Human Resource Management Practices for Public School Principals: Recruitment, Selection, and Development

Increasing complexities of educational contexts intensify the importance of hiring effective principals and using systematic support to shift from manager to instructional leader. Using a systematic framework of support is responsive and adaptive to contextual and personnel variables affecting principal human resource management (HRM). It was not known what HRM practices districts used to recruit, select, and develop principals in Oregon public school districts. Using a qualitative methodology, a descriptive case study surveyed (using Farr’s, 2004 and Van de Water’s, 1987 instruments) and interviewed (using Hensley, Kracht, & Strange’s, 2013 interview protocol) district administrators, triangulating with document analysis of 2016‒17 principal job postings and National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES, 2016) to explore the research questions. Conclusions from data collection results were that while districts continued to rely on traditional HRM, some recruitment and selection practices are strategic and better assess applicants and candidates, yet HRM practices widely vary between districts. Spearman’s Rank Order Correlation established some relationships between HRM applicant recruitment practices and district-contextual variables were statistically significant at 0.05 and 0.01 levels (2-tailed). There was a strong positive correlation between contextual variables (N = 16), traditional and strategic HRM practices (N = 8), applicant recruitment practices (N = 33), and OEL/AS (N = 8), totaling 64 variables. Positive relationships were found between contextual variables such as discipline incidents and number of schools and practices such as minority applicant recruitment, crafted job description, administrative experience, and effective leadership applicant. As the school, district, and community contexts and needs continue to change, recommendations for change in practices are grounded in Critical Systems Theory to avoid perpetuating inequities and power distribution in principal HRM