Redesigning Principal Supervision: Results of Six District-Level Initiatives to Strengthen Principal Leadership

• In Event: Principal Supervisors as Drivers of School Improvement: Where Have We Been? What's Next?

Abstract

Recently, districts have been redesigning the role of principal supervision as a specific approach to improving principal effectiveness (Goldring, et al., 2018). Principal supervisors, sometimes called area superintendents, assistant superintendents, network leads, directors of school support, or other titles, are the central office staff who directly oversee and evaluate principals. Research suggests that improving the effectiveness of principal supervisors could be an important lever for improving principals’ effectiveness (Corcoran, et al., 2013). Furthermore, studies of district reform strategies suggest that principal supervisors can play a key role in helping principals develop instructional leadership skills and that district investment in training principal supervisors can help propel school improvement efforts (Marsh, et al., 2005).

This paper presents the results of a study of six urban districts and their efforts to improve principals’ effectiveness both through direct training of principal supervisors and through changes to central office structures and policies. Initiated by the Wallace Foundation, and called The Principal Supervisor Initiative (PSI), districts implemented a set of core components including revising the job description, reducing the number of principals supervisors oversee, providing unique dedicated training to principal supervisors, restructuring central office, and developing an approach to succession planning. This paper describes central offices’, principal supervisors’, and principals’ experiences with the PSI over the 4 years of the initiative.

The data for this paper include surveys in the six PSI districts during the second, third, and fourth years of the initiative (2015–2016 through 2017–2018 school years). We also conducted three rounds of semi-structured interviews with the superintendent, and a sample of central office personnel, principal supervisors, and principals in each district. The interviews aimed to reveal respondents’ ongoing experiences as the district changed the principal supervisor role. The survey data provided the perspectives of a broader range of supervisors and principals regarding each of the components of the PSI.

The PSI brought substantial changes to all six districts. The initiative was successful in changing the principal supervisor role to one that focused on providing support and guidance to schools and principals. Districts restructured their central offices to better understand and support the needs of schools. Changes districts made during the PSI led to a shared understanding of the principal supervisor role and equipped principal supervisors to better support principals. Principal survey data indicated significate and positive changes over time of their perceptions of supervisor effectiveness and practices.

The PSI focused on district-level changes to redefine the principal supervisor role to support and improve principals’ performance. Although the PSI laid out a broad approach to overhauling the principal supervisor role, it did not directly define the specific approaches districts should take to achieve this goal. Rather, it encouraged participating districts to implement the components in ways that aligned with their particular contexts. The paper presents the theory of change that emerged over the course of the initiative as districts adapted the PSI components to define, change, and support the supervisor role and presents implications for district-wide change efforts.

Authors

• Ellen B. Goldring, Vanderbilt University

• Jason A. Grissom, Vanderbilt University

• Mollie Rubin, Vanderbilt University

• Laura K. Rogers, University of Utah