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Leadership pipeline and succession: promising practices for building leadership capacity in a K-12 school district

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Leadership pipeline and succession: promising practices for building leadership capacity in a K-12 school district

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Content Running head: BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY IN K-12
1

LEADERSHIP PIPELINE AND SUCCESSION: PROMISING PRACTICES FOR BUILDING
LEADERSHIP CAPACITY IN A K-12 SCHOOL DISTRICT

by

Janice Vivian Chen

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2016

Copyright 2016 Janice Vivian Chen
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Acknowledgements
This dissertation would not be completed without the support and encouragement of
several individuals. I would like to first thank my chair, Dr. Kathy Stowe, who was a continuous
source of encouragement throughout the process. I could not have asked for a better chair to
guide, push, and support me through this journey. Thank you, Kathy, for not only being a
wonderful chair, but also being an inspirational career woman, wife, and mother. You are my
hero! I would also like to acknowledge my dissertation committee: Dr. Lawrence Picus and Dr.
Courtney Malloy who provided valuable feedback on how to strengthen my study. Additionally,
I would also like to thank my USC colleagues and thematic group. It has been an amazing three
years with you all and I feel so lucky to have been a part of this special group.
To my Hawaii friends and family who have supported me in more ways than one. Even
though I have missed many birthday parties and dinners throughout the last three years, thank
you for understanding and supporting me with my goal. Thank you, Melissa, for being my study
buddy almost every weekend and finding coffee shops around Honolulu with the most
comfortable chairs to sit and write for six hours straight!
Lastly, I would like to thank my parents, who have never pushed or pressured me
academically but allowed me to determine my own goals. To my mom, who not only provided
me financial support, but also the perseverance to finish what I started. Thank you for always
supporting my educational aspirations. Even after graduating with my Bachelor’s degree, I never
in a million years thought I would ever earn a Master’s degree, let alone two Master’s degrees
and a Doctorate from USC!

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Table of Contents
List of Tables 5
List of Figures 6
Abstract 7

Chapter One: Overview of the Study 8
Introduction of the Problem 8
Background of the Problem 9
Statement of the Problem 12
Purpose of the Study 13
Research Questions 13
Significance of the Study 14
Limitations and Delimitations 15
Definitions 16
Organization of the Study 17

Chapter Two: Literature Review 18
Historical Context 19
Educational Leadership Impact on Student Outcomes 20
History of the Principalship 22
Perceived Principal Shortage 23
Decline of Interest in the Principalship 25
Role of School Districts 27
Approaches to Leadership Development 28
Leadership Preparation Programs 29
Criticisms 29
Redesigning Leadership Programs 30
Professional Standards 31
Cohort Structure 31
District Professional Development 31
Mentoring and Coaching 32
Internships 32
Developing a Leadership Pipeline 34
Talent Identification 34
Successful Leadership Components 36
“Grow Your Own” Leadership Pipeline 37
Succession Challenge and Barriers 37
Succession Challenge 37
Barriers to Developing a Leadership Pipeline 39
Lack of Promising Candidates 40
Challenging the Culture 40
Lack of Formal Talent Identification System 41
Theoretical Framework 42
Summary 44

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Chapter Three: Methodology 46
Research Questions 47
Research Design 47
Sample and Population 49
Overview of Organization 49
Theoretical Framework 50
Conceptual Framework 51
Data Collection 52
Instrumentation 54
Data Analysis 56
Ethical Considerations 57
Summary 57

Chapter Four: Results 58
Participant Profiles 58
Reporting of Findings by Research Question 63
Summary 99

Chapter Five: Discussion 100
Purpose of the Study 100
Summary of the Findings 101
Implications for Practice and Policy 104
Recommendations for Future Study 106

References 108

Appendices 114
Appendix A: Participant Recruitment Letter 114
Appendix B: Interview Protocol for Administrators 115
Appendix C: Interview Protocol for Teachers 117
Appendix D: Observation Protocol 119

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List of Tables
Table 1: Overview of Study Participants 53
Table 2: Research Question Instrumentation 55
Table 3: Participant Pseudonyms and Background 59
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Conceptual Framework 51
Figure 2: Creswell’s (2014) Model for Qualitative Data Analysis 56

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Abstract
Leadership pipelines are critical for the development and growth of potential and current leaders.
The theoretical framework for this study is based on the five practices of Kouzes and Posner’s
(2012) transformational leadership model. The purpose of the study is to explore promising
practices within a K-12 school district that identifies and develops potential and current leaders
through a continuous leadership pipeline. Also, this study sought to determine factors that
facilitate and inhibit the development and implementation of strategies designed to build
leadership capacity. This qualitative case study included eight participants, and data collection
included a series of interviews, observations, and artifacts centered on the research questions.
Findings indicate several promising practices for building leadership capacity that included
investing in opportunities for growth, identifying and cultivating potential talent, and developing
a culture of lifelong learners. Additionally, the alignment of strategies across the district and the
development of trust served as factors that facilitated the implementation of promising practices.
Findings also reveal that the lack of resources and inconsistent implementation of certain
practices inhibited the development of some strategies designed to build leadership capacity.
This study contributes to the current body of educational leadership research and offers
suggestions for school districts to strengthen leadership pipelines through a formalized system
for mentoring and coaching, setting clear criteria for talent identification, and continuous
professional development on leadership.

