A Regional Analysis of Principal Turnover From the 2012–2013 Principal Follow-Up Survey

• In Event: Millennium Hotel Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Rural School Reform Efforts: What Works?

Abstract

Rural principals in the United States face challenging working conditions, which contribute to principal turnover and may limit school capacity for improvement. However, the diversity of rural schools and their communities complicate understanding how these challenges manifest and contribute to principal turnover. This study utilizes national dataset to examine the relationship of principal, school, and job characteristics to turnover of rural principals. We compare across the four Census regions to identify different working conditions rural principals face across the country. Using a framework of one-way job matching, our findings suggest that the effect of principal, school, and job characteristics differ across regions and in particular, that job factors have greater explanatory power for principal turnover.

Authors

• Sarah J Zuckerman, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

• Jiangang Xia, University of Nebraska - Lincoln