different tasks and responsibilities, and salary. While the job of the principal has some appeal, it also has many deterrents, including increased work hours and overload of responsibilities. Teachers who were encouraged by their principals to consider become principals were more likely to be interested in becoming principals in the future. This dissertation then examines the phenomenon of tapping-- the informal recruitment of teachers to become principals. Tapping has the potential to be an effective strategy for increasing the quality of the principal pipeline to the extent that the right teachers are being tapped and to the extent to which tapping influences a teacher's career decisions. Results from this dissertation indicate that principals are more likely to tap teachers who have the competencies and experiences to be effective school leaders. However, principals also tend to favor male teachers over female teachers for school leadership as well as teachers of the same ethnicity as themselves. Initial analyses in this dissertation indicate that tapping does influence a teacher's intention to become a principal in the future. Principals most likely to tap teachers are principals skilled in Organization Management. Finally, this dissertation also studies the assistant principalship and finds that most assistant principals want to become principals. However, the results indicate that schools are not maximizing the potential of the job of the assistant principals as an opportunity to develop assistant principals into effective future principals. Most assistant principals are not receiving access to opportunities to exercise the key competencies necessary to become effective principals. However, the principals who are providing their assistant principals with the developmental experiences to build their expertise in the skills required of effective principals are principals who are themselves effective at Organization Management. In sum, this dissertation reveals a number of promising findings for the principal pipeline. Teachers expressing higher leadership potential are more likely to be interested in pursuing the job of the principal. Principals are capable of identifying teachers expressing higher leadership capacity and tend to tap them more, although they tend to also tap teachers who are male and share their ethnicity. Principals who are skilled in Organization Management are more likely to tap teachers. At the same time, principals skilled in Organization Management are also more likely to serve as mentors to their assistant principals. The results from this dissertation highlight the potential for districts to address their issues of principal quality by leveraging the talent they have within their own systems through the active management of their principal pipeline.