This dissertation examines the perceptions of Texas principals regarding how adequately they felt their preparation program trained them for the principalship. Across the U.S., variations in curricula and preparation exist in principal preparation programs. Varied preparation result in leaders who are not prepared to face the demanding challenges…

Anecdotal evidence points to the importance of school principals, but the limited existing research has neither provided consistent results nor indicated any set of essential characteristics of effective principals. This paper exploits extensive student-level panel data across six states to investigate both variations in principal performance and…

Minoritized students in public schools in Texas and across the nation continue to underachieve academically compared to their white peers. Despite similar academic achievement and socioeconomic backgrounds, minoritized students are often perceived more negatively by a predominantly white teacher workforce. The idea of cultural dissonance or…

Schools are dynamic environments surrounded by static brick and mortar. Schools are a complex entanglement of systems clinging to normalcy led and composed of individuals seeking growth and progress. There is constant turnover as students move through the systems, gaining mastery, seeking support, and receiving guidance. Employees similarly move…

The principal's impact as an instructional leader influences many elements that keep a school building running effectively. Assistant principals, as emerging school leaders, must be prepared and cultivated with the proper support and resources to thrive in principalship positions. Support through school district-based principal preparation and…

A School District Principal Preparation Partnership Program is designed to establish collaboration between a University and school districts that employ the school leaders graduated by the university. This collaboration improves school principal preparation by integrating relevant school district policies, practices, knowledge, and skills into a…

Researchers use data from the RAND American Mathematics Educator Study surveys of public school principals and teachers to investigate three school structures--referred to as "school opportunity structures" throughout this report--that may affect kindergarten through 8th grade (K-8) students' mathematics learning. These structures are…

This study contributes to the literature on first year teachers by identifying complexities and struggles of becoming a teacher and the implications of district-university partnerships to strengthen our educator preparation program. The importance of partnerships with stakeholders, memorandum of agreements to share data, observations of first year…

The authors drew upon state policy documents and other public sources to review licensure requirements for charter school principals. The results indicate that few states have adopted licensure requirements for charter school principals compared with traditional public school principals, and many exempt charter school principals from licensure…

This policy brief presents evidence that historically underserved students in Texas are less likely to be assigned to the most qualified and effective educators. Prior research and policy efforts have focused on teacher and principal sorting across schools in the same district, and districts' employee transfer provisions. Yet this study…

Purpose: The primary purpose of this study is to explore how the characteristics of the principal preparation programs of newly hired elementary school principals might influence school achievement through the development of well-qualified teams of teachers by the school. Of primary interest is whether elementary school principals from preparation…

Because of the importance of developing highly skilled school leaders, statewide assessments of 784 Texas public school administrators were compared in a causal-comparison study to determine how leadership skills varied by type of campus (urban, suburban and rural) and by campus student achievement ratings. Data were collected from a 2006-2008…

One thing is certain, accountability is here to stay; accountability exposes the good, the bad, and the ugly. The academic achievement gap between non-White and White students continues to exist in the disaggregated data in individual campuses, within school districts, and within comparison studies across the nation. Thus, school leadership is…

This article reports the results of an inquiry into the dynamics of principal selection in rural school districts in two mid-American states with high numbers of rural schools. The study focuses on two questions: (1) are rural school districts experiencing a shortage of qualified applicants for vacant principal's positions; and (2) what…

The purpose of this research study was to investigate the impact of principal participation in a leadership capacity building and support program on educational leaders' practice and the professional practice of teachers. The two examined principals participated in the Duncan Principal Coaching Initiative (DPCI), a comprehensive, research and…