Lost Luster - restructuring the position of school principal to attract more candidates to job

School Administrator, Nov, 2001 by Diana G. Pounder, Randall Merrill

Redesigning the principalship could have a positive impact on the pipeline supply

It is quite common to hear school superintendents lament the limited size and quality of the applicant pool for principal position openings today. Often they will ask those of us in administrator preparation programs why we aren't turning out more and higher quality candidates.

Perhaps they ought to be raising several alternative questions. For example, "Why are so few effective educators with strong leadership skills and dispositions seeking the role of school principal, especially the high school principalship where the gravest shortages seem to exist?" or "What do we mean by 'quality' candidates? Is our conception of quality too narrowly defined, causing us to fail to identify potentially strong candidates?" or "How can we better encourage and develop educators to be effective administrators?"

A Cautious Candidate

Consider the case of Tim, an assistant principal at a large urban high school. He is a rising star among his school district's administrators and is being groomed by his superiors for a principalship.

When asked about his future, Tim is focused and goal oriented: "I'd like to be a high school principal because I know I can make a difference in kids' lives and in my school, but I wouldn't want to do it for more than three to five years. The demands of the job are just too great -- the time commitment, the stress and the difficulty in implementing change due to organizational, political and legal constraints."

Tim sees his principal spending long hours at school only to return evenings and weekends for supervision of activities and to catch up on paperwork. "I'm not willing to ask my family to make that sacrifice for an extended period of time. The personal impact of a high-stress job that takes me away from my family three or more nights a week is a high price to pay for career advancement.

Tim also is concerned about the expectations placed on a principal. "In a world of increasing violence, racial divisions and tensions, federal and state regulations and increasing public accountability, is it possible to be an effective and successful school leader? Everyone seems to want a piece of the principal and as I look at the big picture I have to ask, 'Is it worth it?"'

Tim's colleague, Becky, also is considering the high school principalship and identifies with the concerns of her friend. But as the sole source of income for her family, the higher pay of the principalship is definitely attractive. At least for now, she is willing to make the sacrifices and is actively seeking a principalship.

This scenario illustrates the ambivalence principal candidates often feel when confronting the decision to apply for a school principalship, particularly at the secondary level. In the February 2001 issue of Educational Administration Quarterly, we reported the findings of a study addressing potential principal candidates' assessments of the job desirability of the high school principalship. We surveyed all current high school assistant principals and middle school/junior principals in one Western state about their interest in seeking a position as a high school principal, asking them about the factors that attracted them (or failed to attract them) to the position.

Although respondents were probably more favorably predisposed and qualified to seek a high school principalship than newly minted administrator preparation program graduates, only 30 percent indicated they intended to seek a high school principalship in the next three to five years. When identifying those job characteristics that were most attractive about the position, they indicated a desire to make a difference; a desire to empower school change; the need for personal and professional growth; the opportunity to exercise leadership; the desire to improve a school and offer a vision for a school; the opportunity to influence others; and the salary.

By contrast, the job characteristics they found least attractive were balancing the demands of job and family; terminating unfit employees; job stress; pressure from interest groups; the extended work day required; extracurricular supervision; and teacher grievances and union complaints.

The study results indicated that the two overall factors that had the most favorable influence on principal job desirability were the desire to achieve and influence or improve education and, to a lesser degree, the salary and benefits. However, the overall factor that had the strongest adverse impact on principal job desirability was the time demands of the work. Our findings explain why these potential candidates characterized the job as only "somewhat desirable," a modestly positive job desirability rating.

These study results lead us to the following discussion that focuses on two questions: How might the principal's job be redesigned to enhance its attractiveness and viability to potential candidates, and how might school districts build a stronger pipeline of administrator candidates for principal job openings?