Our Pennsylvania Page includes articles and statistics on education issues from the past year. See the National Association of Elementary School Principals in our Organizations listing. See the National Association of Secondary School Principals in our Organizations listing. Still, the award-winning principal has his resume at the ready and recently received an offer to work in a neighboring suburb. Philadelphia currently has 20 acting principals, and Superintendent David W. Hornbeck anticipates replacing at least 10 percent of the district's 259 building-level administrators each year for the foreseeable future, primarily because of retirements.
Good people are increasingly hard to find.
District officials estimate that, on average, about 10 candidates apply for each principalship, down from about 40 in the 1970s. For the first time in years, the 215,000-student school system has been advertising nationally. It's going to get worse before it gets better. Philadelphia's situation is hardly unique. In a national study released last year, about half of 403 randomly selected districts reported a shortage of qualified candidates for vacant principals' positions.