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CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
Introduction of the Problem
Effective educational leadership is needed to meet the challenges and demands in public
schools today. It is the responsibility of district and school-level leaders to make critical
decisions that enhance academic achievement at the classroom level. Given a direct correlation
between school leadership and student achievement, schools with effective principals distinctly
have higher student achievement results when compared among other schools of similar student
bodies with less effective principals (Darling-Hammond, Orphanos, LaPointe & Weeks, 2007).
Ample research supports that school leadership is a key factor in student achievement (Hewitt,
Denny & Pijanowski, 2011; Papa & Baxter, 2005), which suggests the importance of hiring
highly qualified individuals to lead our schools.
Hiring effective principals will continue to be more challenging over the next decade.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics projected the employment of K-12 principals will
increase by 6% across the country between the years of 2012 to 2022 due to student enrollment
growth and the construction of new schools (Bureau of Labor, 2014). There will be a rising need
to staff these vacancies and new schools with qualified leaders. There is concern that principals
are an aging population with many from the baby-boomer generation and 60% expecting to retire
over the next ten years (Hargreaves, 2005; Hewitt et al., 2011; Papa & Baxter, 2005). In addition
to the imminent exodus of aging principals, a RAND report from Gates, Ringel, Santibanez,
Ross & Chung (2003) found that most principals do not remain in the position beyond the age of
55 due to entering school administration later in their careers. According to a REL West report
on California’s perspective labor market trends, White, Fong, and Makkonen (2010) found that
more than 53% of school principals were between the ages of 46 – 55 and a majority began
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retirement at the age of 55. Because many principals enter the position at a later age, it leaves
school districts with a small pool of experienced applicants to select from to take on the
challenging job of principalship.
The purpose of this study is to examine strategies on how school districts build leadership
capacity through a sustainable leadership pipeline.
Background of the Problem
Educational leadership has evolved over the last half century. A 1977 U.S. Senate
Committee Report on Equal Educational Opportunity published that school principals play the
most influential and important role in a school (U.S. Congress, 1970). The principal’s leadership
sets the expectation and tone for teaching and learning in a school, and he or she serves as the
connector for all members within the school community. Subsequently, another landmark report
titled A Nation at Risk released in 1983 stressed American public schools were failing and urged
immediate action for school reform (United States, 1983). This began the era of educational
accountability and transformed the role of the principal from an administrative manager to an
instructional leader. According to Northouse (2013), effective organizations take responsibility
to cultivate and develop leadership within the organization. The development of knowledge,
skills, expertise and understanding is defined as leadership capacity. With new accountability
and school reform measures, the need to build leadership capacity within current and prospective
leaders is a reality that many school systems have not fully prepared for.
School systems and principals have an important role to play in developing the pipeline
of future leaders. Myung, Loeb, and Horng (2011) define succession planning as a process to
intentionally grow leaders within an organization through developmental experiences that assist
individuals to acquire skills to meet the needs of an organization’s future. Mehrabani and
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Mohamad (2011) extend the definition of succession planning as a system that assists managers
to develop leadership competencies in potential candidates through strategic and deliberate
activities that will ensure an organization’s future without favoritism.
Despite being cautioned of the imminent leadership crisis, many school districts still do
not have a formal training leadership preparation program. The National Association of
Secondary School Principals (NASSP) highly recommends the development of formalized
leadership development programs for school districts to ensure the employment of high-qualified
effective leaders (National Association of Secondary Principals, 2002). Many school districts
have found themselves with a leadership shortage without a formalized succession planning
system for school leadership (Myung et al., 2011). Other than university-based leadership
programs, most school leaders do not receive any formal leadership training and very few school
districts have aspiring school administrator programs to identify and develop potential leaders
(Mullen & Cairnes, 2001; National Center for Education Statistics, 2011-12). University-based
educational leadership programs have been largely criticized for poor quality, lack of rigor, and
outdated curricula (Orr, 2010). Only in recent years have universities begun redesigning their
programs to meet the needs of today’s educational leadership challenge. These recent efforts
have included alternative preparation programs offered by universities, partnerships with school
districts, regional consortia, and other newly created organizations to recruit future school
administrators (Kearney, 2010).
Despite some attempts to redesign administrator programs, there is still a growing
concern with the lack of qualified applicants to fill principal vacancies (Kearney, 2010; Myung
et al., 2011; Young & Creighton, 2002). Despite a large number of educators with administrative
credentials, many are not in administrative positions and have remained in teaching or other non-
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administrative positions (Kearney, 2010; Young & Creighton, 2002). The shortage of principals
can be attributed to several factors that include increased work-related stress and responsibilities,
more demands and accountability, longer work hours, insufficient support from district-level,
and a narrowing salary differential between teachers and school administrators (Darling-
Hammond et al., 2007; Jacobson, 2005; Papa & Baxter, 2005). To remain in the classroom seems
to be a better alternative for credentialed educators rather than to enter school administration.
Despite the number of administrative credentials held by educators, the seemingly impossible
responsibilities and the requirements and pressures of school principalship have deterred
certified candidates from applying or transitioning into school administration. The perceived
principal shortage is not about whether there are enough credentialed candidates, but rather
whether newly credentialed individuals want to step into the role of school leadership and
whether veteran leaders are motivated to remain in those positions (Kearney, 2010).
School districts should have a plan for leadership succession. Without a plan for
succession, school districts face the problem of not having willing and qualified individuals to
fill leadership vacancies which impacts student achievement based on how schools are managed
and led. A meta-analysis study conducted by Marzano, Waters and McNulty (2005) found a
significant .25 correlation between principal leadership and student achievement. In addition, a
separate meta-analysis study of district-level leadership conducted by Waters and Marzano
(2006), confirmed that there is a statistically positive correlation between district leadership and
student achievement. District leaders have the responsibility to align instructional goals,
programs and policies that directly impact student outcomes. There is a need for effective leaders
in both school and district levels, along with a system for building leadership capacity.
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Despite the abundance of empirical research on leadership, there is minimal literature on
building leadership capacity and promising practices of building a leadership pipeline within
school systems. There is also limited research on effective strategies of leadership preparation
programs and the relationship between mentoring and principal performance (Kearney, 2010).
Statement of the Problem
Given the importance leadership has on student achievement, supporting leadership
development is critical to long-term success of a school district. School districts need a
sustainable leadership pipeline to “pass the torch” of leadership when the time comes for
individuals to retire or leave the position. The imminent anticipated school level leadership
vacancies are quickly approaching as more than 53% of school principals between the ages of
46-55 have begun to retire (White et al., 2010). In addition, the potential leadership pool is
shrinking as the number of 35-44 year olds in the workforce, deemed as being prime “key leader
age”, are expected to decrease by 15 percent by the year 2020 (Kearney, 2010). It is critical to
examine the development of future leaders and ensure succession in both school and district
leadership positions.
Leadership can have a positive impact on the success of students and teachers. Research
confirms that strong, focused school leadership is critical to student success and school
improvement (Kearney, 2010). Most school and district leaders indirectly contribute to student
learning through influencing individuals or elements within their organization (Leithwood,
Patton, Jantzi, 2010). Educational leaders impact student achievement primarily through the
work of others by setting a vision for the school, supporting the development of teachers, and
leveraging resources (Hitt, Tucker & Young, 2012).
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If student learning is a priority, then ensuring quality leaders to lead school systems must
also be a priority. Literature confirms that classroom instruction from an effective teacher has the
biggest influence on student learning with school leadership as the second most influential factor
on student learning (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson & Wahlstrom, 2004; Tucker, Young,
Koschorek, 2012).
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of the study is to explore promising practices within K-12 school districts
that identify and develop both potential and current leaders through a continuous leadership
pipeline. The goal of this study is to examine the strategies employed by a school district that has
effectively developed a succession management system to ensure a talent pool of qualified
candidates with the skills and competencies are able to lead and contribute to the future needs of
its organization.
Although this study examines promising practices of leadership development, it is by no
means restricting or implying that school districts are limited to following these practices.
Through identifying and understanding effective strategies school districts have implemented to
create a sustainable leadership pipeline, the hope is for other schools to utilize some practices to
ensure a strong talent pool of candidates can take on the leadership challenges found in schools
today.
Research Questions
In order to examine promising practices of building leadership capacity within K-12
school districts, this study focuses on the following research questions developed collaboratively
by the thematic group:
1. In what ways does Aloha Complex Area work to build the next generation of leaders?
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2. What are the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the influences of those
practices?
3. What are the factors that both facilitate and inhibit the development and implementation
of strategies designed to build leadership capacity?
Significance of the Study
There is currently a significant amount of research available on the topic of leadership. A
substantial amount of literature has examined leadership impacts, effects, types, challenges as
well as the topic of leadership development. Despite the available literature on leadership, there
is a minimal amount of research on promising practices of building leadership capacity within
school districts. This study would provide promising practices used to build the next generation
of leaders by allowing school districts to examine their own practices of building leadership
capacity.
School districts can utilize and possibly model the promising practices found in this study
and determine the extent to which they have a sustainable leadership pipeline. If school districts
are able to build a strong leadership pipeline, it will allow school leaders to “get the right people
on the bus, wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats” (Collins, 2001, p.
13). With a succession plan that builds leadership capacity in others, school districts can ensure a
talent pool of future leaders are prepared to step into anticipated vacancies and carry out the
organization’s vision and goals.
The findings from this study will assist policymakers by highlighting the significance of
succession planning within school systems. The results should prompt new policies to support
school districts of implementing promising practices and leadership preparation programs to
develop effective leaders to fill the anticipated vacancies. This research will justify the
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importance of policymakers to examine current leadership development programs because
simply producing more certified individuals does not solve the problem of producing effective
leaders. In addition, this study will add to the current body of research on building leadership
capacity with recommendations and promising practices.
Limitations and Delimitations
The limitations of this study were beyond the control of the researcher. The length of
time of this study was a limitation for the researcher. The researcher collected data within a
three-month timespan, which limited the scope of data collection and the sample size of the
participants involved in this study.
Validity was another limitation of this study. Due to the qualitative methodology,
reliability of the interview data was largely dependent upon the responses from the participants.
According to Merriam (2009), the researcher in qualitative research is the primary instrument of
data collection through interviews, observations, and data analysis. In this study, it was expected
for participants to answer with honesty and candor in interviews, however, there is no way of
confirming the participant responses are completely truthful.
A final limitation of this study was researcher bias. Although efforts were made from the
researcher to eliminate bias, data gathered from this study is subject to the interpretation of the
researcher. The researcher’s personal and professional knowledge of the topic may have led to
unconscious assumptions or perceptions of the data. It should also be acknowledged that the
researcher was familiar with the research setting and used purposeful convenience sampling
given the restraints on time, money, and location.
Delimitations in this study were set by the researcher. The researcher selected a school
district to participate in this study that met certain pre-selected criteria. The school district
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needed to be part of a public K-12 school district that consisted of a minimum of five schools
and a district office. In addition, a current leadership development system must be in place
within the school district for the researcher to study.
Another delimitation set by the researcher was the selection criteria for principals to
participate in the study. Principals involved in this study must have completed a leadership
preparation program and also have recommended at least one individual into school leadership.
It should also be noted that findings from this study are limited and may not be
generalizable in other public K-12 school district settings.
Definitions
There are several terms that are included in this study relevant to the topic of building
leadership capacity. These terms are defined as follows:
• Coaching – often used interchangeably with the term mentor, coaching is typically more
direct and intentional feedback to an individual while mentoring is often referred to more
broadly general guidance to an individual (Kearney, 2010)
• Distributive Leadership – leadership that spreads throughout the organization without
diminishing the importance of the principal’s role (Hargreaves, 2005)
• Leadership – providing direction and exercising influence within an organization
(Leithwood et al., 2004)
• Leadership Capacity – the breadth and depth of knowledge, skills, expertise, and
understanding to lead and accomplish something
• Leadership Pipeline – a focus on leadership development of individuals for the purposes
of human resource and succession planning (Mehrabani & Mohamad, 2011)
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• Mentor – often used interchangeably with the term coaching, mentoring refers to a one-
on-one relationship with a more veteran educator who observes and offers descriptive
feedback with the purpose of developing and growing an individual’s skills and
competencies (Kearney, 2010)
• Professional Development – content knowledge and skill-building activities that grow the
capacity of educators to increase their practice and performance (Elmore, 2002)
• Succession Planning – a purposeful system that enables organizations to identify and
grow potential candidates and current leaders within an organization to fill future
vacancies (Mehrabani & Mohamad, 2011; Myung et al., 2011)
Organization of the Study
This study explores ways K-12 school districts build leadership capacity within potential
individuals and strategies where successful systems of succession planning have been developed.
Chapter 1 provides a brief overview of the importance of effective leaders within school systems
to ensure academic achievement for school improvement efforts. Chapter 2 provides an overview
of the historical context in education and the evolution of the role of principal within the last few
decades. It examines current literature on the topics of leadership effects on student learning,
decline of interest in school leadership, current leadership preparation programs, and the
development of a leadership pipeline. Chapter 3 discusses the research methodology and
framework for collecting and analyzing data in this study. Chapter 4 reveals this study’s research
findings in alignment to the research questions. Chapter 5 synthesizes this study’s findings and
examines implications for future research.

