REL Principals

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Principals

RELs work in partnership with states and districts to 1) conduct original high quality research, 2) provide training, coaching, and technical support, and 3) disseminate high quality research findings about how to support principals. A selected list of resources developed by the REL Program appears below.

Partnerships

Missouri Equity Research Partnership (REL Central)
Wyoming State Support Research Partnership (REL Central)
Training and Supporting Excellent Educators Alliance (REL Mid-Atlantic)
School Leadership in North Carolina (REL Southeast)

Publications

Understanding Retention, Mobility, and Attrition of School and District Leaders in Three States (REL Central, August 2020). Stakeholders from three REL Central states (Colorado, Missouri, and South Dakota) identified school and district leader retention, mobility, and attrition as issues of concern, particularly in rural settings. The study report will describe rural and nonrural retention, mobility, and attrition in terms of school and district leader movement into, within, and out of state public school systems. It will also describe characteristics of principals, schools, and districts that are related to principal mobility and attrition.
Can Student Test Scores Provide Useful Measures of School Principals' Performance? (REL Mid-Atlantic, September 2016). This study assessed the extent to which four principal performance measures based on student test scores—average achievement, school value-added, adjusted average achievement, and adjusted school value-added—accurately reflect principals' contributions to student achievement in future years.
Impact of a checklist on principal-teacher feedback conferences following classroom observations (REL Southwest, January 2018). In partnership with the New Mexico Public Education Department, REL Southwest researchers conducted a statewide experiment in school year 2015/16 to test whether a checklist could help principals in New Mexico public schools provide better feedback to teachers after formal classroom observations. The study found mixed results after one school year.
Leadership Characteristics and Practices in South Carolina Charter Schools (REL Southeast, November 2016). South Carolina is interested in learning more about its charter school leaders, and more specifically, about those leaders' practices. Wanting to further develop support services to increase charter school success, the South Carolina Department of Education will administer an online survey that will be developed with REL Southeast in collaboration with other charter school stakeholders in the state. The intent of the survey is to identify characteristics of the charter school leaders in the state, see how they spend their work hours, understand the time they spend on challenges to their work, and learn who influences their schools' policies.
Measuring Principals' Effectiveness: Results from New Jersey's First Year of Statewide Principal Evaluation (REL Mid-Atlantic, August 2016). This study describes measures used to evaluate New Jersey principals in the first year of statewide implementation of the new evaluation system. It examines four statistical properties of the measures: the variation in ratings across principals, their year-to-year stability, the associations between component ratings and the characteristics of students in the schools, and the associations among component ratings.
Measuring School Leaders' Effectiveness: A Multiyear Pilot of Pennsylvania's Framework for Leadership (REL Mid-Atlantic, December 2014). This series of reports examines the accuracy of performance ratings from the Framework for Leadership (FFL), Pennsylvania's tool for evaluating the leadership practices of principals and assistant principals. Four key properties of the FFL were analyzed: score variation, internal consistency, year-to-year stability, and concurrent validity.
Measuring Principals' Effectiveness: Results from New Jersey's Principal Evaluation Pilot (REL Mid-Atlantic, May 2015). The purpose of this study was to describe the measures used to evaluate principals in New Jersey in the first (pilot) year of the new principal evaluation system and examine three of the statistical properties of the measures: their variation among principals, their year-to-year stability, and the associations between these measures and the characteristics of students in the schools. The study reviewed information that developers of principal practice instruments provided about their instruments and examined principals' performance ratings using data from 14 districts in New Jersey that piloted the principal evaluation system.
Principals' Time, Tasks, and Professional Development: An Analysis of Schools and Staffing Survey Data (REL Northeast and Islands, October 2016). The purpose of this study was to examine how public school principals allocate their time to various job-related tasks and investigate the types of professional development they attend. This report summarizes a secondary analysis of data from the 2011/12 school year collected through the Principal and School Questionnaire forms of the Schools and Staffing Survey by the National Center for Education Statistics.
A Systematic Review of the Relationships Between Principal Characteristics and Student Achievement (REL Southeast, December 2015). This systematic review of the relationships between principal characteristics and student achievement was created for educators, administrators, policy-makers, and other individuals interested in a comprehensive catalogue of research on relations between principal characteristics and student achievement. It synthesizes what is known about associations between principal characteristics and student achievement; specifically it summarizes the studies, highlights the effects found by the studies, and describes the steps of the systematic review process used.
Using Administrative Data for Research: A Companion Guide to A Descriptive Analysis of the Principal Workforce in Florida Schools (REL Southeast, March 2015). This report describes the results of a REL Southeast study using the Florida Department of Education staffing database to describe the demographic make-up, Florida Educator Certificate coverages, career paths from 2001/02 to 2011/12, and evaluation ratings of Florida's educational leaders (i.e., assistant principals and principals) in the 2011/12 school year.
The Utility of Teacher and Student Surveys in Principal Evaluations: An Empirical Investigation (REL Midwest, November 2014). This study examined whether adding student and teacher survey measures to existing principal evaluation measures increases the overall power of the principal evaluation model to explain variation in student achievement across schools. The study was conducted using data from 2011–12 on 39 elementary and secondary schools within a midsize urban school district in the Midwest.

