Author(s): Ciemenski, Amie B
Published: December 2018 in Educational Leadership Review
URL to article
Research Focus Area: Strategic planning strategies for school leaders
Abstract:
Principals are instrumental to successful school improvement efforts and positive student outcomes. However, recent workforce trends, increased accountability, demands of the job, and turnover rates for school principals are worrisome. Succession planning is a systematic approach that involves all aspects of identifying and retaining leaders (Rothwell, 2010) including preparation, recruitment, selection, onboarding, induction, development, and retention. Although succession planning is underutilized in public school settings, it is one avenue to address leadership issues and help school district leaders meet their long-term leadership needs. This qualitative study examined the succession practices of five large school districts in Colorado by gathering the perspectives of principals and school district leaders. The findings indicate several actions that educational leaders can take to address the challenges of well-qualified candidates and the do-ability of the principal position. Findings further indicate that leaders may influence principal retention by differentiating support and purposefully fostering relationships. These findings might be used by other educational leaders to strengthen their succession practices and policies and affect the retention of school leaders.
Research Question(s):
What are the nature, characteristics, and practices of principal succession leading to principal retention in select Colorado school districts? What are the principal succession practices of large school districts with high principal retention rates? What are the policies and practices that school district employees believe influence the retention of principals?
Methods:
Survey, Interview
Setting:
Five Large k-12 Colorado school districts, defined as having over 5000 students and 350 licensed, school-based professionals
Key Findings:
Succession practices of districts with high TELL survey results • Four themes emerged from this question:
- the importance of stakeholder input
- professional development focused on instructional
- leadership
- attention to transition
- a focus on teacher-principal relationships. • School district administrators from these school districts were mindful to involve stakeholders in the hiring of principals, rather than focus solely on the needs of the district. • School district leaders stressed that stakeholders’ input, especially teachers’, must be valued and acted upon. Principals also conveyed their belief in their teachers and their teaching abilities. Succession Practices of Districts with High Principal Retention • Many succession practices were similar to practices in the school districts with high TELL Survey results. Two additional themes emerged:
- Leaders focused on individualized support
- Leaders capitalized on unique features of their school community • School district leaders capitalized on the use of current district leaders, retired and/or current master principals as coaches and mentors.
Implications:
To retain successful principals, leaders should • Be mindful of the workload to keep the work engaging and meaningful. • Provide differentiated support, especially for newer administrators • Foster a collaborative culture among principals • build and maintain supportive relationships between principals and their supervisors at the district level • formalize succession practices and policies so that changes in district leadership do not change succession practices.
Limitations:
Participants in this study were limited to the small number of participants in five Colorado school districts identified through the sampling procedures described in the article.