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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
Effective leadership is necessary to meet the challenges of a changing student
demographic, decreasing amount of resources, and increasing accountability found in schools
today. The significance of educational leadership has increased with growing expectations of
school reform efforts calling for improved teaching and learning (Tucker et al., 2012). According
to a report released by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (2002), every
educational report within the last decade on school reform concludes that excellent schools
cannot exist without excellent leaders. In addition, a growing body of literature posits effective
school leadership is the second most influential factor of student achievement, with effective
classroom instruction as the most influential factor (Kearney, 2010; Leithwood et al., 2004;
Tucker et al., 2012; Waters, Marzano & McNulty, 2003). The importance of strong school
leadership is critical for school improvement efforts, therefore, it is essential for school districts
to develop a system for building leadership capacity in potential leaders.
This chapter is a review of current literature on the topic of building leadership capacity
in K-12 school districts. Examining the historical context on the evolution of education and the
role of principal is explored to provide background on the leadership crisis found in school
districts today. Next, an investigation of literature on the principal shortage and decline in school
leadership is conducted along with the leadership effects on student achievement.
After providing a historical context, the chapter continues to examine approaches to
leadership development through current leadership programs, mentoring, and internships. The
literature review explores criticisms and success criteria of leadership training programs, along
with providing evidence for the importance of incorporating professional standards, professional
development, mentoring, and internships in a comprehensive leadership program.
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Following the exploration of leadership preparation, the chapter reviews current literature
on developing a leadership pipeline. A review of the needs, talent identification, succession
challenges, and barriers to developing a leadership pipeline is presented to share research on this
topic. Finally, the theoretical framework for this study is presented following the review of
literature. The chapter concludes with a summary of the main points from the literature review
and provides a connection with the present study.
Historical Context
Educational leadership has evolved dramatically over the last half-century.
Understanding the changes in educational leadership helps provide a historical context to many
of the leadership challenges found in education today. One of the most pivotal reports that
impacted public education was a 1983 landmark report titled A Nation at Risk. This report was
released to the public and stressed the multitude of failing schools and urged for immediate
school reform efforts across United States public school systems. This began the era of
educational accountability in the 1980’s with value-added performance evaluations for teachers,
principals, and superintendents (Tucker et al., 2012).
School leaders had new accountability expectations that were added on top of being the
disciplinarian and manager, with job performance being linked to student achievement for the
first time. In 1987, United States Secretary of Education William Bennett coined the term “the
blob” to refer to the personnel working outside of the classroom who wasted resources and
resisted educational reform (Waters & Marzano, 2006, p. 8). The negative perception of “the
blob” that hindered student achievement efforts led to questionable school and district
leadership. This ultimately resulted in the investigation of the inadequacies of education
leadership preparation programs and in 1987 the National Commission for Excellence in
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Educational Administration called for closure of approximately half of the leadership programs
based on the lack of quality (Young, 2013).
Educational policies in recent decades include the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act
signed by President Bush in 2002 and the Race to the Top (RTTT) initiative by the Obama
Administration. Both educational reform initiatives dramatically transformed educational
accountability and began the era of testing. NCLB required all states to conduct statewide annual
assessments that identified failing schools to make annual yearly progress (AYP). The goal was
to have all students be proficient in reading and math by the year 2013-2014 and provide schools
sanctions and rewards based on AYP status (Dee & Jacob, 2011). With the perceived failings of
NCLB, Obama’s RTTT continued federal mandates and compliance for states to follow and has
had a significant impact on teacher evaluations (McGuinn, 2011). States developed
accountability and data systems to track student growth models and teacher and principal
evaluations to assess the effectiveness of instruction and school leadership (Tucker et al., 2012).
Schools and principals are evaluated annually based on student performance and growth on state
assessments from year to year. Teachers are also evaluated annually based on students they
teach also using state assessments to measure student performance and growth.
Educational Leadership Impact on Student Outcomes
The positive impact quality leadership can have on student outcomes within school
districts is undeniable. Research supports that school leaders can make significant contributions
toward impacting student achievement (Kearney, 2010; Leithwood et al., 2010; Tucker et al.,
2012; Valentine & Prater, 2011). Most school leaders indirectly influence student outcomes
through exercising decision-making that supports teaching and learning, setting expectations and
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a vision, developing teacher growth, and leveraging resources within the school to support
student achievement (Hitt et al., 2012; Louis, Dretzke, & Wahlstrom, 2010).
Educational leaders are expected to facilitate school improvement and increase student
outcomes through their leadership. Waters and Marzano (2006) found a significant relationship
between district-level leadership and student achievement through the implementation of five
factors: collaborating with all stakeholders in the development of organizational goals, aligning
district goals to ensure Board support, setting non-negotiable expectations for classroom
instruction and student achievement, monitoring instruction and student achievement goals, and
leveraging resources to support instructional goals. Similarly, Darling-Hammond et al. (2007)
found that student achievement scores were higher in schools that had effective principals that
led school improvement efforts, aligned school vision and goals to instructional practices and
provided additional support for struggling students.
Principal leadership has been found to be the second biggest influence on student
achievement, second to classroom teachers (Leithwood et al., 2004). In addition, a New Leaders
for New Schools study conducted in 2009 quantified that 25% of student achievement is based
on the principal’s impact and leadership. Marzano et al. (2005) determined 60% of student
achievement is based on principal and teacher effectiveness. Undoubtedly, principals are able to
impact student outcomes through hiring and retaining effective teachers along with motivating
teachers to improve instruction (Campbell & Gross, 2012). Principal leadership also increases
school performance by establishing direction and vision for the school, addressing student and
faculty needs, and developing effective teachers to improve student learning (Orr, 2010).
Despite the importance principals have on student outcomes, many school districts have a
difficult time hiring principals who are able to encourage, develop, and manage teachers because
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it requires finding applicants who are more than just administrative managers. Principals with
strong leadership skills have the most impact on student growth; these hard to find leaders
surround themselves with other effective principal leaders who are driven to motivate and grow
others and do not avoid having difficult conversations with teachers who are underperforming
(Campbell & Gross, 2012).
History of the Principalship
The evolution of the role of principal has transformed along with the increase of
educational accountability. From the 1920s through the 1970s, principals were viewed as the
administrative manager who focused merely on tasks and functions of school operations
(Valentine & Prater, 2011). However, the role of principal quickly changed when a 1977 U.S.
Senate Committee Report on Equal Educational Opportunity found that school principals play
the most influential and important role in a school (U.S. Congress, 1970). Principals were soon
regarded as the central figure to improve school performance and promote teaching and learning
for all students (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007).
The educational era of accountability in the 1980’s transformed the principal beyond an
administrative manager to an instructional leader. Instructional leaders were responsible for
setting clear goals, motivating teachers to improve instruction, and supporting teachers rather
than giving directions of what to do (Valentine & Prater, 2011). Hallinger (2010) found that
instructional leadership guides practice in the area of educational leadership and management,
and is a starting point for creating a learner-centered school where student performance is
measured. Instructional leadership extends beyond the day-to-day teaching in a classroom and
requires leaders to improve instruction through hiring highly effective teachers and providing
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them with supports and professional development to be successful in the classroom (Horng &
Loeb, 2010).
Principals evolved from being an administrative manager to instructional leaders to
transformational leaders. Today’s principals take on a multitude of roles that include being the
visionaries, change agents, experts of curriculum and instruction, facility and personnel
managers, and community linkers (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). Transformational principals
tap into the expertise and leadership of teachers to build a culture of collaboration to solve
complex school issues (Valentine & Prater, 2012). The transformational principal is no longer
the sole expert or decision maker, but rather invests in building leadership capacity in others.
Transformational leadership is a process that transforms and changes individuals, and
motivates others within an organization to accomplish beyond what is expected on their job
description (Northouse, 2013). The role of principal has expanded to work collaboratively with
teachers, students, and parents to solve complex problems and empower others in the school
community (Slater, 2008). Transformational principals have an important role to play in growing
and developing leaders within their organization, therefore some districts have included it as a
formal part of a principal’s professional responsibility (Turnbell et al., 2013).
Perceived Principal Shortage
Effective and willing leaders to take on the principalship have become a rare commodity
(Campbell & Gross, 2012; Myung, Loeb, & Horng, 2011). Two demographic issues that
contribute toward the current principal shortage include the imminent retirement of principals
from the baby-boomer generation and the increase of student enrollment in various regions
across the United States (White, Fong, Makkonen, 2010). With the trends of principals
approaching retirement age and growth in student enrollment, school districts are finding it
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difficult to fill principal vacancies. Nationally, 67% of principals have reported the intent to
leave the principalship before reaching the age eligible for retirement (Kearney, 2010). Between
2006 – 2016, the National Center for Education Statistics anticipates an 8% student enrollment
growth nationwide and the Bureau of Labor Statistics also predicts an increase of school
administrator positions also by 8%. In addition, a McREL study projects that California will need
to fill approximately 4,815 administrator vacancies by 2018 due to principal retirement and
student enrollment increases (White et al., 2010). To put into perspective, these anticipated
vacancies would require each county in California to hire enough school administrators to
replace more than half the 2007 – 2008 workforce by 2018 (White et al., 2010).
The perceived principal shortage has resulted in school districts struggling to find
effective and willing leaders to lead challenging schools. More specifically, the principal
shortage has largely impacted schools with low socio-economic minority families who do not
speak English as their first language (Myung et al., 2011). There is a need for effective principals
to be in low-performing schools as high-quality leadership was found to be the greatest predictor
of schools meeting Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind (Kearney, 2010).
In addition, Darling-Hammond et al. (2007) found that school leadership was one of the key
factors determining high student achievement in California schools when compared to other
schools with similar student bodies.
Despite the arguments of a perceived principal shortage, Kearney (2010) argues that there
is no empirical research that supports a principal shortage because there are more individuals
licensed as school administrators than anticipated job openings, and a large number of educators
with administrative credentials are choosing to remain in teaching or other non-administrative
positions. Additional literature supports the idea that the principal shortage is due to individuals
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not willing to apply for leadership positions despite a large pool of candidates who hold
administrator credentials (Jacobson, 2005; Papa & Baxter, 2005; Young & Creighton, 2002).
This paradox of ample certified administrators who are not serving in school administration has
left school districts struggling to find highly-qualified and willing candidates to hire into the
principalship and has contributed to the perceived principal shortage found in schools.
The need for qualified candidates to take on the role of principal will continue to increase
with anticipated retirements and a growing student population. Despite having an ample pool of
individuals who hold administrative credentials, school districts are still having difficulty filling
principal vacancies. The challenge school districts face to fill vacancies can be attributed to a
perceived principal shortage based on a decline of interest to pursue leadership positions (Myung
et al., 2011).
Decline of Interest in the Principalship
The lack of interested applicants to fill principal vacancies has been a growing concern
(Kearney, 2010; Myung et al., 2011). Moving into school leadership positions is not necessarily
an attractive career move some may perceive it to be. The decline of interest in school
administration can be attributed to several factors that include increased work-related stress and
responsibilities, more public scrutiny and accountability, longer work hours, growing federal and
district mandates, insufficient support from district-level, removal of principal tenure structures,
and a narrowing salary differential between teachers and school administrators (Darling-
Hammond et al., 2007; Jacobson, 2005; Myung et al., 2011). Despite almost 50% of classroom
teachers holding Master’s Degrees, most teachers prefer to remain in the classroom under the
protection of teacher tenure with the possibility of earning comparable salaries to the principals
they work for (Jacobson, 2005; Mullen & Cairns, 2001).
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Papa and Baxter (2005) argue that principal salaries do not fully compensate for the
demands expected of the job, and especially in urban school communities with more challenging
working environments. The incentive structures for the principalship are often viewed as
inadequate and potential applicants look to other more attractive options that do not require the
seemingly impossible demands of a principal. When comparing the salary differential between
the job of principal and teacher, accounting for the summer pay of a principal, the average salary
of a principal with 6 – 10 years of experience is less than the salary of a 20-year veteran
classroom teacher (Papa & Baxter, 2005). For many who hold administrative credentials, the
monetary incentives and increased work-life balance for remaining in the classroom outweigh
the factors when considering the principalship.
The job satisfaction of the principalship has been a challenge to attract candidates to
apply for the position. A study conducted by Hewitt et al. (2011) examined 391 teachers from
139 different school districts in Arkansas who openly stated they do not want to become a
principal, but possessed leadership skills with the potential of being a successful principal.
Survey results from the study determined the factors teachers did not want to enter school
administration. The study found that testing and accountability pressures were the most
important factor as to why teachers did not want to become a principal, followed by the stress of
the job as the second most important factor. With the increased student achievement pressures,
working an average of 60-80 hours per week including evening events, dealing with challenging
veteran teachers resisting change, many principals are finding themselves spending most of their
time on tasks that are least satisfying (Hewitt et al., 2011). The top three factors that discouraged
potential candidates from applying for the principalship were increased stress, time commitment,
and accountability pressures from standardized testing (Hewitt et al., 2011).
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The lack of job security has also led to decreased job satisfaction and a decline of interest
in the principalship. Many school districts have moved toward a more stringent accountability
system, which has made the principalship more unattractive to potential applicants with principal
dismissals due to accountability failures (Turnbell et al., 2013). School districts hire new
principals with the expectation that accountability targets will be met within a given amount of
time, but if a principal fails to meet the school improvement efforts set by the district then the
principal is at risk of losing their job. For many teachers considering school administration,
remaining in the classroom with job security through the tenure structure is more desirable as
most school administrators do not have the safety net of tenure (Jacobson, 2005).
Role of School Districts
The role of district office has also changed dramatically along with the evolving role of
the principalship. School districts originally were established to regulate basic business and
operational functions, but have evolved into playing a central role in the public education with a
focus on teaching, learning, and supporting instructional leadership (Honig, 2012). Bottoms &
Schmidt-Davis (2010) highlight several responsibilities of the district office to support schools
and principals. One major responsibility for the district office is to set a vision for schools
through the development of a comprehensive strategic plan that support principals to implement
a school improvement plan to address the academic, social, and emotional needs of students
unique to their schools. School districts also are responsible for establishing conditions that allow
schools to align policies and resources, create a collaborative relationship with every school,
communicate the vision and strategic plan to the public, and support the principal in becoming
the instructional leader. In addition, Bottoms & Schmidt-Davis (2010) assert that effective school
districts need to invest in learning at all levels of the school system including teachers,
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principals, district staff, superintendents and school board members. Emphasizing the importance
of professional learning by providing high-quality professional development is a strategy school
districts can implement to support principal development.
School districts also have a responsibility to develop a succession plan for school
leadership. This requires school districts to be able to identify potential leadership early and sift
through talented teachers who have the possibility to be effective principals in the future
(Bottoms & Schmidt-Davis, 2010). A succession plan should also encourage school districts to
invest in meaningful professional development for possible future leaders, partner with
universities to provide relevant learning experiences, and provide authentic internships within the
district (Bottoms & Schmidt-Davis, 2010).
Quality leadership is essential to ensuring students are successful. Expectations of
students, teachers, and administrators have evolved throughout the last half-century with new
challenges continually facing our school districts. Understanding the historical context behind
the many changes within education allows researchers and practitioners to anticipate the needs
for tomorrow’s schools. Developing the next generation of leaders is critical if students are to
graduate with the knowledge and skills to be successful. As the job of principal becomes
increasingly more difficult, school districts must find a way to facilitate leadership development
and make school leadership more attractive to potential and veteran leaders to remain in
administrative positions.
Approaches to Leadership Development
Educational leadership can be perceived as a daunting and seemingly impossible job,
with school districts attracting individuals to fill vacancies who are not always prepared for the
role. Currently, there are major gaps with implementing critical components of principal
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leadership within principal training that include shaping an academic vision, creating a
hospitable climate to learning, improving instruction, managing people and systems, and
cultivating leadership in others (Turnbell et al., 2013). While most educational administrators
have classroom experience, the importance of having a strong instructional foundation assists in
better relating to and leading teachers (Hitt et al., 2012). However, just tapping into classroom
teachers for administrative positions does not necessarily mean that individuals are ready to step
into the leadership role.
Leadership Preparation Programs
Historically, educational leadership programs have been criticized for underpreparing
individuals for educational administration (Campbell & Gross, 2012; Kearney, 2010; Orr, 2010).
In 1987, the National Commission for Excellence in Educational Administration was pushing for
the closure of almost 50% of the leadership preparation programs due to poor quality (Young,
2013). A four-year study conducted by Levine (2005) examined 1,206 preparation programs in
the country and found that most leadership preparation programs included outdated curricula,
weak faculty, inadequate instruction, low standards and poor student recruitment and retention.
These findings of poor preparation programs correlated with the study’s principal and
superintendent survey responses that resounded with the sentiment of being insufficiently
prepared to cope with the challenges of their positions (Levine, 2005). Leadership preparation
programs criticisms continue to include underpreparing individuals for school leadership, but
these criticisms also have lead to the redesign and restructuring of some leadership programs.
Criticisms. Criticisms of university-based leadership preparation programs also include
coursework being too theoretical and not applicable to real situations and challenges found in
schools. Much of the coursework in leadership preparation programs include basic management,
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school law and procedures without enough emphasis on effective instruction, professional
development, curriculum and assessment (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). In a national survey
conducted by Public Agenda, 80% of superintendents and 69% of principals felt that university-
based leadership programs do not prepare candidates for the realities found in today’s school
systems (Kearney, 2010). Some of the issues found in inadequate leadership preparation
programs can be attributed to the “fast-track” degrees that have emerged since school districts
have been struggling to fill leadership vacancies (Young & Creighton, 2002). These “fast-track”
degrees offer minimal course credit requirements for individuals to complete leadership
programs. As an example, a nationally established urban university offers a principal preparation
program that only requires six 3-credit courses (Young& Creighton, 2002). To combat the
problem of the shortage in school leadership, some states have reduced requirements for
educational leadership licensure to increase the appeal for attracting more applicants into
leadership programs (Young & Creighton, 2002). Due to the increased need for school
administrators, the “fast-track” degrees and reduction of requirements for administrator licensure
have attempted to provide a larger pool of applicants but have also contributed to applicants
being ill prepared for the position.
Redesigning Leadership Programs. University-based leadership preparation programs
have traditionally provided the majority of training for school leadership. The objectives of
leadership programs are to develop leadership capacity and skills within individuals and to
develop aspirations for individuals to pursue opportunities as educational leaders (Orr, 2010). To
achieve these objectives, many leadership programs have redesigned their programs to better
prepare future leaders. There are various approaches identified that school districts can use to
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include in leadership preparation programs that include professional standards, cohort learning
structure, professional development, mentoring, and internships.
Professional Standards. Kearney (2010) posits effective leadership programs include a
focus on pedagogy, curriculum, and professional standards. A growing number of leadership
programs have aligned to the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC)
standards, which focus on stewardship of an organization’s vision, effective classroom
instruction, teacher growth and learning, resource management, professional ethics, and
community engagement (Tucker et al., 2012). Learning outcomes are developed around the
ISLLC standards and allows for programs to provide better learning experiences for potential
school leaders.
Cohort Structure. Research supports effective leadership programs include a strong
support network through a cohort structure, providing continuous and specific feedback and
assessment, and requiring field-based experiences through internships (Hitt et al., 2012; Turnbell
et al., 2013). In addition, leadership preparation programs should be continuous rather than
episodic, include reflective practice, coaching, mentoring, and relevant problems of practice
(Leithwood et al., 2004). This provides opportunities for peers to discuss and solve problems
together. Darling-Hammond et al. (2007) also support including problem-based learning as
research has found these higher cognitive approaches combined with internships correlated with
a principal’s ability to enact what they learned.
