Strengthening the Principal Pipeline through State Leadership Academies

Strong, well-prepared school leaders are a well-known lever for improving student achievement and retaining teachers, but principal retention has received less attention. On the one hand, after principals have led their first school for five or more years, they hire more teachers who remain longer. On the other hand, principals are leaving at worrying rates. Eleven percent of public school principals left the profession before the 2021–22 school year, including nearly 8 percent of principals with less than three years on the job.

Principals cite inadequate preparation and professional development among the top five reasons they leave. A 2020 Brown University study found that educational attainment and years of experience in other jobs were not good predictors of principal effectiveness. However, performance ratings received as an assistant principal or teacher had more predictive power, and assistant principals who had worked in schools with highly rated principals were more likely to be effective upon transitioning into the principalship. …