Succession Planning Hosted By: John Nori NASSP Consultant

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Succession Planning

Today’s Presenter: Dr. Jacquelyn O. Wilson University of Delaware

Succession Planning Wanted: Secondary school principal for a 900-student school in an urban setting. You must be able to meet state certification requirements. Your responsibilities include: supervising a staff of 100, of which 25 percent are new teachers; managing a school budget; working with various stakeholders including teachers, parents, students, community members, central-office staff, school board members, social services and the police department; and assisting the superintendent and school board in passing a major referendum. Other duties include serving on various committees such as: teacher negotiations; district improvement; and curriculum adoption. And, by the way, the school has a performance rating of “in need of improvement.”

Succession Planning “We need a bigger pool of outstanding principal candidates; we need to get them into the schools with the greatest challenges; and we need to support them on the job. Right now, that’s not happening in enough communities.” By: Will Miller, The Wallace Foundation, The Opinion Page, APRIL 17, 2015 New York Times

What is Succession Planning? Succession Planning involves an organization identifying job openings that may arise out of retirement, promotion, or an increase in leader positions. Succession planning also involves preparing suitable employees through mentoring, training and job rotation to replace key leadership positions.

Why Succession Planning is Needed Retirements. Job Re-assignments. Promotions. Job Retention. Increase in Leader Positions. School districts must create pools of candidates with high leadership potential to fill potential vacancies, including the development of those who already hold certification in educational leadership but not employed as school leaders.

How Succession Planning Helps Succession planning establishes a process that recruits employees, develops their skills and abilities, and prepares them for advancement, all while retaining them to ensure a return on the organization's training investment.

Succession planning involves… Understanding the organization's long-term goals and objectives Identifying potential leaders and nurturing their development Determining employment trends in the organization

With good succession planning… Employees are ready to assume leadership roles as the need arises Districts develop a diverse workforce

Succession Planning Succession planning needs to focus on district priorities and needs. Questions to consider include: 1. What is the identified need for an expansion of the succession pool? (For example, while many succession plan have targeted assistant principals and principals, has there been a need for principal supervisors or assistant superintendents?)

Succession Planning 2. What characteristics or qualities are required for potential hires? Years teaching Performance Evaluation Ratings Degrees Demonstrated leadership potential Activities participation Recommendations Personal characteristics How will the qualifications be determined?  

Developing a Succession Pool How will participants be recruited and selected? Who will make the selection? How will the applicants will be screened?

Developing the Succession Pool What activities are planned to meet the identified needs of the district? How will the district provide the experiences and opportunities to develop potential candidates for positions? Professional development Mentoring/coaching Residency or internship experiences Leadership opportunities in the school Partnerships with universities or other training programs

Principals in the Pipeline Obtaining effective principals requires four essential elements: principal standards high-quality training selective hiring a combination of solid on-the-job support performance evaluation Principals in the Pipeline, Carlene Murphy, Learning Forward, June 2012 | Vol. 33 No. 3

Principal Standards Districts create clear, rigorous job requirements detailing what principals and assistant principals must know and do. Standards for principals are the foundation and they…… reflect district needs define what should be taught to those enrolled in principal training programs describe functions and behaviors looked for in job candidates provide the foundation for continuous growth plans and professional development determine what is assessed in on-the-job performance evaluations.

High Quality Training Pre-service principal training programs must be aligned to school leader standards and district needs. Preparation programs should work in collaboration with districts to provide a learning experience that includes both relevant content and clinical experience working in the school Districts and preparation programs recruit people who show the potential to become effective principals and give them high-quality training that responds to district needs.

Selective Hiring Districts hire well-trained candidates with the right set of characteristics to be strong school leaders. To get the best candidates, districts need to examine their hiring practices to include a systematic approach to hiring and matching candidates to a school.

ON-THE-JOB PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND SUPPORT Districts regularly assess the performance of newly hired principals and provide them with the professional development and mentoring they need to blossom and overcome weaknesses pinpointed in evaluations.

What We Have Learned Effective Principals Shape a vision for academic success Create a climate hospitable to education Cultivate leadership in others Improve instruction Manage people, data, and processes --THE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS LEADER: GUIDING SCHOOLS TO BETTER TEACHING AND LEARNING, Wallace Foundation, January 2013

What We Have Learned If we want assistant principals, principals, and principal supervisors who demonstrate the following: Shape a vision for academic success Create a climate hospitable to education Cultivate leadership in others Improve instruction Manage people, data, and processes We must invest in models of succession planning

What We Have Learned Data is important to districts in tracking the progress of candidates in the succession pool. “The Leader Tracking Systems that they were building as part of the Principal Pipeline Initiative were expected to play an important role as a source of data for these decisions and were seen as an especially important addition to district capacity.” --Districts Taking Charge of the Principal Pipeline, POLICY STUDIES ASSOCIATES, INC. Brenda J. Turnbull | Derek L. Riley | Jaclyn R. MacFarlane, January 2015

What We Have Learned Every district had a new or modified screening step producing a pool of candidates who were allowed to apply for leadership positions. Every district developed or modified selection criteria or instruments aligned with standards. Every district was using data on candidates and schools in more systematic ways to match candidates to specific school positions where district leaders believed they would be the best fit.

A Model for Succession Planning Define Standards for School Leaders Prepare Strategic partnerships with universities and training programs Select Matching the person to the position Support Mentoring & Coaching

Questions Jacquelyn O. Wilson, Ed.D. 302-547-0043 jowilson@udel.edu

“I’d like to extend an invitation to join your colleagues in Orlando on February 25-27, 2016 for NASSP’s annual conference, Ignite ’16. You can learn about the conference and register at the address shown on this slide, www.nasspconference.org.”