Urban superintendents and their selection of successful elementary school principals

2011-12-19Urban superintendents are hired and commissioned to raise student achievement, especially for students who have been traditionally underserved by underperforming public schools. Site principals have a significant impact on student achievement; therefore, successful superintendents must be able to recruit, select, and hire effective principals in order to raise student achievement. This study examined how effective urban superintendents recruit, select, and hire successful elementary principals. ❧ Three primary research questions were used in this mixed methods study. Two instruments were used to collect data. The quantitative data was collected from online surveys from 29 urban superintendents, and qualitative data was collected from three personal interviews with successful superintendents. The data was triangulated and analyzed to help answer the research questions of this study. ❧ The research study resulted in several key findings. Superintendents look for particular background characteristics in principal candidates such as elementary teaching experience, prior administrative experience, and advanced degrees from respected universities. In addition, superintendents hire candidates who have excellent people skills and who are superb instructional leaders. School districts that offer competitive salaries and have a reputation of success are able to recruit top quality principal candidates. Finally, school districts that carefully paper screen applications, thoroughly check employment references, and conduct a comprehensive interview process are able to identify and hire the best possible principal candidate from the candidate pool