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Studies Explore Secrets of Principals' Success

Although principals have long been seen as important to the success of schools, a new set of working papers from some prominent education researchers aims to promote a better understanding of the extent to which school leaders matter and why.

For instance, one study of the 345,000-student Miami-Dade County, Fla., school system finds that the most effective principals appear to be particularly adept at weeding out weak teachers and keeping strong ones. Another paper looking across Texas concludes that the skill of a principal is most important to student outcomes in the most challenged academic environments: schools serving large numbers of low-achieving students living in poverty.

Some of the research also analyzes the distribution of principals. One paper, for example, suggests that schools with the most disadvantaged populations attract principals who have less education and experience, and who attended less selective colleges, compared with...