Perceptions of Female and Male Superintendents for a Middle School Principalship as Moderated by Sex and National Origin of Applicants

Young, Phillip; Young, Karen Holsey

doi:10.1080/15700760903217438

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…At the screening stage, as Young and Young (2010) pointed out, female superintendents were found to be more neutral in terms of race, while male superintendents viewed Hispanic applicants as less qualified than non-Hispanic applicants, even after controlling for credentials and experience. Fuller et al (2018) found that at the hiring stage, schools in districts with a female superintendent are more likely to hire female principals compared with schools in districts with a male superintendent.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Among the eight studies that delved into superintendents’ perspectives, five mentioned that superintendents’ perceptions of principal candidates were subject to cognitive or implicit bias (Fuller et al, 2018; Palmer et al, 2016; Palmer and Mullooly, 2015; Young and Young, 2010; Young et al, 2011), two illustrated the importance of fit between applicants and the community (Cruzeiro and Boone, 2009; Hooker, 2000), and one noted the importance of applicants’ communication skills (Rammer, 2007).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…What is more disturbing is the fact that, while it is important to find qualified, effective principals who are the right “fit” for the job (Hooker, 2000), a candidate’s “fit” can be interpreted with bias, which is believed to have contributed to the underrepresentation of women and minority educators in principalships (Palmer et al, 2016; Rammer, 2007). Furthermore, studies have found that superintendents hold biases, both explicit and implicit, and this has led to hiring decisions that are unrelated to job performance and are based instead on individuals’ gender or race (Fuller et al, 2018; Young and Young, 2010). For example, although female educators have taken on nearly two-thirds of all assistant principal positions in Texas, there is still a systematic delay in female assistant principals’ promotion to principalship in high schools (Bailes and Guthery, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recruitment and selection of principals: A systematic review

Lee¹,

Mao²

2020

Educational Management Administration & Leadership

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School principals play an invaluable role in schools’, teachers’, and students’ success; therefore, it is of particular importance that we learn, through empirical research, about the factors related to recruiting and selecting school principals. This study critically reviewed 64 empirical literature studies that were published in the United States over the past 2 decades on the topic of principal recruitment and selection. The present study examined the characteristics of the individuals who apply and are selected to join the principal workforce, as well as the characteristics of the schools and/or districts that attract potential candidates. The topics identified in the review are gender, race, qualifications, and intrinsic motivation at the individual level, as well as school locale, student characteristics, financial incentives, working conditions, superintendents, and hiring practices at the organizational level. Though hiring is a two-way interactive process, the literature to date has paid little attention to the process and practices that lead to recruiting and hiring effective school leaders. This paper concludes with a discussion about the trends that are recognizable in the existing work on principal recruitment and selection, and the practice and policy implications of the study’s review.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recruitment and selection of principals: A systematic review

Lee¹,

Mao²

2020

Educational Management Administration & Leadership

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“…As Lee and Mao explain, "Superintendents rarely have the means to systematically assess these [valued] skills, nor do they know how to determine whether a candidate possesses such talent" (p. 15). Consequently, Superintendents' final decisions also tend to discriminate most against women and people of color (Young and Young, 2010;Fuller et al, 2018).…”

Section: Decision Makingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reifying discrimination on the path to school leadership: Black female principals’ experiences of district hiring/promotion practices

Weiner

Garrett-Walker²,

Strickland³

et al. 2022

Front. Educ.

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Using intersectionality as a guiding framework, this qualitative study focuses on the hiring/promotion experiences of 20 Black female principals and explores how their hiring/promotion practices reified and/or interrupted traditional discriminatory pathways to school leadership. We find that gendered racism operated across all facets of the principal recruitment and hiring processes in which these women participated. First, relationships and political connections with those already in power (e.g., predominately White men) seemed to be a key mechanism for entering the applicant pool and, later, accessing leadership opportunities. Opportunities were often explicitly racialized such that considerations for leadership positions were stated as being based on the participants being Black. Second, interview processes were frequently described as more performative than substantive with many of the women highlighting questions and comments that reinforced problematic tropes about Black women. Questions also abounded about whether interview panels were reflective of the community and/or if the questions were standardized to ensure fairness and transparency. Finally, district level hiring decisions were frequently disconnected from the interview process and lacked transparency with superintendents, in particular, who overrode or ignored prior steps in, or recommendation from, the school-based part of the process. In this way, findings suggest a hiring/promotion system desperately in need of revision starting with the most basic design features (e.g., standardized interview questions, transparent performance indicators, process accountability via decision-making) and including disrupting discrimination across all facets of the system.

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