Tapping on the Principal’s Door: How Districts Informally Recruit School Leaders Into the Principal Pipeline

• In Event: Sunday Roundtable Session 1:15 pm
  In Roundtable Session: District Administration, Capacity, and Culture (Table 4)

Abstract

In this paper, we revisit tapping, which is when district leaders and others informally recruit aspiring leaders into the principalship, given that many districts have recently developed more formalized principal recruitment processes. Existing scholarship highlights how tapping is both an entryway and a gatekeeper into the principalship, especially for people of color and women. In this paper, we draw on interviews with 53 principals across three district contexts: Chicago, Nashville, and rural districts in Tennesse to reconceptualize tapping as a multidimensional, multifaceted process that individuals experience at different points in time and at different frequencies throughout their careers. We also show stark racial and gender differences in who was tapped across our different district contexts, raising important equity concerns.

Authors

• Angel Xiao Bohannon, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Ashley Ellison, Vanderbilt University

• Molly F. Gordon, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Jason A. Grissom, Vanderbilt University