Mac LeBuhn, Policy Analyst
Education is a human enterprise. Researchers trying to identify which factors in a school most affected student learning reaffirmed that fact after finding that the most significant determinant of student learning was the teacher in the classroom. The second-most important factor was not class size or school spending: it was, again, another person. The principal leading the school is second only to the teacher in the classroom in influence over how much a student learns.
They’re also a distant second with respect to attention from researchers and policymakers. That is why we were so glad to see that the Fordham Institute chose the principal’s role as the topic of their most recent report. Lacking Leaders jointly authored with Public Impact, shines a light on the shortcomings of today’s principal recruitment and development systems and makes important recommendations on how to improve the system.
They make clear the challenges of finding people to take on the role: “[it] is a high-pressure, grueling job in which the school head’s authority is generally not commensurate with his or her responsibility. It’s also a job that does not pay very well. Put these shortcomings together and it’s not surprising that a lot of folks are none too interested in seeking such a position.”
What’s more, districts aren’t all that good at seeking out people to take on such a critically important position. Rather than aggressively seek candidates to take the helm at challenging schools, most district HR offices simply rely on word-of-mouth recruitment of candidates already at the school or in another school in the district. The report found that promising would-be principals working in other districts or leaders in other industries thinking about a career change are rarely tapped under today’s system.
Public Impact and Fordham make recommendations that are necessary, if unsurprising, responses to the findings in Lacking Leaders. Bureaucratic restraints and paperwork add to the already-difficult work of instructional leadership. The authors rightfully recommend eliminating those restraints and giving school leaders, you know, the power to lead. They also suggest focusing the role on instructional leadership, cleaving away the compliance-style work that demands a great deal of a principal’s time and resources today.
Lacking Leaders also offers several suggestions on how to improve the recruitment process. School districts should offer better compensation packages to principals. Those offers of bigger paychecks should go out to the best candidates, the authors suggest, by broadening the pool of professionals receiving the offer.