An abundance of research suggests that effective school leaders are vital to promoting student outcomes in schools across the United States. Recognizing this, many state and local education agencies are motivated to develop a strong corps of highly qualified principals and assistant principals. Although a lot of emphasis is placed on recruitment and preservice training for new principals, many school districts are also working to support administrators once they are placed in schools. However, relatively little is known about the types of on-the-job supports currently available to school leaders, particularly on a national scale. In this report, the researchers present findings from a Wallace Foundation–funded survey of RAND’s American School Leader Panel, a nationally representative sample of principals, regarding the quantity, content, and perceived quality of on-the-job support offered to them by their school districts. The report focuses on three particular types of support—supervision, mentoring, and professional development—and investigates not only the prevalence of support for school leaders but also how this support relates to their roles as instructional leaders. In addition, they compare responses of principals from small, midsize, and large school districts to consider whether school-leader support may look different depending on district size.
Key Findings
- A large percentage of principals are offered some type of on-the-job supports in their district, and most receive at least some mentoring and/or professional development.
- School leaders value their supervision and mentoring more when supervision and mentoring places a higher emphasis on principals’ roles as instructional leaders.
- Principals in large districts appear to have some distinct advantages over principals in small districts in terms of the support they receive and its focus on instructional leadership.
Source: RAND Corporation