Who Has the Power? Contrasting the Role of Central and Building Leadership in Teacher Hiring

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Six
  In Roundtable Session: The Relationship Between School and District/State-Level Leaders: Understanding the Impacts of State- or District-Level Leadership on School-Level Practices (Table 4)

Abstract

Teacher quality has the biggest impact on student performance (Nixon et al., 2016; Rose et al., 2014), and Loeb et al. (2012) said that principals largely control the quality of instruction through their hiring decisions. The extant literature reports on differing levels of principal autonomy in teacher hiring (Donaldson, 2013; Honig & Hatch, 2004; Liu & Johnson, 2006.) This study used a comparative case study approach to contrast teacher hiring in two districts in the same region, District A gave principals autonomy while District B had a much more hands-on central office. District A’s teachers may not have met the expressed criteria of the central office while District B’s principals lamented how the central office overruled them on hiring decisions.

Author

• Justin J. Sulsky, Long Beach Public Schools
  Presenting Author