New study looks at what it takes to attract and support talented principals

CRPE (the Center of Reinventing Public Education) released a a study titled Principal Concerns: Leadership Data and Strategies for States which explores what states do (and can do) to “find, deploy,  and keep good principals.”

As the study notes, principals are an extremely important component to education. Principals are responsible for hiring teachers and enacting and developing school policies that increase student success. In fact, researchers cite a study which says that principals account for a quarter for “school’s total impact on student achievement.”

According to the research, states are just now beginning to implement legislation to support strong principals. Some districts, such as  New York City, New Orleans, Chicago, Hartford, and Denver have enacted laws that have given principles more decision making power by getting rid of mandates that deal with “requirements in schools, class sizes, how many students can be in a class, and how teacher time must be used.” Some states and districts have also worked to ensure budget flexibility enact competitive pay.

CRPE provides suggestions for state policymakers to aid them when it comes to attracting and keeping talented principals which includes looking at and publishing data, choosing high impact options, encouraging  districts to try new things, and linking principal policies to teacher policies.

Read the full study here (PDF).