Principal Leadership Retention

In this chapter, Fullan begins by maintaining that principals who are effective lead learners are necessarily also good managers, because they understand that having clear routines is essential for school improvement.” (57) He quotes from Viviane Robinson’s Student-Centered Leadership to both underscore the previous point and emphasize that successful principals take an active learning stance: “The principal who makes the biggest impact on learning is the one who attends to other matters as well, but, most important, ‘participates as a learner’ with teachers in helping move the school forward.” (58) Fullan also borrows from Helen Timperley’s work in responding to the question, Who is in a principal’s class? The principal’s class consists of “team leaders who in turn can leverage the learning of other teachers in their group”

Research determined the leadership styles chosen by principals in assessing themselves, as well as, the leadership styles identified by faculties and staffs. Three divisions (Washington, Wise and Wythe) participated in the study. An analysis of the data was performed utilizing an ANOVA and t-tests. The ANOVA and all t-tests concluded that no significant difference was present regarding principal leadership styles as compared to that of their faculties and staff. Additionally, the ANOVA and t-tests determined that there was no significant difference in faculty and staff perceptions based on their placement in either the elementary or secondary

Carlos L. Mckinney, Myron B. Labat Jr., and Cherie A. Labat (for the remainder of this paper referred to as “the researchers”) set out to determine if there were common specific personal and professional traits/strategies associated with successful building principals of identified Blue Ribbon Schools and teacher morale. This study enlisted a number of teachers, counselors, principals and assistant principals from identified Blue Ribbon Schools in a southern state to participate in the study. During this study, the researchers used specific survey questions designed to identify behavioral leadership traits and the resulting staff/teacher morale. These survey questions were asked to educational professionals employed in the identified Blue Ribbon schools to determine whether there was a correlation between the principal’s behavioral leadership and the overall school culture as related to the resulting teacher/staff morale.

Like leadership turnover in other professions, turnover rates at more challenging schools are on the higher end of that spectrum (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011, Boyd, et al. 2008, Clark, Martorell and Rockoff 2009). For instance, large, urban districts have similar turnover rates: Miami-Dade County Public Schools (MDCPS) is 22%, Milwaukee is 20%, San Francisco 26%, and New York City is 24% (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011, Boyd, et al. 2008, Clark, Martorell and Rockoff 2009). However, within MDCPS, the turnover rate is higher for the district’s highest-poverty schools (28%), versus lowest-poverty schools (18%) (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011). New York City school findings were similar (Clark, Martorell and Rockoff 2009). Low-performing, low-SES schools that lose an effective principal, often struggle due to having a replacement that is less-experienced and less-effective (Beteille, Kalogrides and Loeb 2011, Branch, Hanushek and Rivkin 2012).

The study will observe the effectiveness of school leadership and its relationship to teacher retention. The study will also examine the effects of quality teacher mentorship and professional development impact on teacher

The watching of the videos “The Principal Story” and “North Grand” in combination with reading the textbook “Leading in a Culture of Change” by Michael Fullan and our class discussions have provided me with many insights about my future as a high school principal. I have served as a mathematics teacher for almost twenty-three years and have served in many leadership roles throughout my career, however my participation in this course has verified that, although I have a strong foundation of knowledge, I still have much to learn about leading a school. I am coming to understand the position of principal is a monumental task and should be entered with into with much thought. Holding this role as principal requires that I use this position to

This paper explores numerous published articles discussing research on implications of different leadership techniques and effective school systems. Discussions of various leadership strategies and their real-world applications within school systems are implemented throughout this paper along with considerations of teacher retention and multiculturalism. Personal experience is also a key element of discussion in this paper. With all faculty and staff of school systems considered and being represented.

