Attracting, Preparing, Supporting, and Retaining Education Leaders in North Carolina

• In Event: The Role of Research and Researchers in Supporting States to Take Responsibility and Action for Addressing Educational Equity

Abstract

Summary
A requirements of the State’s equity court case was to ensure that all schools are led by a highly competent, experienced school principal. The purpose of this study was to examine how the state can incorporate evidence-based practices for preparing, recruiting, supporting, developing, and retaining effective school leaders in order to recommend needed actions to ensure that all students, and especially students of color and low income students attend schools led by highly-prepared principals.
School leadership is found to be an important school factor influencing student learning (Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004) and because effective principals influence retention of excellent teachers and the creation of supportive working conditions and opportunities for professional growth. Having effective leaders is especially important in persistently low-performing and high-poverty schools. Compared with other schools, these schools tend to have less-prepared and less-experienced teachers, much higher teacher turnover rates, students with additional needs, and fewer resources while also being faced with pressure to show increased student growth and proficiency each year. Research indicates that only with strong, talented leadership are these schools able to make the fundamental shifts in practice needed to increase positive outcomes for all students (Grissom, 2011).

The research team conducted data collection and analyses to examine evidence-based practices, identify key findings, and develop conclusions about the current status of education leadership in the state. The following research questions are addressed:
• What is the current status of leader supply and demand?
• What is being done to attract and prepare leaders?
• What is being done to develop and support leaders?
• What is being done to retain leaders?
• What structures and processes are in place to support school improvement?
Using available state data on leader preparation and other quantitative outcome data, qualitative data gathered from focus groups and interviews with teachers and leaders, and data from a state-wide principal survey, the study team examined how leaders in high-poverty and underperforming schools and districts are prepared, recruited, supported, and retained, in comparison to their peers in lower-poverty and higher-performing settings. The study also examined the availability of state technical assistance and support for school leaders to improve low-performing schools. Based on the research the study found that several areas that need to be improved to ensure access to effective leaders. These include:
• Expanding access to high-quality principal preparation programs aligned to national standards.
• Developing a systemic statewide approach to professional development for school administrators that provides professional development opportunities for administrators at all stages of their careers.
• Adopting a statewide framework for school improvement and implementing a statewide system for improving underperforming schools.
• Building and maintaining principal pipelines to ensure a supply throughout the state, for now and into the future, of high-quality principals trained in programs that are aligned to the highest standards.
The study recommends the specific actions for the state and local districts to ensure that every school in the state is led by a highly effective principal.

Authors

• Paul H. Koehler, WestEd

• Susan Mundry, WestEd