PLANNING STRATEGIES TO FILL PRINCIPAL VACANCIES - THE ISSUES AND SOME CHOICES

Oct 15, 2026

Superintendents, personnel directors, and school boards face a worsening shortage of highly qualified principal replacements, driven by retirements and accelerated by working conditions, educational reform pressures, and insufficient funding for educators and programs. Because principals strongly shape school success and student outcomes, principal selection strategies require careful planning to identify and recruit top applicants, including “grow your own” pathways. The paper examines the issues behind the principal vacancy challenge and presents selection choices for attracting capable leaders.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Principal Shortage

PLANNING STRATEGIES TO FILL PRINCIPAL VACANCIES: THE ISSUES AND SOME CHOICES PAMELA A. LEMOINE THOMAS J. MCCORMACK MICHAEL D. RICHARDSON Columbus State University ABSTRACT Superintendents, personnel directors and school boards across the nation are faced with a growing problem of locating high caliber replacements for the exodus of school principals that began as we entered the decade of the 1990s. This departure, which began as natural attrition due to age and retirement, has been accelerated by several other factors including working conditions, educational reform and lack of funding for educators and educational programs. Since principals are critical to school success and student performance an examination of principal selection strategies is critical, particularly the planning needed to find the best applicants. There are several selection strategies that superintendents and school boards can use to recruit and employ the best candidates available, including “grow your own”prospective principals. INTRODUCTION Throughout the United States, there is a demand for effective, qualified principals (Kwan, 2012) . Applicants are available, but finding those candidates who can address the complex issues and demands faced by principals is becoming more and more difficult for school district officials (Doyle & Locke, 2014) . The principal is ultimately responsible for the success of the school and student performance (Miller, 2013). Applicant pools are thinning; potential candidates see no real incentive to become school principals (Perkins, 2016) . Finding high quality applicants who can increase the performance of students and teachers is daunting (Sincar, 2013) . The process has become more complex when attempting to recruit and hire principals who have the desire for leadership and the capability to lead schools in today’s challenging environment (Tran & Bon, 2016) . With principal evaluations based on student and teacher performance, potential candidates see no incentive to move into the administrative ranks (Fuller, Hollingsworth & Young, 2015). Many schools opened recent school years without principals or with acting principals (School Leaders Network 2014) . Candidates are often available for the positions, but finding those who can address today’s multifaceted issues and difficulties is becoming more and more difficult for local school officials (Ellis & Brown, 2015) . Certified candidates are available, but hiring personnel are finding out there is a definite difference in “qualified” and “certified”(Stone-Johnson, 2014) . Often thought of as the pool of candidates for these missing school principals is America’s public school teachers, but one half of today’s teachers will leave the profession over the next decade (Pilar, 2016) . Many of these teachers are highly qualified and are certified in educational leadership but simply do not have the desire to be a principal (Simon, 2015) . PRINCIPAL SHORTAGE Notwithstanding the importance of the school principal, a global crisis faces public schools: a distressing shortage of principals who are willing and qualified to meet the current and future Educational Planning 17 Vol. 25, No. 1 needs of public school students (Monroe, 2013) . As the role of the principal continues to evolve, it is dramatically influenced by changing educational policies, governmental reform, increased accountability, current events, changing technology and the globalization of society (Hutton, 2014) . The quality of education received by students is critically dependent upon the effectiveness of the school principal (Allen, Grigsby & Peters, 2015; Tran & Buckman, 2017) . The principal as an instructional leader is the most influential factor in creating a successful school environment and a quality school. Principals are the architects who design and construct an environment conducive to learning (Day, Gu & Sammons, 2016; McCleary, Crow & Matthews, 2013; Yang, 2014) . Researc

FAQs

Why are school districts struggling to fill principal vacancies?

Districts face an increasing exodus of principals due to retirement and other factors, while recruitment is complicated by working conditions, reform efforts, and limited funding. Applicants may be available, but finding those who can handle current multifaceted demands is harder.

What role does the principal play in student and school performance?

The principal is ultimately responsible for school success and student performance. The principal functions as an instructional leader who designs learning environments, making effectiveness critical to educational quality.

What factors contribute to principal turnover and the severity of the shortage?

Researchers report substantial annual principal departures from retirement, transfers, and moves within or outside education. Turnover is often higher in schools serving high-minority, low-income, and low-achieving student populations, and such schools may also struggle to attract experienced replacements.

Oct 15, 2026

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