This quantitative study aims to determine if there is a relationship between principal longevity and student achievement in selected rural high schools in Mississippi. The study focused on fourteen (14) selected high schools in districts in rural Mississippi and the tenure of their principals during the years of 2017-2018, and 2018-2019.…

This technical appendix provides additional information about the sample, data, and estimation strategy used for a series of American Educator Panels (AEP) Data Notes published by the RAND Corporation in 2019. The Data Note series is intended to provide brief but incisive analyses of teacher and school leader survey results that may be of…

This study was designed to examine teacher perceptions of teacher retention in a rural school district. A survey instrument designed to assess teacher perceptions of teacher retention was administered to teachers of grades K-12 in a rural school district in Mississippi. Working Environment Factors assessed through the instrument were: The…

Alternate route programs are increasingly serving schools in rural areas that may struggle to recruit new teachers. In this study, ten principals of middle schools from rural areas of Mississippi were interviewed regarding their perceptions of alternate route programs' recruitment, selection, preparation, mentorship, support, and retention…

A large and growing body of evidence over the past several decades has shown that school leadership is a key factor in improving school performance and student outcomes. Increasingly, funders and developers of school leadership programs are articulating talent development frameworks, or leadership development pipelines, that conceive of school…

This report pays tribute to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSIs), an investment of more than $140 million to improve mathematics and science education in some of rural America's most impoverished communities. The report illustrates the impact of NSF's RSI program on a national scale. Each RSI planned a project…

In an effort to increase the knowledge about professional development programs that promote strong instructional leaders, the Wallace Foundation recently commissioned a study of innovative principal professional development programs and the policy and funding mechanisms that support them. In fall 2003, the foundation awarded a grant to a team of…