Archived Webinars

Using Teacher Feedback in School Leader Evaluations Webinar (REL Mid-Atlantic, May 2019). This webinar offers an overview of how teacher input can be used to gain additional perspectives on principal performance. Brian Gill provides suggestions on how to incorporate teacher feedback into current school leader evaluation systems and potential implementation issues that could arise. Brittney Gionfriddo highlights two survey instruments currently being used to inform principal evaluations. Alyssa Ford-Heywood with Pittsburgh Public Schools discusses the district's experience with determining the need for and selection of an instrument, implementation successes and challenges, and district plans to move forward.
Building a Pipeline of Effective Principals: Costs, Resources, Challenges, and Opportunities (REL Northeast and Islands, May 16, 2019). As our student population becomes increasingly diverse, more and more states and school districts are investing in efforts to ensure future school leaders are prepared to meet their needs. This webinar helped policymakers and researchers understand and apply research findings on the principal pipeline, including how to recruit and prepare a diverse pool of principals. Dr. Julia Kaufman, policy researcher from RAND Corporation, provided an overview of her research on the development and implementation of principal pipelines, with a focus on the importance and impact of strong principal pipelines. Dr. Susan Gates, director of the Office of Research Quality Assurance from RAND Corporation, presented the results of a study that examines the student, school, and principal retention outcomes associated with principal pipelines. Finally, Dr. Kendra Washington-Bass, director of leadership development at Gwinnett County Public Schools, discussed her county's experience building a principal pipeline.
Effective School Leaders (REL Mid-Atlantic, October 9, 2014). In this webinar, Dr. Eric Hanushek of Stanford University described his ongoing research on principal effectiveness. As part of the Texas Schools Project, Dr. Hanushek and his colleagues are using a value-added model to examine principal effectiveness and quality in terms of how much an individual principal adds or subtracts from students' learning gains.

Videos

ESSA Implementation: Evidence on Supporting School Leaders (REL West). This video shares excerpts from a presentation on ESSA implementation, including a logic model guide that helps state and district leaders identify the key components of evidence-based programs.
How Principals Influence Student Achievement (REL West). This video is a summary of Dr. Elaine Allensworth's (University of Chicago Consortium on School Research) presentation to a convening of state education leaders on how principals influence student achievement.
A New Role Emerges for Principal Supervisors: Evidence from Six Districts (REL West). This video shares excerpts from Dr. Ellen Goldring's presentation during a regional convening of state education agency leaders. The presentation introduces viewers to lessons learned from ongoing research under the Principal Supervisor Initiative, a multi-year project engaging six urban school districts.

Infographics

For more resources in ERIC on the topic of Principals, click here.