District Professional Development. Professional development is a continuous process for
professional growth. Effective professional development focuses on improving teaching and
learning with standards-based and research-based learning opportunities (Kearney, 2010).
Principal professional development is one critical strategy for school improvement and district-
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level professional development provides clear expectations and continuous support for principals
to improve teaching and learning in their schools (Kearney, 2010). Waters and Marzano (2006)
strongly suggest districts commit to funding professional development for teachers and
principals that align outcomes to district and school goals. As school districts recruit and retain
principals, providing professional development and training on best management practices will
help new and veteran principals support their leadership efforts within their schools (Furtick &
Snell, 2013).
Mentoring and Coaching. There are few leadership preparation programs that
incorporate a formal mentoring component despite the positive influences mentoring and
coaching can have on emerging educational leaders. Mentoring provides support through
questioning, reflection, guidance, listening, and is critical to principal development of necessary
technical knowledge, dispositions, behaviors and values (Reyes, 2003). Mullen and Cairns
(2001) states that improving practice without high quality coaching is ultimately impossible and
educational administrators are in dire need of mentoring while on the job. Despite the research
that supports mentoring, few leadership programs incorporate mentoring or coaching from
experienced school leaders who would assist in teaching the complexities of the job (Darling-
Hammond et al., 2007). Mentoring does not only benefit the mentee, but it also benefits the
mentor through the reflection of their individual practice and growth. Mentoring requires a
trusting symbiotic relationship that supports both the mentee’s growth and the mentor’s
development, along with benefiting the future of educational leadership (Hitt et al., 2012).
Internships. Another promising practice in building leadership capacity is through
internships that provide job-embedded clinical experience with supervision from a veteran
school leader. Internships provide opportunities for aspiring school leaders to work alongside
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veteran principals on real instructional, academic, and managerial challenges faced with school
improvement (Johnston, Walker, Levine, 2010). The opportunity to shadow, reflect, and learn
from principal mentors can assist in the leadership development and preparedness of potential
administrations stepping into the role of school leadership. Many other professions require an
apprenticeship or internship with ongoing professional development during the novice years of a
career, specifically in the field of medicine, architecture and engineering; however, principals
have often lacked the professional development or support in gaining the skills necessary to
accomplish the demands expected of them (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). Internships for
aspiring school administrators are viewed as a highly beneficial and an essential component to
leadership development and pre-servicing individuals into their new position (Johnston et al.,
2010; Mullen & Cairns, 2001).
Aspiring educational leaders need proper leadership training and development to step into
the role of school leadership. Although having an educational background and classroom
teaching experience does provide some context to the challenges and expectations that will assist
in the role of school administration, it does not fully prepare an individual to step into the role of
school leadership. Many leadership preparation programs have been criticized for
underpreparing individuals for the realities of school leadership, however, research has provided
several promising practices that assist in building leadership capacity to prepare individuals for
educational leadership. Leadership preparation programs have slowly begun incorporating
components of professional standards, ongoing professional development, a peer support system,
mentoring, and internships to better prepare the next generation of school leaders. As such,
improving leadership preparation programs to provide comprehensive training for promising
leaders will ultimately strengthen leadership pipelines.
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Developing a Leadership Pipeline
School systems that have a strong leadership pipeline in place are able to have trained
and prepared individuals to fill leadership positions when vacancies occur to carry out the
organization’s vision. Hitt et al. (2012) define a leadership pipeline as a “developmental
perspective for fostering leadership capacity in schools and districts, from identification of
potential talent during the recruitment phase to ensuring career-long learning through
professional development” (p. 1). The purpose of developing a leadership pipeline is for
organizations to expand the pool of strong applicants (Turnbell, et al., 2013). Leadership
pipelines not only serve to recruit aspiring leaders, but also promote the continuous development
in current and veteran educational leaders, and allow for school districts to ensure a succession
plan. One essential component in building a leadership pipeline is identifying and recruiting
individuals with potential talent.
Talent Identification
There are various criteria for identifying and selecting candidates for potential leadership
positions. The identification and recruitment of candidates with promising potential to be a
principal is the first step to building a leadership pipeline (Kearney, 2010). Districts and states
have varying requirements, certifications, and leadership training programs for aspiring
educational administrators. Despite the traditional requirements and hiring criteria many districts
may utilize, such as an individual’s level of education or years of teaching experience, Johnston
et al. (2010) found that selecting individuals who possess certain core competencies was more
significant than traditional hiring criteria. The two most paramount competencies found by
Johnston, Walker, and Levine were for individuals to have the belief that every child can be
academically successful and to make that belief into a reality. School systems should seek
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aspiring leaders who believe that every child can learn and who take personal responsibility for
student outcomes. In addition, recruiting and retaining educational leaders extends beyond the
superintendent and principal, but also extends to teacher leaders and staff as recruitment is
continuous (Johnson et al., 2010).
Selecting and recruiting potential leaders is a responsibility distributed throughout the
school district, however, current principals play an important role in expanding the leadership
pipeline. It is not uncommon for districts to rely on its principals to identify and build leadership
capacity among potential teachers. Some researchers strongly believe that principals need formal
training on how to identify, recruit, and develop potential leaders and even include the
responsibility as a formal job duty of a principal (Turnbell et al., 2013). Principals work closely
with teachers, who are the majority of the candidate pool of aspiring administrators. The pipeline
begins as soon as a principal hires a new teacher and can identify potential leadership strengths
in that candidate (Johnston et al., 2010). Principals need to provide teachers with leadership
opportunities to build and develop skills that may become necessary if they decide to pursue the
path towards principalship, which will expand the quality of candidates for the principal pool
(Kearney, 2010). In contrast, Hewitt, et al. (2011) recommends that the district superintendent
should take the lead on recruiting future principals by implementing leadership training systems
for potential school leaders even if individuals decide not to pursue a principalship.
District superintendents also play an important role in identifying and recruiting potential
future school leaders since they often make the final decision in hiring or recommending to the
school board who to hire. Pijanowski, Hewitt, and Brady (2009) asserts that “superintendents
who have a better understanding of the dynamics associated with principal applicant quality are
likely to be better positioned to make both successful and more informed hiring decisions” (p.
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94). In a study conducted by Pijanowski, Hewitt, and Brady (2009), the top three strategies for
recruiting prospective individuals into school administration required superintendents to increase
compensation, improve leadership training strategies in university-based leadership preparation
programs, and redefine the role of principal.
Successful Leadership Components
A strong leadership pipeline includes outlining what successful leadership looks like.
There are several facets to effective educational leadership and principals have several
responsibilities including creating an environment and culture conducive to learning within their
staff and students. Creating a culture that supports distributive leadership and motivating
teachers to go above and beyond their job description is a challenge many principals face today
(Slater, 2008).
Available literature has outlined criteria for successful educational leadership to
encompass three critical components: leading a school towards a vision, professionally
developing and growing individuals, and managing systems within the organization (Leithwood
et al., 2004; Marzano et al., 2005; Turnbell et al., 2013). According to Turnbell et al. (2013),
successful principal leadership includes developing a vision for academic success, creating an
environment hospitable to learning, cultivating leadership in others, improving instruction, and
managing personnel, data, and systems to foster school improvement. Leithwood et al. (2004)
defines successful leadership as being able to set organizational direction, develop individuals
within the organization, and redesign the organizational needs. Marzano et al. (2005) identifies
21 effective school leadership responsibilities that have a significant correlation with student
achievement. These leadership responsibilities provide school systems the structure to build a
leadership pipeline based on these essential leadership principles.
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“Grow Your Own” Leadership Pipeline
Some school districts have explored the “grow your own” leadership development
approach to increase administrator quantity and quality candidate pool. The criticisms of formal
leadership preparation programs have resulted in some districts developing “grow your own”
programs where training is provided internally within the school district and a partnership with
higher education institutions.
Gutmore, Gutmore and Strobert (2009) conducted a “grow your own” study in a school
district located in New Jersey with favorable results. The “grow your own” program originated
because the district superintendent expressed concerns that the incoming principals and vice
principals were underprepared, required extensive support from district office, and seemed
overwhelmed at their jobs. In addition, the anticipated retirement of over 20 existing school
administrators in the school district over the next two years was a major concern without
individuals who were prepared and willing to step into those imminent vacancies. The “grow
your own” two-year program consisted of weekend on-site and online courses, a 600-hour
internship, and culminated with a master’s degree and completion of state certification for school
administration. Applicants were encouraged to self-select and apply, or were tapped by their
principals. Gutmore, Gutmore and Strobert (2009) found that participants in the “grow your
own” program were highly satisfied due to a sense of program coherence, rigorous and
supportive internship, and relevant connection to practice.
Succession Challenge and Barriers
Succession Challenge. Leadership pipelines provide a system for organizations to
identify and promote individuals through a succession management plan. Many school districts
face a succession challenge, which Fink (2011) defines this challenge as the need to “find and
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assign or hire the right warm body in the right place at the right time for the right reasons” (p.
590). Fink (2011) credits the succession challenge to changing demographics, the lack of
attractiveness in leadership, and conflicting generational goals. Young leaders who are capable
of taking the place of retiring school leaders are finding the job as unattractive and unrewarding,
and therefore, the succession challenge requires current leaders to reanalyze leadership in order
for the next generation of leaders to be leaders of learning (Fink, 2011). School districts are
challenged to define educational goals and align goals with a succession plan. Fink (2011)
explains if a school district’s goals are to achieve short-term academic targets without being too
selective with who will lead the organization to accomplish the goals, then there is not a true
succession challenge as individuals can be recruited from outside the education field or through
“fast-track” programs. However, a succession challenge does exist if a school district’s goals
include recruiting and developing leaders who will contribute to student learning, develop
teachers, and work alongside with the school community (Fink, 2011).
The succession challenge is relevant for every organization. A meta-analysis study
conducted by Collins (2001) examined over 1,435 companies to identify organizations that went
from being an adequately good company to a great organization. Collins (2001) identified 11
companies that fit the profile of being a good-to-great organization, and discovered that each
corporation shared a commonality of being led by a level-5 leader. A level-5 leader possesses
traits of humility and professional will, and cares more for the success of the company than for
their own personal wealth or acclaim. In contrast to a Level-5 leader, Collins (2001) found that
non-level 5 leaders were more concerned about their own personal legacy rather than setting up
the organization to be successful in the future.
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A leadership pipeline includes having a succession management plan. Myung et al.
(2011) asserts that school administrators can identify teachers who have leadership potential
early in their career and provide leadership development opportunities to invest in the possibility
of a career in administration, however, few school districts have formal systems in place to
identify and develop potential future school leaders. Despite the lack of formal succession plans
in school districts, there are informal mechanisms to recruit potential school leaders that include
self-selection and tapping. Some candidates self-select themselves based on their own personal
motivation and desire to enter school leadership, while others are tapped by principals or peers to
consider a career in school administration. Myung et al. (2011) surveyed 15,840 teachers, 583
assistant principals, and 312 principals found that although teachers were encouraged to pursue
the principalship from a range of people, they were mostly encouraged by their peers. Principals
also use tapping as an informal recruitment strategy as they are able to identify teachers who
have the most potential to meet the demands of the job.
The succession challenge is a problem many school districts face. Despite the
anticipation of leadership vacancies, the unattractiveness of school leadership and lack of
succession plans pose a threat to sustaining leadership into the next generation. School districts
need to take the succession challenge seriously and begin developing a leadership pipeline to tap
into individuals with leadership potential. In addition, organizations that flourish from good to
great organizations require a special type of level-5 leader that possesses characteristic traits that
set up the organization to be successful in the future.
Barriers to Developing a Leadership Pipeline. Despite the growing body of literature
that emphasizes the importance of cultivating and identifying leadership talent within school
systems, there are many states and school districts that face challenges in developing a leadership
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pipeline (Johnson et al., 2010; Kearney, 2010; Turnbell et al., 2013). Some of the barriers that
school systems face in the development of a leadership pipeline include selecting from an under
qualified applicant pool, challenging the culture of the teaching profession, and lacking a
formalized system to identify and recruit potential leaders.
Lack of Promising Candidates. One barrier to developing a leadership pipeline is the
lack of promising candidates to enter the pipeline. According to Campbell and Gross (2012),
some states are beginning to address the inadequacies in their principal leadership pipelines but
are not making sufficient changes to improve the talent pool. In an effort to address the
leadership succession challenge, some states have begun offering alternate certification routes
but these programs can be perceived as “fast-track” degrees that do not necessarily provide a
stronger principal applicant pool for school districts. Schools need strong principals to carry out
school reform, but the applicant pool falls short of great leaders who are inexperienced or
insufficiently prepared. Campbell and Gross (2012) suggest that states need to develop principal
leadership pipelines based on data and the needs of schools. The piecemeal efforts to improve
principal pipelines do not provide a stronger applicant pool, and data should be analyzed to
determine school needs to better train and find applicants that fit the vacancies these schools are
looking to fill.
Challenging the Culture. Another barrier school systems face when developing a
leadership pipeline is the challenge of going against the culture of the teaching profession.
According to Myung et al. (2011), the teaching profession has historically placed all teachers as
equal to their colleagues, and therefore the theory is that all teachers deserve the same rewards
and recognition. This collective culture is supported by the norm of unionized salary schedules
and the struggle school districts have with offering performance-based compensation systems for
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teachers (Myung et al., 2011). Developing a leadership pipeline that selects teachers based on
certain qualities disrupts the egalitarian ethic among teachers as it differentiates teachers from
one another. In many cases, teachers make the decision on whether to pursue a career in school
administration based on their own desires and school districts that have a formalized system to
identify and recruit promising teachers into school leadership run the risk of challenging the
culture of public education.
Lack of Formal Talent Identification System. Many school districts do not have a
formalized system to identify potential talent, which serves as another challenge to developing a
leadership pipeline. School districts need to make a concerted effort to develop a leadership
pipeline that will identify and recruit potential school leaders. Currently, most districts rely on
candidates to self-identify their intention to pursue school leadership or other informal measures
of recruitment. Johnston et al. (2010) suggest school districts can increase quality applicants for
school leadership if principal effectiveness and expectations are more explicitly defined and by
creating more supportive working conditions for principals. In addition, Johnston et al. (2010)
provide several strategies to promote leadership capacity within a leadership pipeline that
include: providing incentives to aspiring principals to serve in high-need schools, developing a
differentiated career path where highly effective teachers become teacher mentors or leaders and
highly effective principals become principal mentors or supervisors, and expanding the number
of leadership team members at a school. Another strategy suggested by Heweitt et al., (2011)
suggests developing leadership capacity by recruiting teachers for the assistant principal position
as it would provide individuals administrative experience and an opportunity to work with
principals who can share the benefits of being a school leader. These strategies provide
leadership opportunities that may build leadership capacity in teachers and school leaders.
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Some states and school districts have begun addressing the deficiencies in their
leadership pipelines despite the barriers and challenges they face. Some barriers of developing a
leadership pipeline can be addressed easier than others, however, other barriers require a shift
within the culture of public education. In order to combat the barrier of inadequate candidates
who enter the pipeline, school districts must focus on building leadership capacity by providing
individuals with opportunities for leadership development and growth prior to entering the
pipeline. Going against the egalitarian culture of public education and developing a formalized
system to identify promising leaders is a risk school districts need to take in order to build the
next generation of leaders.
Theoretical Framework
Transformational leadership theory provided a theoretical framework for this study based
on the Kouzes and Posner model. Transformational leadership is found to have the greatest
impact with student achievement, and it requires the principal to use the expertise and knowledge
of others to solve problems collaboratively (Valentine & Prater, 2012). The basis of
transformational leadership is investing in the development of others and building leadership
capacity throughout the organization (Valentine & Prater, 2012).
The term “transformational leader” was first defined by political sociologist James
MacGregor Burns in 1978. Burns examined the relationship between a leader and his followers
and found that leaders utilize the needs of his followers to achieving the organization’s goal
(Northouse, 2013). According to Slater (2008), the success of a leader is “not based on the
number of followers they have, but rather by the number of individuals that they have inspired to
become leaders themselves” (p. 67). Transformational leaders are able to change and transform
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others by raising their level of awareness and morality. Ultimately, leadership is a relationship
between those who are leaders and those who choose to follow (Kouzes & Posner, 2012).
Kouzes and Posner (2012) constructed five practices of exemplary leadership in their
transformational leadership model. The five practices of the Kouzes and Posner (2012)
transformational leadership model include: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the
process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart. For the purposes of this study, three of the
five practices will be used as a theoretical framework as they are closely linked to
transformational leadership: model the way, inspire a vision, and enable others to act. In order
for transformational leaders to model the way, leaders need to clearly know their personal values
and philosophy in order to be an example to those they lead. Effective leaders inspire a shared
vision to guide others in the organization. Leaders also need to enable others to act through
building trust, relationships, and collaboration as the job of district and school leadership is not a
task one person can accomplish on their own.
Transformational leaders are successful because they solicit contributions from others in
their organizations, as principals rely on teacher leaders and superintendents rely on other
central-office personnel and board members (Leithwood et al., 2004). In addition, it is critical for
school educational leaders to build leadership capacity in others to promote student learning and
teacher growth (Slater, 2008). Kouzes and Posner’s (2012) transformational leadership model
outlines how the leader enables others to act towards the vision inspired and modeled by the
leader for the success of the organization.
Transformational leadership theory provides a framework to systems or programs that
work towards building leadership capacity. The Kouzes and Posner (2012) model is based on the
leader’s relationship with his or her followers to inspire, enable, model, challenge and encourage
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each other. This study will examine a school district that has implemented promising practices
within a leadership pipeline that incorporates the transformational leadership elements.
Summary
Effective and willing leaders to fill principalships have become a rare commodity, yet the
positive impact quality leadership can have on student outcomes is undeniable. The evolution of
the role of principal has changed dramatically over the last half-century from being an
administrative manager to instructional leader to transformational leader. As most school leaders
indirectly influence student outcomes, principals have the ability to exercise decision-making
that supports teaching and learning, set expectations and a vision, develop teacher growth, and
leverage resources within the school to support student achievement (Hitt et al., 2012; Louis et
al., 2010).
As the job of principal becomes increasingly more difficult, school districts must find
ways to facilitate leadership development and make school leadership more attractive for
individuals to pursue a career in school administration. Aspiring educational leaders need proper
leadership training and development to step into the role of school leadership. Although
leadership preparation programs have been criticized for inadequately training individuals for
school leadership, research has provided promising practices to assist in building leadership
capacity and leadership pipelines.
Transformational leadership theory provides the theoretical framework for this study.
Kouzes and Posner’s (2012) practices of exemplary leadership highlight leaders to model the
way, inspire a shared vision, and enable others to act. The evolution of the principal from an
administrative manager to instructional leader to a transformational leader requires principals to
model the way, inspire a shared vision, and enable others to act collaboratively. Valentine and
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Prater (2012) found that student achievement was higher when principals established a
collaborative vision and created a collaborative support system for the faculty to move toward a
new direction.
Many school systems face a succession challenge and few districts have formal
succession plans in place to ensure the next generation of school leaders. Despite the lack of
formal succession management systems in school districts, some districts have begun to address
the inadequacies in their leadership pipelines. There is a need to examine promising practices of
building leadership capacity to ensure future educational leaders for tomorrow. After a thorough
analysis of current and available literature, it is clear that many school systems do not have a
leadership pipeline in place and there is an urgent need for districts to find strong applicants for
principal positions. This study attempts to fill the literature gap on promising practices of
building leadership capacity in the next generation of leaders. The next chapter will address the
research methods utilized to determine how a school system works to build the next generation
of leaders and the factors that facilitate and inhibit the strategies to build leadership capacity.

