Link archives
Fall 2001
O
principals, where art thou?
Two years ago a study from the University’s Humphrey Institute of Public
Affairs reported that nine out of 10 school districts in Minnesota were
finding it difficult or very difficult to fill principal jobs, especially at
the secondary level.
A perception exists that a good principal is hard to find. While not
everyone agrees with that perception, educators within the college as well
as state legislators and area superintendents all agree that finding
principal candidates with quality experience can be a challenge, especially
in smaller rural districts.
"What I’m hearing is that districts trying to hire principals are not
seeing candidates of the caliber that superintendents need and expect," says
Alice Seagren, state representative from Bloomington and chair of the House K-12 Education Finance Committee. "They may be seeing 20 – even
more – candidates but they say none of them are people they’d want to hire. Do
we have an actual shortage of candidates or are we facing a quality issue?" Seagren asks.
 "It’s true that anytime a job opens up for a principalship, multiple
licensed candidates usually show up," says Ann Zweber Werner, coordinator of
the college’s administrative licensure and leadership development program
and a former K-12 principal. "But to say it’s an issue of quality is
somewhat misleading. I believe it’s more an issue of lack of experience. For
example, a district looking for a principal for one of its larger schools
doesn’t want someone right out of a licensure program. They need a candidate
with experience as an assistant principal or as a principal at another,
perhaps smaller, school. And I would agree that we are seeing a shortage of
experienced principal candidates in Minnesota."
Barbara Pulliam, superintendent of the St. Louis Park, Minn., school
district, says she has been called to conferences in Washington, D.C., at
least three times in the past 18 months to discuss leadership crises in K-12
education. She believes at least some of the perceived shortages can be
traced to what is and isn’t happening in the schools themselves.
"My question is this – if we do, in fact, have people in our schools who
are working on licensure, what are we doing and what should we be doing to
help them?" Pulliam asks. "What are we doing to help them develop into the
kind of administrators we want to have leading our schools?"
Pulliam believes in developing administrative candidates from within but
acknowledges that it doesn’t always work. "In a small organization such as
this one, you try to construct some experiences to round out the kind of
candidate you want working for you," Pulliam says. "This involves me seeking
them out and letting them know I’m interested in them developing further. We
work together to create intern experiences I think would be useful for their
development."
Mark Shellinger, the new superintendent for District 535 in Rochester,
Minn., says he is too unfamiliar with the state’s candidate pool to know if
shortages actually exist, but he does believe many districts could do more
to cultivate future candidates from within.
"You can’t assume they will come to you," Shellinger says. "You have to
recruit them, develop them from within when possible."
Shellinger says in the districts he has served in the past – in Nevada and
Alaska – he has seen fewer and fewer applicants for administrative positions.
"I think there are three major reasons for that generally," he says.
"Principals do not make very good money." Seagren agrees, saying some
Minnesota principals make little more than teachers at top pay scales.
"They also face challenging working conditions in terms of management and
budgetary restrictions," Shellinger says. "And third, and I think most
important, they also need opportunities to grow and change and try new
things. And sometimes those opportunities are not there. That’s when people
leave the field or move to another district."
Seagren has heard many of these points made through her work as chair of
the education committee of the Assembly of State Issues, part of the
National Council of State Legislators. She also is part of a task force
within that group examining the stumbling blocks to bringing more quality
candidates into educational administration.
For example, isolation is cited as a deterrent to those considering a
K-12 administrative position. According to research, Seagren says,
mentorships and relationships built with other administrators, especially
during educational preparation for licensure and professional development,
could provide the collegial support that principals say is often lacking and
could lessen the sense of isolation.
"In situations like that, where is the incentive to take on such a large
array of additional responsibilities?" Seagren asks.
Currently eight institutions, including the college, are licensing K-12
administrators in Minnesota, Werner says. Since 1997 the college has brought
approximately 200 candidates through the licensure process.
"For a long time the state has had more people licensed than there are
positions to be filled," Werner says. "So there doesn’t appear to be
shortages in terms of number of candidates. But we’re certainly seeing a
shortage of candidates who are prepared to step into major leadership roles,
especially in our more complex urban schools. Principals in those schools
must be able to deal with larger populations of first-generation American
students, with multiple religions and cultures, all within a society with
fewer constraints around behavior than there used to be. Those are all
significant challenges that can be difficult to feel prepared for. In
addition, expectations for principals are changing on other levels, too.
Principals today must devote a significant amount of energy in being part of
the larger community. They’re expected to be involved in partnerships with
other community leaders and institutions, working to build trust. Those
require additional types of skills."
Werner says districts can help future candidates train for these demands
through mentorships and coaching experiences for candidates within the
system. "Nothing will substitute for that experiential training," she says.
"Our goal with our licensure and leadership development students is to
develop in them the mental flexibility to apply leadership skills to any
situation," Werner says. "Rather than doing situational training, we aim
toward training them to take their actual experiences, reflect on them, and
attach personal understanding to that information."
The idea, Werner says, is that when you are able to integrate knowledge
and experience in a way that makes sense to you personally, you will be able
to apply it in any situation.
Every licensure candidate who comes through the college’s program is
mentored and spends at least 320 hours within a 12-month period in field
experiences at the elementary, middle school, and high school level. In
addition, candidates must complete 60 semester credits of graduate-level
coursework that focus on both theory and its application to practice. To
complete the program, they must make a presentation before a screening and
evaluation review panel made up of administrative professionals from
institutions of higher education and K-12 districts.
"These are people who are comfortable in saying they ‘know it when they
see it’ in terms of saying someone is ready for licensure," Werner says.
"Obviously there are objective criteria, but competency-based requirements
are a blending of knowledge and skill. The current licensure requirements
are structured to emphasize that marriage between knowledge of
university-based theory with understanding and experience in the field."
Werner says the review panel sometimes spots a weakness in a candidate’s
presentation that leads to a recommendation for a professional development
plan designed specifically to address that weakness. "Our program emphasizes
a flexible set of one-credit modules for professional development designed
both to meet the needs of candidates working toward licensure and for those
already in administrative positions looking to improve their knowledge and
skills in a focused area."
Werner acknowledges that despite the thorough preparation, some districts
say they are struggling to find well-qualified candidates. She says the
solution lies in a collaborative effort between universities and those in
the field.
"If we’re going to have an adequate pool of really high-level,
high-quality administrators, we need to work together," Werner says. "It’s
important for those of us at the University to hear about what’s happening
on the front lines. At the same time, it’s our job to work with the state
and other preparation programs to ensure the quality of programming,
instruction, and support to candidates and those who become licensed. My
hope is that we can continue the discussion and develop a stronger
partnership with everyone who is concerned about preparing and supporting
quality administrators in our schools."
– Peggy Rader
Additional reading
Who Will Lead? The
Principal Shortage, State Legislatures Magazine, October/November
2001
How to Fix the Coming Principal Shortage, Time, July 20,
2001
NAESP Fact
Sheet on the Principal Shortage, National Association of
Elementary School Principals
Principal Shortage, PBS Online NewsHour, May 24, 2001
The
Principal Shortage -- Why Doesn't Anybody Want the Job?, Education
World, October 31, 2000 |
