County officials also purchased a new computer program that provides sample National Teachers Exam tests to help teachers who must pass the exam. Despite the effort to better prepare teachers for the classroom, State Superintendent Lawrence Leak said he remains concerned about the large number of teachers in the classroom with provisional certificates. Superintendents nationwide are scrambling to find qualified principals to lead local schools. Now, we're not even getting half that, and many of them aren't qualified. I really worry about how we're going to find the next generation of building administrators.
Administrators claim the main reason for the dearth of principal candidates is lack of money.
Today, the situation is even worse. It's not hard to see why none of my teachers want to make the jump into administration. Besides financial concerns, some cite the uncontrollable growth of responsibilities as reasons few are willing to step into the principal role. They are expected to go to basketball games, PTA meetings and school plays. They are expected to know how to handle social issues such as child abuse, drug addiction and divorce.