The Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank, has released a report on principal leadership based on in-depth interviews with 30 principals in two states.
The center found that principals felt fairly free to develop teachers’ skills through professional development, but felt less free when it came to issues such as hiring, assigning, evaluating, and dismissing teachers.
Some of the charter school principals reported the same constraints, even though one of the benefits of charter schools is supposed to be detachment from some of the rules that govern traditional public schools.
Among the report’s conclusions were that districts should “work with union leaders to ensure that seniority does not govern important personnel decisions.”
