District Perspectives on Principal Professional Development

• In Event: 66.014 - Leading Teacher Professional Development and Collaboration

Abstract

This study examines perspectives on principal professional development held within the central office of a large urban school district. I explore the relationship between these perspectives and logics of leadership and leadership development from the broader institutional field. In addition, I investigate how and to what extent these perspectives become manifest in planning professional development for principals. I found that central office personnel most frequently described effective principals, both archetypal and actual, as instructional leaders. Yet while planning professional development they emphasized the importance of principals’ managerial capabilities. This study extends the literature by providing insights into how district central offices conceptualize the principalship and how central office personnel are influenced as they plan and implement professional development for principals.

Author

• John J. Hall, Temple University