As fewer people enter the education profession and high rates of principal turnover persist, school districts need strategic and systematic approaches to recruiting, hiring, and supporting effective school leaders. Principal pipelines may be the answer.
Principal pipelines are a comprehensive and aligned system for identifying, developing, and supporting school leaders.
A new report, published by The Wallace Foundation and co-authored by researchers at Vanderbilt University Peabody College of education and human development and Policy Studies Associates, examines how four school districts have implemented and sustained principal pipeline initiatives to support and develop effective school leaders.
The report, "Implementing for sustainability: principal pipelines in four districts," found that the Newark Board of Education in New Jersey, Greenville County Schools in South Carolina, the School District of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, and Cumberland County Schools in North Carolina, shared commonalities in implementing and sustaining principal pipelines:
- A vocal district leader, such as a superintendent or assistant superintendent, who championed the pipeline as an approach for improving district goals and reinforcing a culture that valued and developed leaders
- A central office leader with resources and authority to coordinate and align pipeline work across departments
- Cross-departmental collaboration in the central office that fostered coherence regarding pipeline goals, programming, and desired outcomes
- Alignment of pipeline evaluation metrics to broader district strategic goals and planning
As this new report discusses, "Prior research in six districts documented strong evidence on the impact of principal pipelines on student achievement; pipeline-district schools with newly placed principals outperformed comparison schools in other districts after three years. The difference in student achievement was more than six percentile points in reading and almost three percentile points in math."
"Effective school leaders are crucial for improving student outcomes, but ensuring all schools are staffed with such leaders can be a challenge," said Ellen Goldring, the report's first author, vice dean of Vanderbilt Peabody College, Patricia and Rodes Hart Chair, and professor of educational leadership and policy. "We hope this report serves as a roadmap to support districts across the country in developing principal pipelines for sustainability that meet their unique needs."
The report could also serve as a framework to guide districts in implementing other strategic initiatives in a sustainable manner, but the research team emphasizes the importance of early implementation in the change process as part of ongoing planning and development of new initiatives.
Mollie Rubin of Policy Studies Associates and Kathryn James McGraw, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Leadership, Policy, and Organizations at Peabody College, were co-authors.
