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26 Feb 2016
Report

What Districts Know—and Need to Know—About Their Principals

Research on school leadership has highlighted the impact principals have on student achievement through their influence on classroom instruction, organizational conditions, community support, and setting the teaching and learning conditions in schools. Despite its potential to inform district decision-making, high-quality data about principal preparation, experience, and assignment are rarely available within districts.

What Districts Know—and Need to Know—About Their Principals highlights limitations of district-level data on principals encountered during data collection for a study on principal preparation programs. The brief describes the importance of improving the accuracy and availability of these data to explore questions about how to find, support, and keep the best leaders, and includes highlights from three districts that have developed comprehensive leader tracking systems. Also included are guiding questions and a checklist of data elements for districts to consider in addressing key questions to support finding, supporting, and keeping the best leaders.

This brief was developed from a study conducted by the George W. Bush Institute and AIR on principal preparation programs serving five medium-to-large districts.

What Districts Know—and Need to Know—About Their Principals

Related Work

19 May 2015
Toolkit

Principal Observation Tool Strengthens School District Leadership

Principal observation tools are used to accurately evaluate principal performance by helping principal supervisors and coaches improve instructional leadership. This piece describes how using the right tools is helping principals in the U.S. Virgin Islands develop such evidence-based coaching and performance evaluations.
Topic: 
Education, District and School Improvement, Principal Preparation and Performance
1 Nov 2014
Report

The Utility of Teacher and Student Surveys in Principal Evaluations: An Empirical Investigation

In recent years, states and school districts in the Midwest Region have developed new evaluation models that hold principals accountable for their contributions to student achievement. This study examines whether teacher and student feedback surveys to evaluate principals based on school conditions promote better teaching and learning.
Topic: 
Education, Principal Preparation and Performance

Further Reading

  • Building and Supporting Great School Principals and Leaders
  • A Framework for Principal Talent Management
  • States Can Drive Change to Make Principals Prepared on Day One
  • Principal Talent Management According to the Evidence: A Review of the Literature
  • Evaluating Principal Preparation Programs
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photo of Matt Clifford

Matthew A. Clifford

Principal Researcher

Topic

Education
Principal Preparation and Performance

RESEARCH. EVALUATION. APPLICATION. IMPACT.

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