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Principals
Principal Effects on Teacher Working Conditions
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentResearch on school principals highlights their role in shaping teachers’ work environments, but most evidence is qualitative or correlational. We provide plausibly causal estimates of how principals affect a broad swath of teacher working conditions using data from Illinois, where the State… more →
To The Mountaintop: Transforming Educational Equity as a School Leader
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentSchool leaders, particularly principals, can be true difference makers. Having a strong school leader can shape productive learning environments, give high-quality teachers the support they need, and influence student outcomes. This literature review synthesizes research on the role that school… more →
From Funds to Frameworks: How States Operationalize Title II Education Funding
This study employs a document analysis of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans from 2017 to 2022 to examine Title II, Part A, implementation across all states. We analyzed state-level fund allocation, leadership development activities, and discrepancies between planned and actual spending.… more →
Measuring the Affective Language of Principals' Evaluation Feedback and Investigating Differences by Principal Gender and Race
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentOver the past decade, reforms to principal evaluation systems have sought to incorporate formal feedback structures as a lever for principal improvement. However, we know little about the feedback that principals receive. Using statewide administrative data from Tennessee, including principals’… more →
Applying to Lead: A Mixed-Methods Investigation of Prospective Principals’ Job Application Strategies in Two Urban Districts
Topics: MethodsPurpose: Urban school districts often face challenges in filling principal vacancies with effective leaders, especially in high-needs schools. Prospective principals’ engagement with the job application process may contribute to these challenges. The goal of this study is to… more →
The Returns to Experience for School Principals
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentDespite increasing recognition of the importance of high-quality school leadership, we know remarkably little about principal skill development. Using administrative data from Tennessee, Oregon, and New York City, we estimate the returns to principal experience as measured by student outcomes,… more →
Local Political Party Voting Context Moderates Public School Principals’ Levels of Racial/Ethnic Discrimination
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceCorrespondence audits document causal evidence of racial/ethnic discrimination in many contexts. However, few studies have examined whether local political party voting context influences individuals to engage in “stakeholder-centric” discrimination on behalf of or in response to expectations of… more →
Racial/Ethnic Discrimination and Heterogeneity Across Schools in the U.S. Public Education System: A Correspondence Audit of Principals
Topics: Families and CommunitiesAlthough numerous studies document different forms of discrimination in the U.S. public education system, very few provide plausibly causal estimates. Thus, it is unclear to what extent public school principals discriminate against racial and ethnic minorities. Moreover, no studies test for… more →
Making Moves: The Role of Demotion in School Leadership
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentTags: Principals, EquityThis study examines the experience of demotion from a principalship to an assistant principalship and how race and gender can differentially impact career trajectories. Using administrative state dataset of 10,946 observations at the principal level, we used probit regression to determine the… more →
Follow the Leader: Principal Characteristics and Teachers’ Labor Market Decisions
Amid heightened concerns of teacher shortages, we document the role of principals in shaping teachers’ labor market decisions. Using teacher transfer applications from a large urban school district, we find that teachers are most likely to seek transfer away from schools with less-experienced… more →
When Does School Autonomy Improve Student Outcomes?
Topics: Policy, Politics, and GovernanceTags: School reform, PrincipalsThis paper presents new evidence on the benefits of decentralization in public education, focusing on a Chicago policy that granted school principals more control over budgeting and operations. Meta-analysis of similar policies shows a small average effect with significant … more →
Does Regulating Entry Requirements Lead to More Effective Principals?
Wes Austin, Bengie Chen, Dan Goldhaber, Eric A. Hanushek, Kris Holden, Cory Koedel, Helen F. Ladd, Jin Luo, Eric Parsons, Gregory Phelan, Steven G. Rivkin, Tim Sass, Mavzuna Tureava.Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentTags: Leadership, PrincipalsAnecdotal evidence points to the importance of school principals, but the limited existing research has neither provided consistent results nor indicated any set of essential characteristics of effective principals. This paper exploits extensive student-level panel data across six states to… more →
Rethinking Principal Effects on Student Outcomes
Topics: MethodsTags: Leadership, PrincipalsSchool principals are viewed as critical actors to improve student outcomes, but there remain important methodological questions about how to measure principals’ effects. We propose a framework for measuring principals’ contributions to student outcomes and apply it empirically using data from… more →
Disappearing Diversity and the Probability of Hiring a Nonwhite Teacher: Evidence from Texas
This study investigates whether a principal’s likelihood of hiring a teacher of color is sensitive to the racial composition of students in the school. We used an administrative dataset from Texas including 59,157 principal observations and 662,997 teacher observations spanning 2000 to 2017 in… more →
Connected Networks in Principal Value-Added Models
Topics: MethodsTags: Leadership, PrincipalsA growing literature uses value-added (VA) models to quantify principals' contributions to improving student outcomes. Principal VA is typically estimated using a connected networks model that includes both principal and school fixed effects (FE) to isolate principal effectiveness from fixed… more →
Ready to Lead on Day One: Predicting Novice Principal Effectiveness with Information Available at Time of Hire
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentTags: Leadership, PrincipalsHigh rates of principal turnover nationally mean that school districts constantly are called on to recruit and select new principals. The importance of a school’s principal makes choosing candidates who will be effective paramount, yet we have little evidence linking information known to school… more →
Assistant Principal Mobility and its Relationship with Principal Turnover
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentTags: Leadership, PrincipalsAssistant principals are important education personnel, both as essential members of school leadership teams and apprentice principals. However, empirical evidence on their career outcomes remains scarce. Using statewide administrative data from Tennessee and Missouri, we provide the first… more →
Descriptive evidence on school leaders' prior professional experiences and instructional effectiveness
Topics: Teacher and Leader DevelopmentMany education policymakers and system leaders prioritize recruiting and developing effective school leaders as key mechanisms to improve school climate and student learning. Despite efforts to select and support successful school leaders, however, relatively little is understood about the prior… more →
Getting Tough? The Effects of Discretionary Principal Discipline on Student Outcomes
Topics: Student Well-BeingTags: Juvenile justice, PrincipalsNationwide, school principals are given wide discretion to use disciplinary tools like suspension and expulsion to create a safe learning environment. There is legitimate concern that this power can have negative consequences, particularly for the students who are excluded. This study uses… more →
Unequal Pay for Equal Work? Unpacking the Gender Gap in Principal Compensation
We investigate the male–female gap in principal compensation in state and national data: detailed longitudinal personnel records from the state of Missouri and repeated cross-sections from the nationally representative Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). In both data sets, we estimate… more →