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CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
The purpose of this study is to examine promising practices of building leadership
capacity within K-12 school districts. With limited research on promising practices of leadership
development within school districts, this study examines ways to build the next generation of
leaders by highlighting promising practices and allowing school districts to examine current
practices. One goal of this study is to explore the strategies employed by a school district that has
effectively developed a succession management system to fill anticipated leadership vacancies
and meet the future needs of the organization. This study also will examine the perceptions of
stakeholders regarding the strategies, as well as the factors that facilitate and inhibit the
implementations of strategies to build leadership capacity.
Although this study examines promising practices of leadership development, it is by no
means restricting or implying that school districts are limited to only following the practices
found in this study. Through identifying and understanding effective strategies school districts
have implemented to create a sustainable leadership pipeline, the hope is for other schools to
utilize some practices to ensure a strong talent pool of candidates can take on the leadership
challenges found in schools today.
This chapter will first restate the research questions for this study and describe the
research design. Next, a thorough description of the study’s sampling and population is provided,
followed by an overview of the organization along with a presentation of the theoretical
framework and conceptual framework. Next, the process for data collection, overview of study
participants, instrumentation, and data analysis is provided. Finally, ethical considerations for
this study are presented.

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Research Questions
In order to examine promising practices of building leadership capacity within a K-12
school district, this study focuses on the following research questions developed collaboratively
by the thematic group:
1. In what ways does Aloha Complex Area work to build the next generation of
leaders?
2. What are the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the influences of
those practices?
3. What are the factors that both facilitate and inhibit the development and
implementation of strategies designed to build leadership capacity?
Research Design
The research questions framed the choice of conducting a qualitative case study approach
for data collection. In order to gain insight on the promising practices of how a school district
builds leadership capacity, qualitative methodology was the most appropriate approach for this
study. Qualitative research lends itself to explore and understand how individuals interpret and
make meaning of their own experiences (Merriam, 2009). To make meaning of how the schools
in this district builds leadership capacity, qualitative research was an appropriate approach to
develop a deep understanding of how individuals and the organization address a human problem
(Merriam, 2009).
A qualitative case study approach was implemented in this study for collecting in-depth
and rich data (Gall, Gall & Borg, 2007). Using a case study approach allowed for the researcher
to gather descriptive data on a particular school district that already had promising practices in
place of building leadership capacity. Case studies focus on real-life situations and provides a
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holistic account of a single phenomenon within a bounded system (Merriam, 2009). Since this
study examined only one school district, it was most appropriate to use a case study approach to
intensely investigate the research questions of this study within the boundaries of the district.
Interviews are the primary tool of gathering data for this study, as most qualitative
research collects data through interviews. The main objective of an interview is for the
researcher to discover what someone else thinks about a particular phenomenon when it cannot
be observed through behavior or feelings (Merriam, 2009). Utilizing interviews in this study
allowed the researcher to seek specific information of the participant perspectives and
experiences on leadership capacity. The process of the interview allowed for the researcher and
participant to engage in conversation centered on the research questions and the study (Merriam,
2009).
Observations were also used in gathering data for this study as it allowed the researcher
to observe the phenomenon in its natural setting. Collecting data through observations provided
additional information for the researcher to encounter firsthand, rather than through secondhand
information collected through interviews (Merriam, 2009). This study used observations in
multiple settings, but primarily observed school leadership meetings and professional
development training sessions. Gathering data through observations provided further data to
triangulate the findings of this study.
Artifacts collected in this study provided a third point of data to use for triangulation.
Using interviews, observations, and artifacts to collect data allowed the researcher to triangulate
findings and strengthen internal validity in this study (Merriam, 2009). Triangulation uses
multiple methods of data collection for the purpose of checking the data against one another to
determine whether there is support for a single conclusion (Maxwell, 2013).
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Sample and Population
This study examined a complex area that consisted of a district office, along with 15
elementary, middle, and high schools. This organization is defined as a “complex area” that is
located within a larger school district. Each complex area has a separate superintendent that
oversees their own complex area, and there are typically two to three complex areas within one
school district. The small sample size allowed the researcher to focus the study to examine
specific promising practices of building leadership capacity within the school district. Given the
small sample size of this study, the results of this study are not generalizable. The individuals
interviewed and observed in this study are all public school educators within the same district
who have experience in the area of leadership.
This study used purposeful, convenience sampling to identify the complex area and
individuals in this study. Purposeful sampling allowed for deliberate selections of individuals
who would provide the best data to answer the research questions in this study (Maxwell, 2013).
This study also used convenience sampling based on location and time limitations.
Overview of Organization
The researcher used purposeful sampling to select the organization in this study based on
pre-established criteria (Merriam, 2009). The complex area in this study was intentionally
selected based on the current promising practices in place for building leadership capacity. The
complex area is currently in its sixth year of implementing Instructional Leadership Teams
(ILTs) in every school and meet on a regular basis at the school and district level. There are also
both formal and informal structures in place for identifying individuals who are potential future
school administrators.
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This high-achieving K-12 public school complex area is located in the Hawaiian Islands
within the Pacific Ocean and serves approximately 6,800 students. The students within this
district vary from low-income families, high transiency military families, English-Language
Learners (ELL), disadvantaged, and medium-to-high income families. There are two high
schools, one alternative high school, one middle school, one middle and elementary combined
school, nine elementary schools, and one elementary charter school that make up this entire
complex area. It is important to note that this study will use the term “district” and “complex
area” interchangeably as appropriate.
Theoretical Framework
Transformational leadership theory provided a theoretical framework for this study based
on the Kouzes and Posner model. The basis of transformational leadership is investing in the
development of others and building leadership capacity throughout the organization (Valentine
& Prater, 2012). Transformational leaders are able to change and transform others by raising
their level of awareness and morality.
Kouzes and Posner (2012) constructed five practices of exemplary leadership in their
transformational leadership model. The five practices of the Kouzes and Posner (2012)
transformational leadership model include: model the way, inspire a shared vision, challenge the
process, enable others to act, and encourage the heart.
Transformational leaders are successful because they solicit contributions from others in
their organizations, as principals rely on teacher leaders and superintendents rely on other
central-office personnel and board members (Leithwood et al., 2004). Kouzes and Posner’s
(2012) transformational leadership model outlines how the leader enables others to act towards a
vision inspired and modeled by the leader for the success of the organization. Ultimately,
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leadership is a relationship between those who are leaders and those who choose to follow
(Kouzes & Posner, 2012).
Conceptual Framework
In order for school districts to have a sustainable leadership pipeline, there must be
practices in place to identify and develop potential future leaders within the system. As presented
in Chapter 2, despite the several strategies school districts have in place to support and grow
leaders, there are several barriers to establishing and maintaining a leadership pipeline. The
conceptual framework was designed collaboratively by the thematic group and was based on
emerging themes in the review of literature. The conceptual framework in Figure 1 illustrates the
strategies and challenges of implementing a succession plan for sustainable leadership grounded
in transformational leadership theory.

