Un-principal-ed

Only about half of high school principals in Texas stay in one job for three years, and the schools most in need of steady, long-term leadership are the least likely to get it.

[caption id="attachment_2571" align="alignright" width="350" caption="Illustration by Dave Cutler"]

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This may not be much of a news bulletin for parents of school children, but the fact is principals are keeping the same job about as long as a seventh grader keeps the same cellphone.

To find out what’s causing the revolving door to the principal’s office, UT researchers Michelle Young and Ed Fuller from the College of Education’s University Council for Educational Administration conducted an unprecedented study to look for relationships among the tenure of the principals and their personal traits and school characteristics.

Findings suggest that school level does matter and that high schools fare worse than the rest. They have the lowest retention rates and shortest tenure, with only about half of newly hired principals staying at least three years and less than 30 percent staying for five.

Both the students’ economic status and the school’s achievement level also greatly influence whether principals stay or leave. The schools and students most in need of strong, long-term leadership are least likely to get and keep it.

Principals in high-poverty schools have shorter tenure and lower retention rates, and principal tenure is substantially greater in the highest-performing schools as compared to the lowest-performing schools. Only about a quarter of the principals in the lowest-performing schools remained for five years, while more than 40 percent stayed for five years or longer at the highest performing schools.

Overall, retention rates in all schools at all performance levels were disappointingly low. Findings suggest student achievement during a principal’s first year on the job is particularly important in determining how long the principal remains at that school.

Surprisingly, individual characteristics like race, age, gender, certification test results, and the quality of their principal-preparation program had a negligible impact on retention.

“Principal retention matters because teacher retention and qualifications are greater in schools where principals stay longer,” says Fuller. “Any school reform efforts are reliant on the principal creating a common school vision and staying in place to implement the level of reforms that are part of large-scale change.”

There are also financial costs to high principal turnover. The district has to spend money on recruiting, hiring, and training a new principal, as well as the new teachers that the new principal will inevitably hire.

“Most important,” says Fuller, “the school loses the investment in capacity-building of the principal and teachers who leave.”

Read more about principal retention research here.