ANNA SHAPIRO, HEATHER L. SCHWARTZ, SAMANTHA E. DiNICOLA
How Large and Small
Districts Develop Their
Principals
Selected Findings from the American
School District Panel
E
ffective school leadership is an integral component of high-quality schools. A recent meta-
analysis of research on principal effectiveness found that high-quality principals improve
school climate and increase teacher job satisfaction, reduce teacher turnover, and reduce
student absenteeism (Grissom, Egalite, and Lindsay, 2021).
Highly effective principals can
improve schools through engaging
with their teachers around instruc-
tional practices, building a positive
workplace climate, fostering col-
laboration between teachers, and
managing resources and personnel
effectively (Grissom, Egalite, and
Lindsay, 2021). Developing these
skills takes time and experience.
However, a national average of 20 per-
cent of public school principals were
no longer in their jobs after one year,
with an average principal tenure of
four years (Levin and Bradley, 2019).
High principal turnover means that
districts lose valuable knowledge and
expertise in school leadership. It also
points to the imperative of developing
a talent pipeline from which to draw
KEY FINDINGS
■ As of the 2024–2025 school year, large school districts (those
serving more than 10,000 students) hired most of their school
principals from within the district, while small districts (serving
fewer than 3,000 students) were more likely to hire from outside
the district.
■ Large school districts were more likely than small school districts
to offer most of the six types of school principal professional
development (PD) addressed in our survey.
■ Larger school districts offered lower-cost PD to sitting principals
and assistant principals alike but concentrated their high-cost PD
on sitting principals only.
■ Small districts offered less PD overall. When they did offer PD,
small districts favored sitting principals over assistant principals.
■ Principals and assistant principals in small school districts were
more likely to choose their own PD than those in medium (serving
3,000 to 10,000 students) and large school districts.
■ Small districts favored less resource-intensive PD forms for
principals.
Research Report
