Despite an increasingly diverse student population across the United States, the alarming decrease in minority K-12 school administrators (Taie et al., 2022) demands immediate attention. This qualitative study aims to understand the experiences of three different African American school administrators, extracting insights and implications that can…

Because the number of female educational leaders is disproportionate to the number of males, I conducted a qualitative study about the experiences of female educational leaders. After inquiring about these experiences and analyzing the data, I made recommendations about how to recruit and interest more women to go in to those roles. The study…

All students, regardless of race or ethnicity, benefit from having teachers and school leaders of color. Since principals of color are often more likely to hire and retain teachers of color, increasing school leader diversity is a key lever for addressing educational inequities. To provide advocates and policymakers with context on this important…

This paper aims to draw lessons from existing research on school leader diversity, and to supplement that evidence with new insights from the lived experiences of teachers, aspiring and practicing school leaders of color, and local and state administrators who oversee school leader recruitment and support. These perspectives are elevated to bring…

In this critical reflective manuscript, the authors share how a University-Based Educational Leadership Program created a professional learning alliance that seeks to create a network across educational leadership preparation and practice. A five-year old initiative, the Educational Leadership Professional Learning Alliance provides a platform for…

Discussions about human capital and school improvement typically center on teachers, not administrators, and that's a mistake. Principals, who are responsible for selecting and developing the teachers they know are so important, are a critical driver of school success. So it is imperative that states do everything they can to find, deploy, and…

Eighty percent of public school teachers are females, but only 24% of school superintendents are females. This upward trend from a low of 1.3% in the early 1970s has not mirrored the increase of females in executive level positions in other professions. A mixed-methods design identified the barriers that contribute to the under-representation and…

One of the biggest challenges in education today is identifying talented candidates to successfully lead turnarounds of persistently low-achieving schools. Evidence suggests that the traditional principal pool is already stretched to capacity and cannot supply enough leaders to fix failing schools. But potentially thousands of leaders capable of…

This report was conceived as one of three publications that collectively provide a commentary on research awareness and research use within schools in England. This third report in the series presents findings from a small-scale, detailed study of teachers who are operating as their school's Research Lead. The small scale of the study is…

With the ever-changing landscape of America, diversity, equity, and social justice issues continue to be of great importance in independent schools. Undeniably, diversity work holds benefits--which is why it has a place in so many mission statements--but it also poses significant challenges. In particular, the recruitment and retention of faculty…

This report presents selected findings from the Public School District Data File of the 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public and private K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. School districts associated with public schools and library…

Human resource (HR) management is defined as the sum of activities employed by an organization to attract, develop, and retain people with the appropriate knowledge and skills for effectively and efficiently achieving organizational goals. An understanding of the HR practices in schools is important, as the assembly of a team of qualified and…

Much has been researched and written about the principalship (or headship) in recent years. One aspect that has attracted attention of late is that of recruitment to the role, raising questions about just what potential aspirants think of the principalship, and what might be some of the reasons they see as motivation for seeking that next step on…

The Strategic Management of Human Capital in Education Project was founded in 2008 with one goal: to improve student achievement dramatically in the 100 largest urban school districts. Unless teaching quality and principal leadership improve significantly, lasting education improvement is impossible. In policy terms, without "strategic management"…

One of the most critical responsibilities to educational leaders and administrators is the task of planning the staffing of schools and school districts with the qualified professionals required to deliver high quality educational programs. This study addressed recruiting qualified school counselors to staff schools in the 27th largest school…