Principal Preparation Programs and Principal Outcomes

Abstract

Concerns about variation in the quality of preservice preparation provided by many university-based principal preparation programs (PPPs) has led to calls to use outcomes of program graduates to hold PPPs accountable. Little research, however, has assessed the degree to which different outcomes for PPP graduates in fact vary systematically by program. Research Methods: Using administrative data from Tennessee, we link approximately a decade's worth of PPP graduates to their schools, licensure examination scores, and multiple measures of job performance in their first 3 years as principals, including supervisors' practice ratings on the state evaluation system, teacher and assistant principal ratings of school leadership on a statewide survey, and measures of student achievement growth. We use which PPP a principal completed to predict these outcomes using a regression approach with different sets of covariates. Findings: Although we are able to associate PPPs with high and low principal performance, we find that programs' rankings vary by outcome measure, and we are unable to identify PPPs that perform consistently well or poorly across outcomes. Moreover, we find that Tennessee PPPs vary substantially in the characteristics of the schools into which their principals are hired and that taking these characteristics into account is important in ordering PPPs

Distributing Instructional Leadership: Implementation Lessons from an Urban School Leadership Residency Program

“…Using administrative data from Texas and tracking teachers from administrative licensure forward, Davis, Gooden, & Bowers (2017) found that only 20% became principals within six years, and that fewer than half became principals within the sixteen years observed in the data. Grissom, Mitani, and Woo (2018) tracked graduates from twelve principal preparation programs in Tennessee, finding that between 28% and 52% were hired as assistant principals within five years, and that only 6% to 17% were hired as principals within five years. How well schools are capitalizing on the leadership training of these educators as teachers and junior administrators is not entirely clear in the literature, and it is an issue we consider in the context of the PLUS implementation.…”

“…Certainly, part of the reason for the career path variation and modest promotion rates is the size and contraction of district enrollments, which resulted in few available positions. Moreover, slow pathways to the principalship for newly licensed administrators appear typical in several recent studies (Bastian & Henry, 2015;Davis, Gooden, & Bowers, 2017;Grissom, Mitani, and Woo, 2018) But even in a city with greater availability of principal slots, a program that builds a pipeline of leadership talent will give rise to career path variation. Competition for leadership slots is a natural feature of most organizations, and competition among well-prepared candidates allows school systems to be selective in the principals they hire.…”

Priming the Leadership Pipeline: School Performance and Culture Under an Urban School Leadership Residency Program

“…Specifically, in a national study commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr, and Cohen (2007) found that principal training programs rated most highly by their graduates included a rigorous selection process, emphasized instructional leadership, prioritized practical skills, recruited educators who were familiar with the needs of the local community, and promoted hands-on learning experiences. More recently, Grissom, Mitani, and Woo (2018), tracked graduates from twelve university-based principal preparation programs in Tennessee.…”

“…Using administrative Texas data and tracking teachers from administrative licensure forward, Davis, Gooden, & Bowers (2017) found that only 20% became principals within six years, and that fewer than half became principals within the 16 years observed in the data. Also, after tracking graduates from twelve principal preparation programs in Tennessee, Grissom, Mitani, and Woo (2018) found that between 28% and 52% were hired as assistant principals within five years, and that only 6% to 17% were hired as principals within five years.…”

Preparing leaders for wicked problems? How the revised PSEL and NELP standards address equity and justice

“…Given these evolving leadership roles and responsibilities, it is now more important than ever to recruit, select, and retain effective school leaders who can improve student, teacher, and school outcomes (Boyce & Bowers, 2018;Leithwood & Riehl, 2003;Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins, 2008). Toward this end, the field of educational leadership has reevaluated traditional leadership preparation programs (Grissom, Mitani, & Woo, 2019), increased the number of privately funded programs (Crow & Whiteman, 2016), and paid greater attention to improving systems that meet the needs of both novice and experienced school leaders (Grissom, Blissett, & Mitani, 2018). These shifts may be manifested most clearly in the revision of professional leadership standards to ensure school administrators are prepared to work in today's 21 st century schools and center the leadership skills and competencies perceived to be most important, including efforts to improve student outcomes (Heck & Hallinger, 2005;Murphy, Louis, & Smylie, 2017).…”