take this JOB and fill it

Leadership, May, 2001 by Judith A. Kerrins, Thomas Johnstone, Katherine S. Cushing

* What about the qualifications of the candidate pool? Further evidence of a shortage of principal applicants came when we asked about the adequacy of the candidate pool. Of the districts reporting, almost half stated it was difficult to find the candidate they wanted to hire (i.e., they hired, but were less than pleased or they reopened the position). Another 17 percent reported they'd hired from within and therefore didn't worry about the quality of the candidates who applied for principalships; 2 percent of the districts indicated they had to offer incentives in order to hire the candidate they wanted.

* Is there a pattern to the responses? High school districts reported more hiring from within than elementary or unified districts. We think this means they are doing a better job of grooming and preparing would-be principals to assume principalships. Perhaps this is because there's a career ladder in place as the typical entrance to a high school principal position is through the assistant or viceprincipal position.

Unified districts, which have the greatest variety of principal positions to fill (elementary, middle and high school), are least satisfied with the candidate pool.

Geographically, superintendents and HR directors in suburban districts appear to be least satisfied with the quality of the applicant pool. Both urban and rural districts seem to be grooming and hiring more candidates from within for their principal positions. Perhaps this explains why they are more satisfied than suburban districts.

* New principal hires: Who are they? How qualified are they? Regarding gender, our survey found the principal applicant pool was about half male, half female. However, districts continue to report low numbers of minority candidates in the applicant pool; if there aren't many minority applicants there won't be many minority hires. At a time when the state population is increasingly composed of non-whites, the need for a plan to increase their representation in the applicant pool is paramount.

As a group, recent principal hires are well educated: approximately 90 percent have master's degrees, and another 4 to 5 percent are ABD or already have their doctorate degrees.

As in the past, women continue to spend more years in the classroom before being hired as principals, with superintendents and HR directors reporting that more than 84 percent of their female hires have six or more years of teaching experience. The numbers are slightly less for male hires (75 percent) and even less for minority hires (68 percent).

What is surprising is that almost 9 percent of the new hires in the last three years are reported to have less than the administrative credential requirement of three years of teaching experience -- about 2.9 percent of male hires, 1.4 percent of female hires and 4.5 percent of minority hires.

Districts typically prefer to hire applicants who already have principalship experience, but they appear to be hard to find. More women (about 42 percent) and minority (46 percent) hires have two or fewer years of previous administrative experience, whereas about 35 percent of the male hires have two or fewer years experience. At the other end of the continuum, 6.5 percent of male hires, 1.5 percent of female hires, and 2 percent of minority hires have 11 or more years of administrative experience.