Tapping Future Leaders: Gender and Race Disparities in Identifying Rising Education Leaders

• In Event: District-Level Reforms for Equity: Politics and Implementation Challenges

Abstract

Women and educators of color are drastically underrepresented in positions of education leadership. We use Missouri state personnel records to examine the mechanism of “tapping”— current leaders intentionally identifying and encouraging future leaders to prepare them to move up the career ladder. We find that educators working with male principals are more likely to become future leaders, though these differences are driven by the school context. Our results suggest women leaders of color are particularly effective tappers, and that educators working with white women principals are less likely to move into leadership roles. Our findings have implications for leadership training, mentoring, recruitment, hiring, and support.

Authors

• Jennifer Timmer, Seton Hall University

• Michael Crouch, Vanderbilt University