public-school-principals

4 smart strategies to retain public school principals


“Chicago’s Fight to Keep Top Principals” reflects survey results and insights of more than 400 principals

public-school-principalsMore than 40 percent of surveyed Chicago public school principals plan to leave their positions in the next 3 years, and 25 percent said they plan to leave within the next year–data suggesting that the city is losing its principals too soon, before they can effect change in their schools.

During a City Club of Chicago event downtown on Nov. 3, The Chicago Public Education Fund (The Fund) released a comprehensive report on the state of principal quality in the city’s public schools.

The report, titled Chicago’s Fight to Keep Top Principals, is based on survey results from 423 principals within Chicago’s public schools, representing 65 percent of the city’s district-run and charter school principals.

While The Fund’s data suggest that principal performance peaks around year five, more than 60 percent of Chicago’s public school principals leave before that milestone.

“We are serious about providing world-class public schools for all of Chicago’s students, and we must keep working to create an environment that allows our best leaders to learn, grow and stay,” said Heather Y. Anichini, president and CEO of The Fund. “By listening to principal voices, we can make being a great principal in Chicago a realistic longer-term career.”

Key findings from the report include:
• While 74 percent of participating public school principals are satisfied or extremely satisfied in their roles, they also overwhelmingly say that their jobs are unsustainable.
• 40 percent or more feel unable to organize their school budget, school schedule or curriculum in ways that achieve their schools’ priorities.
• More than 70 percent of public school principals say reducing compliance is one of the top three ways to improve their job satisfaction, twice as many as those who mentioned increased compensation.

Next page: Reducing compliance for principals and other strategies

The Fund’s recommendations to improve principal retention include:
Reducing Compliance — Seven in 10 surveyed public school principals cited reducing compliance as one of the top three ways to improve job satisfaction. Spending more time on teaching and learning — coaching teachers, engaging with students, interacting with families — can help principals improve their schools, and it can make them more satisfied in their position.
Providing Tools to Leverage Resources — While the state and district afford principals authority in a number of areas, public school principals often lack the support and know-how to use it. More than 40 percent of surveyed principals feel unable to organize school resources to advance school goals despite having the authority to do so. Actionable tools and targeted coaching would help principals, especially new ones, lead positive change in their schools.
Personalizing Professional Development — Like other professionals, public school principals benefit from personalized support in order to develop and learn new skills. Unfortunately, less than 25 percent rated current professional development offerings as “very good” or “excellent.” The most commonly cited way to improve it: more responsiveness to individual needs.
Challenging Them to Stay — New opportunities and continual learning is what keeps these top-performers engaged. Currently, only a few dozen Chicago public school principals each year are recognized for their excellence and challenged to keep growing. Increasing flexibility, expanding leadership opportunities and creating meaningful chances for peer-to-peer learning could help more high-achieving leaders stay motivated and in their schools.

Chicago’s focus on public school principals over the past several years has yielded a more than 30 percent increase in the number of top principals in the city. The Fund’s report is a challenge to Chicago to retain its top principals.

“Solutions to the challenges our schools face exist. This report shines a bright light on the next phase of work supporting Chicago’s principals: keeping them,” said Anichini.

“Even through times of transition or resource reduction, great principals help retain great teachers, which benefits students, schools and communities enormously,” said Anichini. “If consistent school success district-wide is our goal, we must all rally around our school leaders.”

The Chicago Public Education Fund is a nonprofit organization working to increase the number of great public schools in Chicago by supporting talented principals and enabling effective educator teams to reinvent classroom learning.

Material from a press release was used in this report.

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Laura Ascione
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