Building Principal Pipelines: A Job that Urban Districts Can Do

Details:

• Resource Type: Study
• Estimated time: 1 team session

Purpose:

Engage with this resource to consider at least one key finding related to principal preparation and performance management.
 

This resource spotlights school districts who participated in a five-year Principal Pipeline Initiative funded by The Wallace Foundation and provides insights into how school districts can develop sturdy and well-filled principal pipelines. Five of the six spotlighted districts are former Effective Educator Development grantees:  Charlotte-Mecklenburg, NC (TIF 2007); Gwinnett County, GA (TSL 2020); Hillsborough County, FL (TSL 2017); New York City (TSL 2017); and Prince George’s County Public Schools, MD (TSL 2017).  The resource offers insights and considerations equally valuable to suburban and rural school districts.

Directions:

1. Share Building Principal Pipelines: A Job that Urban Districts Can Do with your team.
2. If you are a school district, explore The Surprising Power of Standards (pages 10-11) and More Rigorous Hiring (pages 15-19, excluding the Considerations for States section) and discuss the following questions:
   1. How clearly do your school leader standards detail what you expect of your school leaders?
   2. What process, if any, did you engage in to align the standards with local needs and circumstances?
   3. How illustrative and user-friendly are the school leader standards you are using?
   4. In what ways are you leveraging practical demonstrations of core leadership competencies (e.g., simulations and role-play) during your selection process?
   5. In what ways are you systematically tracking the core competencies of candidates to inform your recruitment and selection processes?
3. If you are an educator preparation program or educational organization that supports pre-service principals, convene your team to explore Pre-Service Preparation (pages 12-14) and More Rigorous Hiring (pages 15-19, excluding the Considerations for States section) and discuss the following questions:
   1. To what extent do you engage with school districts to gauge typical program completers’ strengths and weaknesses in order to adjust your programming?
   2. What are some of your successful selection and recruitment strategies to attract high-quality pre-service principals or other school leaders to your program?
   3. What are the greatest challenges for your program in terms of providing meaningful, practical leadership experience to pre-service principals or other school leaders?
   4. What if any role do you play in preparing principal candidates for a rigorous, competency-based selection process?
   5. What if any role do you play in promoting high-quality principal candidates to school districts?

1. As a team, identify steps you can take to integrate new understandings or new practices into your grant work.
2. Examine the remaining resources in this entry point based on recruitment and retention practice concerns you are interested in addressing.