Statistics and quotes that illustrate why school principals matter and ideas for improving the principal experience and school leadership.

1. PRINCIPALS
Matter

2. Principals account for about 25%
of a school’s total influence on
student academic performance.
Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. (2005). School leadership that
works: From research to results. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development

3. Students achieve less in both math and
reading during the first year after leader
turnover and it can take the next principal
up to three years to regain forward
progress for the school.
Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover. School Leaders Network.
(2014)

4. It takes principals an average of five years
to put a mobilizing vision in place,
improve the teaching staff, and fully
implement policies and practices that
positively impact the school’s
performance.
Seashore-Louis, K. , Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K. & Anderson, S. (2010).
Learning from leadership: Investigating the links to improved student
learning. Alexandria, VA: Educational Research Service.

5. School leaders lack the ongoing
support and development
required to maintain and foster
sustained commitment.
Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover. School Leaders Network.
(2014)

6. Principals need to be engaged in
authentic peer networks where they can
learn from other principals the art and
practice of leading schools.
Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover. School Leaders Network.
(2014)

7. Leadership and learning are
indispensable to each other.
John Kennedy, former President, USA

8. A 10% reduction in principal turnover in
high poverty schools while improving
principal effectiveness, has the potential
to affect a single child’s earnings by
$30,024.07.
Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover. School Leaders Network.
(2014)

9. For an average urban district with at least
72,000 students, investments to increase
principal tenacity potentially contribute
an estimated $469 million in additional
taxable revenues to local coffers.
Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover. School Leaders Network.
(2014)

10. The estimated effect of higher
principal retention and student
achievement on the GDP of
Houston, TX is $2 billion.
Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover. School Leaders Network.
(2014)

11. Education is the most powerful
weapon, which you can use to
change the world.
Nelson Mandela, former President South Africa

12. Increasing principal retention
rates to that of affluent schools
can save U.S. school districts $163
million annually.
Sable, J., Plotts, C., Mitchell, L., & Education Statistics Services Institute
- American Institutes for Research. (2010). Characteristics of the 100
largest public elementary and secondary school districts in the
United States: 2008-09. Washington, DC: National Center for
Education Statistics.

13. Only three industries have higher turnover
than principals: Mining and logging, retail
trade, and leisure and hospitality. And only
leisure and hospitality workers leave more
often than principals of high poverty schools.
Based upon Bureau of Labor and Statistics JOLT report

14. As we look ahead into the
21st century, leaders will be
those who empower others.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft

15. Well-executed full-time job-
embedded internships have
shown the most promise at
developing effective and
tenacious principals.
Mitgang, L., Wallace Foundation. (2012).

16. Despite the complexity of the principal job,
less than 2 percent of principals prioritized
continued learning amongst their job duties.
Once principals move into their second or
third year on the job, they are frequently left
to lead and learn in isolation.
Protheroe, N. (2008). The K-8 principal in 2008: A ten-year study, eight in a
series of research studies launched in 1928. In Educational Research
Service (Ed.). Alexandria, VA: National Association of Elementary School
Principals.

17. Principals need one-to-one
coaching support beyond the first
two years.
Churn: The High Cost of Principal Turnover. School Leaders Network.
(2014)

18. Principals who reported receiving no
professional development during the
previous year left their school 1.4 times
more often than principals who had some
form of professional development.
National Center for Education Statistics Institute of Education
Sciences. (2013).

19. Just over 50% of newly hired
principals stay for three years and
less than 30% stay beyond year
five.
Fuller, E., Young, M. (Summer 2009). Tenure and retention of newly
hired principals in Texas. Texas High School Project: Leadership
Initiative Issue Brief 1. Department of Educational Administration. The
University of Texas at Austin. Austin.

20. You can’t lead anyone if you
can’t lead yourself!
Maxine Driscoll, Founder Think Strategic

21. An NAESP study found that to support
principal persistence in the job and keep
them continuously driving school
improvement efforts, the isolation and
frustration they feel related to the challenges
of their job must be reduced.
Johnson, L. (2005). Why principals quit. Principal. National Association
of Elementary School Principals.

22. Teachers who self-identify as
teacher leaders rarely make up
more than 25% of a faculty.
Barth, R. S. (2001). Teacher leader. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(6), 443-449.

23. Support of teacher leaders is
critical for school reform to
occur.
Silins, H., & Mulford, B. (2004). Schools as learning organizations –
effects on teacher leadership and student outcomes. School
Effectiveness and School Improvement, 15(3-4), 443-466.

24. Great leaders harness personal
courage, capture the hearts and
minds of others and empower new
leaders to make the world a better
place.
Maxine Driscoll, Founder Think Strategic

25. Teacher leaders, by using influence, instead of
control, can have a profound effect on a
school’s success promoting both student
achievement and a collaborative and healthy
school culture.
Derrington, M.L., Angelle, P.S. (2013) Teacher Leadership and
Collective Efficacy: Connections and Links. International Journal of
Teacher Leadership.

26. Informal teacher leaders define
success not just by what happens
in the classroom but by success
throughout the school.
Ryan, S. (1999, April). Principals and teachers leading together. Paper
presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational
Research Association, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

27. A leader takes people where they
want to go. A great leader takes
people where they don’t
necessarily want to go, but ought
to be.
Rosalynn Carter, former First Lady, USA

28. Everyone can rise above their
circumstances and achieve
success if they are dedicated to
and passionate about what they
do.
Mother Teresa

29. Teacher leaders can influence
policy at the district level and
make a difference at the school
level through their expertise.
Hatch, T., White, M. E., & Faigenbaum, D. (2005). Expertise, credibility, and
influence: How teachers can influence policy, advance research and
improve performance. Teachers College Record, 197(5), 1004-1035.

30. Leadership capacity is evident when a
group of teacher leaders believe they can
bring about change, desire to work for
change, and have the knowledge and
skills to do so.
DiRanna, K., & Loucks-Horsley, S. (2001). Designing programs for teacher leaders:
The case of the California Science Implementation Network. Columbus, OH: ERIC
Clearinghouse for Science, Mathematics, and Environmental Education. (ERIC
Document Reproduction Service No. ED465590)

31. A good leader takes a little more
than his share of the blame, a
little less than his share of the
credit.
Arnold Glasow, humorist and author

32. Ultimately, the more that teachers
participate in school-wide decisions,
the higher faculty morale will climb
and the more teachers will be
committed to fulfilling school goals
Barth, R. S. (2001). Teacher leader. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(6), 443-449.

33. Schools with the greatest extent of teacher
leadership are led by principals who are most
willing to share power and release control.
These principals respect and trust teachers
and cultivate school conditions supportive
and conducive to the effective and
empowering practices.
Acker-Hocevar, M., & Touchton, D. (1999, April). A model of power of social
relationships: Teacher leaders describe the phenomena of effective
agency in practice. Paper presented at the meeting of the American
Educational Research Association, Montreal, Canada.

34. Leadership is the capacity to
transform vision into reality.
Warren G. Bennis, founding chairman of the Leadership Institute at
the University of Southern California