Research Wednesday | October 9, 2024

While the national teacher shortage has received a great deal of attention, just as alarming is the shortage of qualified principals. In 2021, the National Association of Secondary School Principals reported survey results that suggested a mass exodus of principals, with more than half of school administrators planning to quit. That prediction is now proving accurate, and a growing number of school districts are unable to fill leadership positions. Although many teachers have earned an administrative credential and a master’s degree in educational leadership, few of them want the headaches and job insecurity that goes with the principalship. As I have reported before, money alone does not solve this problem. Principals work 12-hour days and even at home field incessant texts and calls from parents, staff members, board members, and district leaders. 

The toll that this takes on family life, as well as physical and emotional health, is incalculable. Some exceptions exist, such as the division of duties between a school manager and the instructional leader. The late Richard Elmore wrote persuasively about the necessity for distributed leadership, giving staff members the opportunity to develop essential leadership skills and relieving the principal of the impossible requirement to fill every leadership responsibility. The most promising idea, however, is not just more staff but rather fewer initiatives. I received a note from a superintendent who had some great ideas, but when he considered those ideas with his staff, teachers gave him a list of 98 - that’s right 98 – initiatives that were already expected of them. It was, he concluded, time to weed the garden.  

The teacher shortage and principal shortage are inextricably linked. As Gallup research has reported for decades, people don’t quit jobs – they quit managers. If we want to restore the teacher pipeline, then job 1 is to make the principalship a position in which one can survive without sacrificing family and health.

 You can read more about the principal shortage here: https://www.k12dive.com/news/principal-teacher-turnover-exceeds-pre-pandemic/643732/