Figure 1. Conceptual Framework
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The promising practices of developing a leadership pipeline include three main strategies.
These three strategies include talent identification, development of knowledge and skills of
potential leaders, and development of support practices to grow potential leaders. When
organizations attempt to implement these three strategies to develop a succession plan,
challenges may arise that can hinder sustainable leadership. These challenges include finding
willing individuals to step into leadership positions, lack of resources, as well as ongoing
changes to curriculum and knowledge. The framework is grounded in transformational
leadership theory using the practices of exemplary leadership of Model the Way, Enable others
to Act, and Inspire a Shared Vision by Kouzes and Posner (2012).
Data Collection
This study was conducted through a series of interviews, observations and artifact
collections centered on the research questions. Two interview protocols were developed
collaboratively through a thematic dissertation research group and are included as Appendix B
and C. One interview protocol was developed specifically for individuals who held an
administrative leadership role, and the other interview protocol was developed for teacher
leaders. Interview questions were aligned directly with the research questions for this study, and
piloted in advance to ensure clarity of the questions and approximate the length of time for the
interview.
The individuals who were interviewed for this study were selected based on their current
role and previous roles they may have held in the school district. School principals selected were
based on the number of individuals they have recommended to enter school administration. The
vice principals were selected based on their experience working under a school principal who has
made recommendations for individuals to enter school administration. Teachers were selected
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based on their role as department head and member of the school’s ILT. Table 1 indicates each
participant, their length in their current role, ethnicity and gender, and other characteristics of the
individual relevant to this study.
Table 1. Overview of Study Participants
Role
Length in
Current
Role
Gender
Data
Collection
Activity
Other Relevant Characteristics
Complex Area
Superintendent
(CAS Marigold)
4 years Female
Interview
Observation
• Served as a principal within
the district prior to stepping
into role of superintendent
High School
Principal
(Principal Hibiscus)
13 years Female
Interview
Observation
• Has formally recommended 7
individuals into administrator
preparation program
Intermediate School
Principal
(Principal Daisy)
4 years Female
Interview
Observation
• Served as high school
principal for 7 years
• Served as a complex area
superintendent for 4 years (in
different school district)
• Has formally recommended 3
individuals into administrator
preparation program
District Educational
Specialist
(DES Azalea)
2 years Male
Interview
Observation
• Served as elementary school
principal in the district for 7
years
• Has formally recommended 1
individual into administrator
preparation program
High School
Vice Principal
(VP Clover)
5 years Male
Interview
Observation
• Was a teacher at the same
school prior to entering school
administration
Elementary School
Vice Principal
(VP Tuberose)
2 years Female
Interview
Observation
• Was a teacher in the school
district prior to entering
school administration
High School
Teacher
(Ms. Lily)
18 years Female
Interview
Observation
• Has been a teacher in her
school for her entire career
• Has been an ILT member at
her school for 6 years
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District Resource
Teacher
(Ms. Poppy)
4 years Female
Interview
Observation
• Has been a teacher for 9 years
at a school in the same district
• Served as department head for
9 years