There needs to be at least 50 participants chosen for this study. A sample of convenience was used which limited the scope of the study to high poverty and low poverty schools in the South Carolina Lowcountry. These participants were all South Carolina certified teachers in multiple secondary disciplines. Teachers who had only been employed for one year were not included in the study because it is possible they did not have enough personal experience with their current principal to accurately determine their leadership behaviors. This was done to protect the integrity of the study and to gain an accurate depiction of the principal’s leadership behaviors over time. This exclusion also ensures that answers to the school climate survey are referencing the perception of the school climate from a perspective of a person that has experienced it for a significant period of time.

Paul Bambrick-Santoyo has outlined the super levers of leadership in his book Leverage Leadership. Through his research, he has defined staff culture as one of the super levers of a successful school. It is important to work throughout the year to ensure that a strong-staff community is not treated as a one-time exercise but rather a habit of excellence. In these positive school culture environments, teachers grow and improve their craft faster, staff retention increases and collaboration becomes more effective, and continual improvement is achieved (Bambrick-Santoyo, 2012). These great schools depend on the teachers. Exceptional staffing includes hiring and training the correct people from the onset. Schools must have recruiting, interviewing and hiring practices that increase the potential for hiring the right people. Once the right people are in place, it is critical to provide them with the mentoring, monitoring, coaching, and support that they need to be successful in their

In the Article, The Reflective Principal: Foundations of a Strong School Culture, Peggy Scott illustrated many ways in which effective leadership teams can keep their teachers growing

The voluntary Model Principal Supervisor Professional Standards can benefit many stakeholders. State education agencies can use them in conjunction with the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders to develop a clear theory of action about how improved school leadership contributes to improved student outcomes. They can share the standards with their governor, legislature, local districts, leadership preparation programs, and professional development providers to start a dialogue about making school leadership a major focus of their strategic plan and targeting funds to specific efforts that help principals become stronger instructional leaders.

According to the authors of this article (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009), principals need to concentrate on the development of skills and behaviors in order to be successful in motivating, leading, and changing the direction of a school. The successful principal understands that there exists a fine balance of caring for others and the need to accomplish specific tasks (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).

High rates of teacher turnover has placed huge strains on school districts, moreover, on student performance. It has served to be disruptive to program continuity, staff and student cohesion, and growth and performance, particularly in urban schools. Researchers have long sought to understand why recruiting and retaining quality teachers in urban schools remain a significant challenge (Freedman & Appleman, 2009). According to Ingersoll (2004), with a quarter of the teaching force leaving their classrooms after one year and almost half leaving within five years, teachers in high poverty, urban schools are even more likely to quit. This paper seeks to examine the reasons behind such low proficiency in teacher retention. In this literature review we will examine research on teacher retention in various types of schools and the impact of school climate on teacher retention in order to shed some light upon the issues faced in low performing urban schools such as Park Elementary.

The investigator of this study has been in the field of education for 16 years. Throughout the 16 years, she has served in several educational leadership roles, one being that of the assistant principal, and as a district central office administrator who works directly with supporting assistant principals in their roles. Throughout the 16 years, she has worked with many assistant principals, many of whom inspired this study. Most of the assistant principals she has worked with encouraged and added to her professional growth during the past 16 years. During the five years that she served as an assistant principal, this researcher was given the opportunity to participate in a leadership academy designed specifically for assistant principals. While assistant principals were many times included in leadership professional development designed for principals, the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction recognized a need for development for the current role of assistant principal, not just the principalship. She developed a once a month “curriculum” for the assistant principals, which focused on the tasks that assistant principals would be dealing with during the school year. It became a professional learning community for the assistant principal. Topics like organizing textbooks and keys, managing furniture needs, discipline and state testing were covered. This information was invaluable, and it was at this time that this

Effective school leadership today must combine the traditional school leadership duties such as teacher evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, and facilities maintenance with a deep involvement with specific aspects of teaching and learning. Effective instructional leaders are intensely involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003). The writer of this paper acknowledges that school principals should play the role of instructional leaders, not just a school manager. The reality is that are many demands on a principals time and management skills making it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, when performing teacher evaluation. Principals often make sure that teachers