1. Building a Quality Pool - Principals
Capturing Our Learning

2. Overview
Purpose: To ensure the pipeline into the Principal pool is filled with sufficient numbers of high quality candidates - both internal and external - and that those in the pipeline match the potential vacancies that are projected each year
Key Elements of Building a Quality Pool
Analyzing Turnover and Projecting School Vacancies
Influencing Providers of Aspiring Principals
Ensuring Sufficient Quality Pipelines from Multiple Pathways
Cultivating Internal Candidate Pipelines
Expanding Diversity in the Principal Candidate Pool
Utilizing a Standardized Screening Process with a Validated Interview Instrument
See the Principal ABC Tool and Executive Summary of the Principal Puzzle Pieces for additional information
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy

3. Key Research
Principal experience is an important predictor of principal effectiveness
“An assistant principal in the existing school positively affects student test scores and suspension rates, though experience as a teacher in the school does not affect these outcomes” p. 2 Rice, 2010
Districts may not actively utilize multiple recruitment avenues, falling back on informal recruitment of internal candidates, causing a lack of diversity and depth in the applicant pool Doyle & Locke. (2014); Bierly & Shy. (2013)
External candidates stay in a district if they have a connection to the region Doyle & Locke. (2014)
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy

4. Metrics
Key metrics to understand performance in this function include:
% of principals with effective or higher ratings at end of years 1-3 by pathway
Applicants per vacancy
% of vacancies filled by April 1 (March 1 for high-need schools)
Principal supervisor satisfaction with the pool
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy

5. Key Content
Building a Quality Pool

6. HR’s Role in Principal Quality
Betsy
On the principal side, we know that effective principals are:
Good instructional leaders, that is – they can facilitate teachers’ learning about how to improve instruction
Good HC managers – they know how to get and keep the best people in their schools
Have a strong vision and can build a strong culture of academic excellence
Align and manage their resources for student achievement – budget, people, processe
Potential questions to ask the group after reviewing this slide:
Do you feel like these are comprehensive, or do you feel like anything is missing?
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014

7. The Principalship is Challenging
Demanding and increasing workload and expectations
Limited autonomy over key decisions coupled with strong accountability
Isolation and lack of support
Pay can overlap with differentiated teacher pay
Betsy
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014

8. What We Know: Get the Best
Many districts:
Have had limited success hiring external candidates with proven results
Hire internal staff, leading to a lack of diversity
Have inconsistent process to identify and build high potential leaders
Shuffle 12% of low-performing principals between schools each year
Source: Doyle & Locke, 2014
Betsy
Districts are too passive in recruitment; missing out on whole segments of the potential pipeline
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014

9. District Conditions & the Paradox of the Principalship
Effective Instructional Leadership
Most Commonly lacking condition:
ability to target resources where they are needed
hire the best available teachers
provide teachers with the opportunities they need to improve
keep the school running smoothly
Grissom & Loeb, 2009, p. 32
create appropriate staffing models
ability to hire, promote, and dismiss teachers.
Ikemoto, et al., 2014, p. 11
Betsy IF we get great principals – it becomes impossible to keep them because of the conditions in the district. The dysfunctional district will win every time. Even High Quality Principals cannot be great HC Managers or even effective managers in this kind of environment
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014

10. Creating Great Principals at Scale
Strand 1: Aligned goals, strategies, and resources Strand 2: Culture of collective responsibility, balanced autonomy, and continuous learning, and improvement Strand 3: Effective Management and Support for Principals Strand 4: Systems and policies to effectively manage talent at school-level
Betsy IF we get great principals – it becomes impossible to keep them because of the conditions in the district. The dysfunctional district will win every time. Even High Quality Principals cannot be great HC Managers or even effective managers in this kind of environment
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014

11. What Can HR Do to Contribute?
Bring Data & Information to the Table
Share Power Metrics and ABC Tool strategies
Identify effective teachers and APs
Provide Ideas, such as:
Create teacher leadership and “stepping stone” positions
Seek top performers’ input about what keeps them in your district
Lead/support efforts to make the role more manageable (Admin Managers)
Facilitate Dialogue
How can the district remove/limit barriers and set enabling conditions?
How can we share and facilitate promising practices between principals?
Betsy This is a service. Widen your organizational influence
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014

12. Tools and Activities

13. Tools Principal Power Metrics – Actions of Impact
Offers HR/HC teams actions that have an impact in each bucket of the Principal Power Metrics. It also includes:
Snippets from the Research
Power Metrics Recap
Actions of Impact – High-impact, often low-cost ideas
Top USHCA Tools and Materials
Sample Principal Supervisor Survey
Suggests sample survey questions to gauge Principal Supervisor satisfaction with key HR policies, tools and systems in order to provide best possible service
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy

14. Activity: Rate Your District
Does your district:
Get the best principals consistently?
Deploy principals deliberately?
Retain principals strategically?
Deliver services to principal supervisors effectively?
Rate your district on a scale from 1 (worst) to 10 (best)
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014

15. Activity: Principal Power Metrics Analysis
Directions:
What do our Principal Power Metrics show?
In what “bucket” area will we focus to improve principal quality
Review the Actions of Impact tool for this area. Any promising ideas?
What is our vision for working with Principal Managers on this?
What are 2-3 concrete steps we will take to contribute to improved principal quality?
Urban Schools Human Capital Academy October 2014