A Promise for Indiana School Leaders

1
A Promisefor Indiana School Leaders

• Bradley V. Balch
• Indiana State University
• February, 2003

2
Indiana Promise

• The State Action for Education Leadership Project
  (SAELP), a Wallace Funds state-level initiative,
  was launched in spring 2001 with 8.9 million in
  funding. The project is being led by a national
  consortium consisting of the Council of Chief
  State School Officers, the National Governors
  Association, the National Conference of State
  Legislatures, the National Association of State
  Boards of Education, and the Education Commission
  of the States.

3
Indiana Promise

• The National Consortium solicited reform
  proposals from all 50 states and received 37. In
  June, 2001, fifteen states were awarded 300,000
  each for strengthening school and district
  leadership. They include Connecticut,
  Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,
  Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New
  Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and
  Virginia.

4
Indiana Promise

• Indianas Consortium aspires to retain and
  recruit effective leaders, improve the conditions
  for practice for leaders and address professional
  development needs. To accomplish this, the
  Consortium must enact new legislative policy
  and/or administrative practices.

5
Celebrations!!!

• Conditions of administrative practice are
  enhanced when the rights, roles and
  responsibilities of school boards and
  administrators are clearly defined (Malone, 1999
  Esparo Rader, 2001).
• Indiana School Boards Association
• Indiana Association of School Business Officials
  
• Indiana Association of Public School
  Superintendents
• Indiana Association of School Principals
• Indiana Principal Leadership Academy

6
Celebrations!!!

• Professional development should create support
  systems to network and engage in dialogue (Public
  Agenda, 2001).
• Indiana Principal Leadership Academy
• Indiana Association of School Principals
• Indiana Association of Public School
  Superintendents
• Indiana School Boards Association
• Indiana Association of School Business Officials

7
Literature Theme 1

• Consider a systemic statewide plan for
  recruitment.
• Support it at all levels of decision making.
• Grow-your-own programs rather than self-selection
  should be encouraged.
• Potential leaders should be socialized into
  administration.
• The recruitment roles of mentors, supporters,
  sponsors, and supervisors should be defined.

8
Literature Theme 2

• National demand for administrators will increase
  over the next several years.
• Indiana will have stable to slightly decreasing
  student enrollments overall.
• Indianas potential and practicing administrators
  may look elsewhere for administrative
  opportunities.
• In contrast, retirement projections for the next
  several years remain high in Indiana creating the
  potential to usher in a new era of leaders.

9
Literature Theme 3

• Women and minority candidates for school
  leadership must be identified, supported, and
  socialized into administration earlier in their
  professional careers.
• Search and placement stakeholders must engage in
  and support practices that facilitate
  non-traditional opportunities for women and
  minority leaders.

10
Literature Theme 4

• Incentives might include pension portability
  across state lines, enhanced experience credit
  for retirement, and reciprocity of certification
  (licensure portability).
• State-level incentives should be created to
  attract high quality administrators.

11
Literature Theme 5

• School governance and leadership structures can
  create tension and conflict.
• Clearly defining the rights, roles and
  responsibilities of district leaders and
  elected/appointed officials could minimize
  differences.

12
Literature Theme 6

• A systemic statewide plan for professional
  development must be developed.
• The plan should embrace governmental agencies,
  colleges/universities and school leader
  associations.
• It should be standards based.
• The plan should address loneliness and isolation,
  and be immersed in authentic issues of
  professional need.

13
Policy Theme 1Martha McCarthy, Indiana
University

• School Principals have far more responsibilities
  specified in laws and regulations than they did
  fifteen years ago.
• Policies that do not mention school leaders often
  impose school duties for which administrators are
  ultimately accountable.
• These duties are continually expanding without
  any reduction in responsibilities.

14
Policy Theme 2Martha McCarthy, Indiana
University

• District and building school leaders are being
  held more accountable for school improvement.
• Academic standards and assessments of student
  achievement are driving the accountability
  system.

15
Policy Theme 3Martha McCarthy, Indiana
University

• There is a shift in emphasis from inputs to
  outcomes in standards-based licensure for
  educators and in accreditation of schools and
  leadership preparation programs.

16
Policy Theme 4Martha McCarthy, Indiana
University

• There is a shift in orientation pertaining to
  professional development in that these activities
  are viewed as an integral part of the schools
  ongoing efforts to satisfy academic standards and
  meet school improvement objectives.

17
Policy Theme 5Martha McCarthy, Indiana
University

• There is very little in Indiana statutes or
  administrative regulations directly addressing
  administrative recruitment or retention.

18
Study Purpose

• The purpose was to determine Indiana public
  school principal, superintendent, and school
  board president perceptions regarding
  recruitment, retention, and professional
  development.
• Specifically, the Consortium asked the following
  questions
• Is there a misrepresentation of women and
  minorities in Indiana school leadership
  positions?
• Are districts having trouble recruiting qualified
  leaders (i.e. Is it a thin candidate pool?)?
• Is there a problem retaining effective/quality
  school leaders in Indiana?
• Is professional development sufficient to support
  and sustain Indiana leaders at building and
  district levels?

19
Demographics
20
Retention Findings

• Principals indicate they expect to remain in the
  principalship for only 5 years on average. Most
  responding superintendents, whose average age was
  53, expect to remain in their current position
  until retirement. School board presidents hope
  to retain their superintendents until retirement
  or at least for four years on average.

21
Retention Findings
22
Retention Findings
23
Recruitment Findings

• Board presidents, superintendents and principals
  often recruit principals from within their
  districts. Thirty-one percent of the board
  presidents report a principal recruitment program
  and 28 report a principal preparation program.
  With lesser frequency, 21 of responding
  superintendents indicate programs for principal
  recruitment and 12 indicate preparation
  programs. Of all responding principals, 19
  indicate recruitment programs and 16 report
  preparation programs.

24
Recruitment Findings
25
Professional Development Findings
26
Professional Development Findings

• Overall, responding superintendents and
  principals believe to be achieving a great deal
  of success at Indianas district-level and
  building-level standards respectively. The
  greatest success attained by both groups focused
  on standards dealing with integrity, fairness and
  ethics.

27
Professional Development Findings

• When asked about effectiveness, school board
  presidents are significantly more likely to rate
  the effectiveness of their superintendents higher
  than superintendents themselves. Further,
  principals were significantly more likely to rate
  their own effectiveness higher than
  superintendents self-rating of effectiveness.

28
Gender Findings

• Responding female principals have less years of
  building-level administrative experience than do
  males, but have more years of teaching
  experience. Additionally, they administrate in
  smaller schools than do males and report their
  spouses working full time more than males.

29
Gender Findings

• Female superintendents have less years of
  building-level administrative experience than
  males, but have held their current position
  longer than males. Interestingly, female
  respondents have found their experience as a
  superintendent to be more rewarding than males.

30
Gender Findings

• Female school board presidents were found to have
  a greater percent of recommendations from the
  superintendent accepted by the board than male
  school board presidents and rate their
  effectiveness as the school board president
  higher than male school board presidents.

31
Locale Findings

• In terms of recruitment efforts and
  groom-your-own-programs, urban and suburban
  schools have had significantly greater successes
  with initiating and implementing such programs.
• The study clearly indicates that issues of
  recruitment, retention and professional
  development should not be viewed in terms of
  one-size-fits-all solutions, especially among
  differing locales.

32
Conclusion

• The literature review compels us to consider
  recruitment, retention and professional
  development in terms of policy implications.
• The policy review indicates that little policy
  exists in these critical areas.
• The study confirms that differences among gender
  and locale are significant and supports the
  overall literature findings.