The Core Knowledge Blog

Back in the day, the key to being a successful principal was to be a successful politician. Now, says Nelson Coulter, principal of Hendrickson High School in Pflugerville, Texas they’re like coaches. “You have to win,” he says.

The insightful quote is from a Austin American-Statesman piece on principal turnover. School districts nationwide are finding it harder to hold on to principals as standards get tougher and the list of demands from the state and federal governments gets longer. In Texas, the paper reports, “about 61 percent of high school principals leave their schools or the field within three years; by the fifth year, that figure increases to 76 percent.”

“We know that school reform takes time — much more than one year’s time,” says Ed Fuller, associate director of the University Council for Educational Administration at the University of Texas. “If a principal leaves within three to five years, the principal’s vision for reform is left incomplete. Over time, teachers become jaded and simply ignore the reform effort….Teachers believe the principal will leave and all of their efforts will be wasted.”

Plus, while principals put pressure on teachers to deliver accountability outcomes, teachers rarely lose their jobs over low accountability ratings, Fuller notes. “Principals do.”