Table 1 provides an overview of the individuals participating in this study. Although
most participants are school-level personnel, there are some individuals from the district-level
that allows for a range of roles to study an entire school district. In addition, individuals at the
school-level are from elementary, middle, and high school to examine an entire complex area for
this study. Each participant also has participated as an ILT member for a minimum of two years,
and all participants are very familiar with the ILT process.
Observations were conducted at both district-level and school-level sites. An observation
was conducted at the quarterly complex area ILT meeting, which includes the ILTs from all 14
schools. A complex area-level ILT strategic planning meeting, and two school-level ILT
meetings were also observed that included school administration and teacher department heads.
Observation protocols were also developed collaboratively with a thematic dissertation group
and are included as Appendix D. The observations focused on gathering data of the interactions
between individuals, communication, and seating arrangements of the environment in which the
meeting was operated.
Instrumentation
Instrumentation for this study consisted of semi-structured interviews, observations, and
collection of artifacts. Both interview protocols for administrators and teacher leaders used a
semi-structured interview format to elicit responses from the participants. Using semi-structured
interviews allows for flexibility when the researcher wants to follow-up to a participant’s
response through additional probing questions or bring a new idea to the topic (Merriam, 2009).
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Participants were asked open-ended questions on how the organization builds leadership capacity
in their particular role. Interview questions asked participants to evaluate and comment on
current practices in place for building leadership capacity. Interviews were digitally recorded and
transcribed for further data analysis.
Interviews, observations, and collection of artifacts were triangulated to answer the
research questions for this study. Table 2 displays the three research questions examined in this
study and the instrumentation that aligns to answering each research question.
Table 2. Research Question Instrumentation
Research Question Interviews Observations Artifacts
1. In what ways does Aloha Complex Area
work to build the next generation of
leaders?
✔ ✔ ✔
2. What are the perceptions of teachers and
administrators regarding the influences of
those practices?
✔

3. What are the factors that both facilitate
and inhibit the development and
implementation of strategies designed to
build leadership capacity?
✔ ✔ ✔

Interviews and observations provided the best data to answer all research questions for
this study. The collection of artifacts also provided supplemental data to triangulate results for
research question number one and three. Artifacts included meeting agendas, memos,
applications for leadership programs, and other documents that included criteria related to
leadership.
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Data Analysis
Data analysis is a part research design and requires planning to answer the research
questions (Creswell, 2014). The data collected in this study was compiled and analyzed
specifically according to each research question. The approach used for data analysis in this
study followed Creswell’s (2014) six steps for data analysis presented in Figure 2.

Creswell (2014) provides a clear and linear model to approach data analysis. The process
begins with organizing the data collected from interviews, observations, and artifacts. In
conjunction with Creswell’s model, Maxwell (2013) asserts that initial steps to qualitative data
analysis is to thoroughly read through all data gathered and begin to code. Coding was used to
Figure 2. Creswell’s (2014) Model for Qualitative Data Analysis

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analyze data from interviews, observations, and artifacts. After coding, identifying common
themes and categories were organized to determine how to structure a descriptive narrative for
the study. Finally, the researcher attempted to interpret and make meaning of the common
themes that emerged from the analysis.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical considerations were of high importance throughout the study. The researcher
followed university procedures for ethical conduct as designated by the Institutional Review
Board (IRB). The IRB process was followed and approved prior to data collection for this study.
Researchers have a responsibility to protect study participants and promote the integrity
of the research (Creswell, 2014). Participants were not coerced into partaking in the study and all
voluntarily offered to participate. Confidentiality was promised to all participants and informed
consent forms were provided to each participant (see Appendix A). To protect the confidentiality
and identity of each participant, pseudonyms were used at the start of data collection. All data
were kept in a secure location to ensure confidentiality and guard against any inappropriate
misuse.
Summary
This chapter provided an overview of the qualitative methodology and data analysis used
in this study. The following chapter presents the study’s findings. Chapter 4 will also review the
findings in relation to the research questions and purpose of the study.

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CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
The purpose of this study was to explore promising practices within a K-12 school
district that identify and develop both potential and current leaders through a continuous
leadership pipeline. This study examined strategies employed by a school district that has
developed a succession management system in order to ensure a talent pool of qualified
candidates to lead and contribute to the future needs of the organization. The strategies found in
this study may serve as a model for other school districts striving to build leadership capacity
within their own organization. This chapter first reintroduces the study participants and their
backgrounds, followed by presenting the study findings organized by research question.
In order to examine the promising practices of building leadership capacity within a K-12
school district, this study focused on the following three research questions that were developed
collaboratively by the thematic group:
1. In what ways does Aloha Complex Area work to build the next generation of leaders?
2. What are the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the influences of
those practices?
3. What are the factors that both facilitate and inhibit the development and
implementation of strategies designed to build leadership capacity?
Data collection for this study consisted of participant interviews, observations, and
artifact collection centered on the research questions. Multiple data sources were used to
triangulate findings to increase validity of the study.
Participant Profiles
This study used purposeful, convenience sampling in the selection of the school district
and individuals interviewed in this study. All eight participants interviewed in this study were
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selected based on their current and previous roles held in the school district with each participant
having experience in a leadership role either in the school district or at the school level. In
addition, all participants have been involved in both their school and complex area ILTs.
Furthermore, all principals and the district educational specialist interviewed in this study have
recommended a minimum of one individual into the administrator preparation program. As such,
both vice principals interviewed in this study have completed the formal two-year administrator
preparation program and received certification. Both teachers interviewed in this study have
served as department head and have held other leadership positions at their schools.
Additionally, five out of the six educational administrators in this study were recommended and
tapped by their principal to go into school administration, whereas one educational administrator
self-initiated her interest in school administration and approached her principal to ask for his
recommendation.
As previously stated, pseudonyms were used in this study to ensure participant
confidentiality. Participant pseudonyms, length in their current role, gender, and how they each
entered school administration are presented again in Table 2 below.
Table 3. Participant Pseudonyms and Background
Role
Length in
Current Role
Gender
How the Participant Entered
School Administration
Complex Area Superintendent
(CAS Marigold)
4 years Female Principal tapped/recommended
High School Principal
(Principal Hibiscus)
13 years Female Principal tapped/recommended
Intermediate School Principal
(Principal Daisy)
4 years Female Principal tapped/recommended
District Educational Specialist
(DES Azalea)
2 years Male Principal tapped/recommended
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High School Vice Principal
(VP Clover)
5 years Male Principal tapped/recommended
Elementary School Vice Principal
(VP Tuberose)
2 years Female Self-initiated
High School Teacher
(Ms. Lily)
18 years Female Principal tapped/recommended
District Resource Teacher
(Ms. Poppy)
4 years Female
Principal tapped/recommended
but has not decided to enter
administration

