Strength from Within? Internal Recruitment and Principal Turnover

This study investigates the effect of top management turnover in public organizations on employee absenteeism, examining school principal turnover in public primary schools. While previous research has focused on the impact of principal turnover on school performance, we analyze how principal turnover influences employee absence. A longitudinal study of 481 employees is conducted. Findings indicate that managerial turnover at schools does indeed influence absence. Absence is particularly high after a new top manager has taken office, and especially for employees where the gap between resignation of one manager and another taking office is short. Findings also show that the absence effect of a new top manager diminishes over time.

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Survive and Thrive: Leadership Distribution as a Strategy for Frequent Principal Turnover

Principals in Succession ◽

10.1007/978-94-007-1275-1_7 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 89-108

Author(s):

Blair Mascall ◽

Shawn Moore ◽

Doris Jantzi ◽

Kevin Walker ◽

Robin Sacks

Keyword(s):

Principal Turnover

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The Every Student Succeeds Act, State Efforts to Improve Access to Effective Educators, and the Importance of School Leadership

Educational Administration Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0013161x17711481 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 53 (5) ◽

pp. 727-756 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Edward J. Fuller ◽

Liz Hollingworth ◽

Andrew Pendola

Keyword(s):

School Leadership ◽

Effective Teachers ◽

Teacher Turnover ◽

Department Of Education ◽

Principal Turnover ◽

Instructional Capacity ◽

School Working Conditions ◽

Two Factors ◽

Every Student Succeeds Act ◽

The U.S

Purpose: Our primary purpose is to examine the degree to which state equity plans identify the distribution of principals and principal turnover as factors influencing three leadership mechanisms that affect student access to effective teachers—namely, hiring of teachers, building instructional capacity of teachers, and managing teacher turnover. Research Design: This study relies on document analyses of 52 plans (50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico) submitted by states in 2015 to the U.S. Department of Education. These plans included the identification of root causes of the inequitable access to educators within a state as well as proposed solutions to address the inequitable access. Findings: We found that, while 27% of states mentioned the distribution of principals and 48% of states mentioned principal turnover, less than 10% of states connected these two factors to access to effective teachers for each of the three mechanisms. Furthermore, only three states mentioned that principal turnover is associated with teacher turnover and three states discussed that teacher turnover is heavily influenced by the school working conditions created in large part by the principal. Moreover, we found the U.S. Department of Education and most states did not present data on either the inequitable distribution of principals or principal turnover. Finally, we determined that states frequently mention solutions to improving access to effective educators that are unsupported by research under the Every Student Succeeds Act rules of evidence.

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Visualizing differential principal turnover

Journal of Educational Administration ◽

10.1108/jea-03-2020-0054 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Bradley Davis ◽

Erin Anderson

Keyword(s):

Data Visualization ◽

Educational Administration ◽

School Principals ◽

School Level ◽

Complex Data ◽

Content Type ◽

Principal Turnover ◽

Turn Over ◽

First Time ◽

Over Time

PurposeThe authors demonstrate the usage of data visualization for conveying educational administration research, with a specific focus on differential principal turnover. They model when and how principals move, over time, between six categories of turnover.Design/methodology/approachThe authors construct several easy-to-interpret alluvial diagrams that reveal the patterns of differential turnover among 1,113 first-time Texas principals. Furthermore, the authors investigate how these patterns differ across educator characteristics (i.e. race and sex) and school contexts (i.e. school level and campus urbanicity).FindingsHalf of all first-time principals turn over within two years. Most principals who stay in leadership roles leave the district where they were first entered the principalship. Men are promoted more and women turn over less. In a connected finding, the authors conclude that elementary principals turn over less, and middle and high school principals are promoted more often. Principals of color are demoted more often than White principals. Urban school principals exit the system at a greater rate than rural principals.Originality/valueThe significance of this study lies in its direct response to two problems facing the administrator turnover knowledge base – a lack of methodological accessibility and the underutilization of data visualization. The authors’ is the first study to contain visualization of differential turnover outcomes over time. Second, the authors’ study provides a blueprint for data visualization that not only creates new knowledge but also speaks to a wider variety of education stakeholders by presenting complex data in a visual format.

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The Influence of Working Conditions on Principal Turnover in K-12 Public Schools

Educational Administration Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0013161x19840391 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 56 (1) ◽

pp. 89-122 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rui Yan

Keyword(s):

Public Schools ◽

School Improvement ◽

Student Performance ◽

Working Conditions ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

School Context ◽

Performance Standards ◽

Principal Turnover ◽

High Concentrations ◽

K 12

Purpose: During the past two decades, principal turnover issues have raised nationwide concerns about leadership stability and student performance. With national data from National Center for Education Statistics, this study examines how principal working conditions influence the probability of different types of principal turnover (mover, promoted, demoted, leaver, and retired). Research Method: This study utilizes data from 2011 to 2012 Schools and Staffing Survey and 2012-2013 Principal Follow-up Survey, and performs multinomial logistic regressions with region fixed effects to examine how principal working conditions are associated with principal turnover, while controlling for principal characteristics and school context. Findings: This study finds that principals with beneficial job contracts, tenure system, and higher salary were less likely to transition. Additionally, positive disciplinary environment lowered the odds of principals moving to another school, especially in schools with high concentrations of students of color. Moreover, more influences on determining teacher professional development and budgeting were associated with lower odds of principals leaving education, but more influence on setting performance standards showed the opposite direction. Implications: This study could assist policy makers in providing positive working conditions to support and retain principals for long-term school improvement. Moreover, school districts could facilitate building positive school disciplinary environment to lower principal turnover in underserved schools.

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Principal Effectiveness and Principal Turnover

Education Finance and Policy ◽

10.1162/edfp_a_00256 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (3) ◽

pp. 355-382 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Jason A. Grissom ◽

Brendan Bartanen

Keyword(s):

Low Income ◽

Evaluation System ◽

Relative Effectiveness ◽

School Level ◽

Principal Effectiveness ◽

Turnover Rates ◽

Effective Principals ◽

Principal Turnover ◽

Principal Performance ◽

Turn Over

Research demonstrates the importance of principal effectiveness for school performance and the potentially negative effects of principal turnover. However, we have limited understanding of the factors that lead principals to leave their schools or about the relative effectiveness of those who stay and those who turn over. We investigate the association between principal effectiveness and principal turnover using longitudinal data from Tennessee, a state that has invested in multiple measures of principal performance through its educator evaluation system. Using three measures of principal performance, we show that less-effective principals are more likely to turn over, on average, though we find some evidence that the most effective principals have elevated turnover rates as well. Moreover, we demonstrate the importance of differentiating pathways out of the principalship, which vary substantially by effectiveness. Low performers are more likely to exit the education system and to be demoted to other school-level positions, whereas high performers are more likely to exit and to be promoted to central office positions. The link between performance and turnover suggests that prioritizing hiring or placing effective principals in schools with large numbers of low-income or low-achieving students can serve to lower principal turnover rates in high-needs environments.

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Principal Turnover

Educational Administration Quarterly ◽

10.1177/0013161x14539808 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 51 (3) ◽

pp. 409-437 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Yongmei Ni ◽

Min Sun ◽

Andrea Rorrer

Keyword(s):

Principal Turnover

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