PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to present qualitative evidence on the processes and forces that shape school administrator career paths.Design/methodology/approachAn embedded case study approach is used to understand more than 100 administrator career transitions within the Delaware education system. Semi‐structured interview data were collected from 48 principals and assistant principals. Coding and analysis occurred through an iterative process, revealing patterns in processes and forces influencing the careers of school administrators.FindingsWhile some career decisions are self‐initiated, most are influenced in part or entirely by other actors in the system, described as recruiting/tapping, requesting, reassigning, passing over, and removing. In self‐initiated decisions to move or stay, a number of “pushes” and “pulls” are identified. Findings also suggest the decision to stay‐equilibrium is driven by relationships with students and by district support.Research limitations/implicationsData are limited to Delaware and represent the voices of principals and assistant principals only. Patterns evident in the data suggest a need to further investigate administrator career behavior qualitatively, as well as directions for future research.Practical implicationsThere is a need to better understand and improve local human resource processes in terms of recruitment and assignment of administrators. Additional research is needed to better identify processes and forces related to career decisions in order to improve leadership recruitment and retention.Originality/valueThis research represents the first large‐scale qualitative study of administrator career behavior and is an important companion to recent quantitative analyses in this area.
While the growing literature on HOPE VI emphasizes the presumed benefits of income mixing these benefits are most likely to occur if middle-income families with children are drawn to these sites. But is this feasible? Our comparative case study analysis of four HOPE VI sites in Cincinnati, Louisville, Baltimore, and Washington, DC, suggests that it will be difficult to achieve the mixing of lower-and middle-income families with children. None of the four developments explicitly sought middle-income families with children as part of their marketing. Louisville's HOPE VI site was the only one involving close collaboration between the school district, the housing authority, and city government from the beginning of the HOPE VI process. Moreover, the Louisville site was the only one successful in attracting middle-income (and not simply subsidized moderate-income) families with children. Strategies for making inner-city HOPE VI sites more attractive for middle-income families are discussed.In 1992, HOPE VI (originally known as the Urban Revitalization Demonstration Program) was enacted to transform the physical and social shape of distressed public housing. Under the current program this transformation includes: changing the physical shape of public housing by replacing the worst public housing developments with less dense developments, reducing concentrations of poverty by encouraging a
To date, research has emphasized the dark side of teacher moonlighting, linking moonlighting to teacher alienation and attrition. Research in Delaware, however, indicates that although some moonlighters were “reluctant” and would have quit if their income were increased, a majority were “willing” and would have continued to moonlight even if their salaries were increased enough to replace moonlighting income. Differences in the motivations, type of moonlighting position, job satisfaction, life impacts, and job search activity between willing and reluctant moonlighters are reported. A constructive model of moonlighting, with related policy implications, is proposed to balance the dominant constraining view.
Although education accounts for one‐quarter of the United States’ state and local government spending, employs one‐third of all governmental employees, and consistently ranks as a high priority of citizens, public administration has neglected public education. This article considers the neglect of public education by public administration scholars, researchers, and practitioners and documents the sparse coverage of public education in textbooks, journals, books, professional association activities, and curricula. This neglect can be attributed to public administration’s federal focus, ideological views about the relationship between public education and politics and resulting structural and organizational barriers, and the costs of overcoming these barriers. The separation limits the generalizability of public administration research and theory, harms policy development, constrains the capabilities of public administration program graduates, and impedes the success of public education. This article outlines steps needed to bring public education under the umbrella of public administration.
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