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.

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A growing number of organisations -universities, non-profits, independent consultants -are emerging as partners to school systems pursuing systemic improvement. This proliferation invites questions probing the interaction between school systems and their consulting partners. Drawing on a cross-disciplinary review of literature, this theoretical paper (1) explores the processes and strategies used by consulting organisations as partners to school systems and (2) proposes a conceptual framework as a starting point for implementation and evaluation of effective consulting for systemic improvement.Keywords: education change; school partnerships; leadership IntroductionAs a result of the Great Recession, leaders of public organisations around the world have faced budget constraints while also responding to demands for improved performance. Public school leaders are no exception: they face strong policy pressure to improve test scores, poor technical assistance from agencies who are ostensibly there 'to help', (American Institute for Research 2008), budget cuts that have placed strains on the educational system (Johnson, Oliff, and Williams 2011) and waning support from the general public (Johnson, Rochkind, and Dupont 2011).In response to resource constraints and greater accountability standards, many school systems are turning to outside organisations to help facilitate systemic improvements. Additional motivations for partnerships include a desire to deliver higher-quality services, shared professional values and legal mandates (Davies and Hentschke 2006). In the United States, the federal government's competitive grant program Race to the Top incentivises partnerships, and a growing number of organisations are emerging to provide consulting support to school leaders in pursuit of comprehensive school improvement. Similar initiatives can be seen around the globe. In the United Kingdom, for example, the new Research Councils UK has issued a national funding call, 'to create a structured and strategic mechanism for Higher Education Institutions to work in partnership with secondary schools' (RCUK 2012). Similarly, the Australian Government and state and territory governments have entered into several partnerships which encourage school systems to engage with higher education providers and to form external partnerships with parents, businesses and local communities (Australian Government Department of Education 2013). This growing emphasis on the need for external support in school *Corresponding author. Email: jwelch@uga.edu School Leadership & Management, 2014 Vol. 34, No. 2, 156-178, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2013 (1) What are the appropriate measures for distinguishing between effective and ineffective consulting organisations? (2) What are the practices that characterise organisations that successfully help public education systems build leadership capacity and achieve systemic improvement? (3) What is the theory of action that can guide education systems and consulting organisations to successfully pur...

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