Although some participants have been in their current role for only two years, all
participants have been working in previous roles within the same school district for at least
fourteen years. This next section will provide a brief overview of each study participant and their
professional experiences.
Complex Area Superintendent (CAS) Marigold began her educational career as a teacher
in California, and also served as a vice principal and enacting principal. She stepped down from
her administrator position because as a mother of three young children, she felt her work
schedule was negatively impacting her family life. CAS Marigold shared she could not juggle
the demanding schedule of being an administrator and a mother of young children, and that she
“needed to be their mom first before she needed to be a principal at a school.” After stepping
down from her administrative position, she put her professional aspirations on hold for her
children and “never really considered going back to it.” When her family made the decision to
move to Hawaii, CAS Marigold started as a special education teacher for three years, and then
was tapped by her principal to enter the administrator preparation program. Prior to being
superintendent, CAS Marigold served as the vice principal at a high school in the same school
district for three years and then principal at an intermediate school in the same complex area for
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six years. Prior to CAS Marigold stepping into her current position, the previous CAS had just
begun implementing the ILT structure in Aloha Complex Area. CAS Marigold believed in the
value of building leadership capacity through ILTs, so when she became CAS she fully
implemented the ILT structure throughout the entire complex area.
Principal Hibiscus has been a high school principal in Aloha Complex Area for 13 years
with an extensive professional resume spanning over 30 years. Prior to her current principalship,
she was a district personnel specialist for staff development in Aloha Complex Area, and also
state personnel specialist for labor relations. Principal Hibiscus also served as a principal at an
elementary school for seven years in a different school district, vice principal at two other
elementary schools in a different district for three years, and elementary teacher in her current
school district.
Principal Daisy started her educational career as a special education teacher and a
technology coordinator at an elementary school in Aloha Complex Area. She was then tapped by
her principal and encouraged by her university professor to consider administration, which
resulted in her decision to enter the administrator preparation program. She served as vice
principal at a high school for five years in the same district, and eventually became the principal
of the same school for nine years afterwards. Following her principalship, she became the
complex area superintendent for another district for four years, and then returned to Aloha
Complex Area where she has currently been an intermediate school principal for the past four
years.
District Educational Specialist (DES) Azalea has spent his entire educational career in the
same school district. He began as an elementary school teacher for ten years, and was then
tapped by his principal to try a temporary vice principal position at another elementary school in
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the district. DES Azalea served as a vice principal for three and a half years. Within those three
and a half years, DES Azalea was recommended by his principal to go into the administrator
preparation program where he achieved his administrator certificate. DES Azalea then served as
a principal at an elementary school within Aloha Complex Area for seven years, and then moved
to his current position as DES in Aloha Complex Area for the past two years.
Vice Principal (VP) Clover started his teaching career as a special education teacher for
eight and a half years and also department head for five and a half years. He was asked by his
principal to fill a vacancy at his school as a temporary vice principal and eventually was
recommended into the administrator preparation program. He has since served as the vice
principal for five years at the same school.
Vice Principal (VP) Tuberose was an elementary school teacher for 12 years prior to
entering school administration. When VP Tuberose was a teacher, she approached her principal
to let him know she was interested in school administration. At the time, her principal did not
immediately recommend her into the administration preparation program. Instead, her principal
held individual meetings with her about VP Tuberose’s aspirations and what she was learning in
her Master’s courses. Once VP Tuberose earned her Master’s Degree in Education, her principal
signed off on referring her into the administrator preparation program. VP Tuberose earned her
administrator certificate and has been a vice principal for two years in Aloha Complex Area.
Ms. Lily has been a teacher at her high school for a total of 18 years. She is a National
Board Certified Teacher and has held several positions during those 18 years, including
curriculum coordinator, Title 1 coordinator, accreditation coordinator, assistant athletic director,
and department head. Most recently, Ms. Lily also served as a temporary vice principal at her
school for a semester when there was a vacancy. In the past, Ms. Lily has been told by her
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principal and other colleagues on several occasions to go into school administration, but she did
not feel it was the right time in her life because her children were still fairly young and she was
going through a divorce. More recently, she has considered school administration after serving as
temporary vice principal and has applied to the administrator preparation program with her
principal’s recommendation.
Ms. Poppy has been a teacher for 14 years in Aloha Complex Area. She was a high
school teacher for 10 years, and was department head for nine years before moving to her district
resource teacher position. Ms. Poppy has been told by her colleagues and CASs to enter the
administrator preparation program, but she currently has decided not to apply because she feels
she has more left to do at her current position. Ms. Poppy is working toward earning her
Master’s degree in Education Administration and has shared that she may consider
administration in the future.
Findings
Research Question 1:
In what ways does Aloha Complex Area work to build the next generation of leaders?
The first research question in this study investigates the various approaches that Aloha
Complex Area uses to build leadership capacity within its educators. There were three themes
that emerged from the data. These three overarching themes presented in the next section
include: investing in opportunities for growth, identifying and cultivating potential talent, and
developing a culture of lifelong learners.
Investing in Opportunities for Growth
One major theme that emerged from the data was the importance of investing in
opportunities for growth in the Aloha Complex Area. All eight participants had shared they held
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various leadership roles as a teacher that led to the development of their leadership skills. As an
example, VP Tuberose explained her principal offered her different opportunities to develop her
leadership skills that included:
“being summer school director, being on the school leadership team, and taking on a
more supportive role as academic coach. I was able to get my feet wet with
administration and looking at the bigger picture in these different roles.”
These strategies were evident throughout Aloha Complex Area by providing and creating
leadership opportunities at the school-level, providing feedback through mentoring and coaching,
and implementing instructional leadership teams.
Providing and Creating Leadership Opportunities at the School-Level. The
importance of providing opportunities for individuals to build leadership skills was evident in the
data. The types of opportunities varied from principal-directed to teacher-initiated opportunities.
Principal-directed opportunities included placing teachers in coordinator positions and assigning
teachers as department heads. Teacher-initiated opportunities included volunteering as lead on
school events, meetings, and staff trainings. Principal Hibiscus emphasized that teachers “need to
be given opportunities to practice and expand on leadership. That means they’re not only taught
how to create agendas, but they also lead discussions or trainings.” When asked whether
opportunities are assigned to particular teachers, Principal Hibiscus asserted that she does not
pre-determine or groom individuals into leadership positions, but rather tries to give as many
opportunities as possible for leadership. When she offers opportunities to work on special
projects, she asks her teachers who would be interested to take the opportunity on. She shared,
“Teachers have to show initiative and if they don’t step up, then I’m going to think twice about
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this individual in leadership and also ask myself what else does this person need to be
motivated?”
The idea of building the next generation of leaders by providing and creating leadership
opportunities is not just a current strategy, but has been a longtime practice in the school district.
Each participant also shared his or her own similar experiences of being provided leadership
opportunities prior to entering school administration. All eight participants had been department
heads at their school and have planned and organized various school activities or programs. VP
Clover remembered when he was department head and shared, “It put me in a leadership
position. I was part of the school leadership committee and had to represent and make both
operational and instructional decisions for my department.” Principal Daisy reminisced that
when she was an elementary school teacher, her principal would assign her to be the teacher in
charge when her principal was out in order for her to experience overseeing the school for a day.
As a teacher, Principal Daisy would offer to help with school-wide events such as leading the
Junior Police Officers, advising the student council, coordinating the school’s science fair,
participating in budget meetings in order to help the principal and gain leadership experience.
Principal Daisy reflected,
“All those experiences helped me in my administration program and as an administrator
today because that was all considered training when I didn’t even realize it. You think
you’re just helping the school, but it’s also really developing leadership too.”
She strongly felt that these opportunities helped develop her leadership skills that she currently
uses in her role as principal today. Similarly, Principal Hibiscus shared her strategy to build
leadership capacity in her teachers require “knowing their strengths and supporting them by
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providing them learning and leadership opportunities to develop and grow.” Principal Hibiscus
elaborated on her philosophy:
“Leadership is really key in ensuring people feel valued. They have to feel like they are a
part of leadership and that they have a role. They are a contributor. But you can’t expect
those things from people if you haven’t provided the opportunity to learn.”
As such, providing opportunities for growth has been a major strategy that principals and CASs
have used in Aloha Complex Area to build the next generation of leaders.
Providing Feedback through Mentoring and Coaching. Another reoccurring theme
was the importance of providing feedback through mentoring and coaching when building the
next generation of leaders. Seven of the eight participants acknowledged their principal playing a
significant role in mentoring them. Principal Hibiscus shared that throughout her educational
career that has spanned over three decades, in “every single position, my administrator was truly
supportive, mentored me, and took the time to talk and discuss. These are key things in building
leadership capacity.” VP Clover expressed that more than one administrator would mentor him
when he was a department head. His principal and vice principal at the time would meet with
him individually and talk him through situations and scenarios he faced with his department and
school. Now that VP Clover is an administrator, he uses this strategy with his teachers to
informally coach them to reflect on their teaching or to ask them, “What do you think you should
do? What else can you do at our school to show your leadership and your ability to lead and
make decisions and affect programs or achievement for students?”
CAS Marigold shared that when she was principal, she had a vice principal who aspired
to become a principal but had some major areas of growth. CAS Marigold explained how she
provided her vice principal feedback on her areas of strength and also areas that she needed more
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growth in. CAS Marigold stated to her vice principal that until those areas were developed, she
would not be able to handle a principalship. She told her vice principal, “I can’t consult you on
every discipline situation and you need to do more with content if you want to be principal.”
Soon after, there was an opportunity for CAS Marigold to go to district for six months, and her
vice principal stepped in as temporary principal for CAS Marigold. She instructed her vice
principal to not change anything and just maintain systems at the school, however, CAS
Marigold lamented, “Everything I said within a week I was gone began to deteriorate. Looking
back, I realized it was because she couldn’t handle it. She was not a principal. Some people are
just great number twos.”
At the district level, new principals are assigned formal mentors who are retired
principals. CAS Marigold shared when she first became a principal in Aloha Complex Area she
was assigned a mentor who was the former district superintendent. They would meet once a
month individually and as a group with other new principals for over a year. Now that she is
CAS, she works to coach all her principals to ensure they are working at their schools to build
leadership capacity. CAS Marigold revealed how she has had conversations with principals, “It
doesn’t seem like you have any leaders at your school. You have people who are in leadership
roles, but perhaps that’s why your school is not moving because you don’t have leaders.” Having
these conversations allows CAS Marigold to coach her principals on strategies to start
developing leaders at their school in order to impact student achievement.
Ms. Poppy was the only participant who shared she has never received any type of
mentoring or coaching from an administrator. Although she did not receive any mentoring, she
did express that she wished she had a mentor to “have someone to talk through the different
situations and get advice. I wish someone told me the things I would have to deal with as
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department head rather than finding out on my own.” Although Aloha Complex Area does have
both formal and informal systems for mentoring and coaching that have contributed to leadership
development, the data shows inconsistencies with its implementation that will be further
discussed in research question three.
Implementing Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs). Another way the Aloha
Complex Area has invested in opportunities for growth is through the implementation of
instructional leadership teams. For the past six years, every school in Aloha Complex Area has
an ILT comprised of administrators and teacher leaders. Every school’s ILT attends a quarterly
Complex Area ILT workshop designed to help schools make collaborative decisions that will
increase student achievement. The ILT structure also includes visiting other schools, conducting
classroom walk-throughs, and providing instructional feedback based on data. This provides
teachers the opportunity to conduct peer visits within their own school, and also visit other
schools to learn new instructional strategies to bring back to their own classroom or school.
DES Azalea describes ILTs as a way to “build teacher leadership and give teachers
opportunities to really hone their leadership skills and build capacity amongst each other.”
Principal Daisy explains that the ILT process is a “collaborative effort to use data to inform
practice around the school’s SMART goal” and provides involved individuals to understand how
school improvement is a “deliberate process to get good results by its design and best leverage
the right instruction to get results.” Teachers on their school’s ILT are given an opportunity to
demonstrate their leadership ability and learn the problem solving process. When DES Azalea
was principal, he would provide his teachers an option to be involved with ILT by alternating
membership on a yearly basis. He shared that by the time he left his principalship, 65% of his
teachers had the opportunity to be on the ILT. DES Azalea expressed, “Even though I tried
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giving teachers an opportunity to see what it’s like on the ILT, there is always some resistance,
but then there are teachers that thrive on opportunities like this.”
At the district level, CAS Marigold verbalized that she wanted to “have people who were
strong instructional leaders, who understood ILTs in the way we did business, in the
transparency, in the learning from each other.” She asserted, “ILTs are a way of helping to build
the capacity of our principals and our teacher leaders, and is our breeding ground for teacher
leaders.” Overall, the implementation of ILTs has provided a formalized structure for building
leadership capacity in teachers and administrators across the district, and is one way Aloha
Complex Area invests to provide opportunities for growth in potential and current leaders.
Identifying and Cultivating Potential Talent
The second major theme that emerged from the data was identifying potential leaders
within individual schools in Aloha Complex Area. Seven of the eight participants were identified
by their principal or complex area superintendent to enter administration, whereas one
participant self-initiated and asked her principal for his recommendation. All seven participants
identified by their principal or complex area superintendent shared they had no intention and had
never considered school administration prior to being asked.
Tapping and Planting the Seed. The participants who were tapped by their principal or
complex area superintendent also shared there were other mentors who encouraged them to
consider administration. Principal Daisy was encouraged by her university professor to go into
school leadership, CAS Marigold was identified prior to moving to Hawaii while she was
teaching in California, and Ms. Lily was rallied by one of her school’s educational consultants.
Ms. Lily shared she was relentlessly told to go into administration but she did not feel it was the
right time personally for her. Despite sharing her reservations, Ms. Lily was told by one of her
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mentors, “There’s never a right time. You just got to do it. You’re ready.” Upon reflection of
how she had developed leadership skills, Ms. Lily responded that her principal “always planted a
seed” by sending her to a conference and made her feel that it was her own idea for going rather
than the principal’s. Ms. Lily admitted that she learned this strategy from her principal and now
“plants seeds” with her principal and colleagues for certain ideas she wants to initiate on campus.
Prior to tapping an individual, a principal must identify certain qualities or characteristics
in a potential candidate. DES Azalea stated a potential candidate must have the “it” factor. DES
Azalea defined the “it” factor as:
“the qualities that make people look up to them because of who they are as a person.
They look at that person they can trust, they can build good relationships and then people
will follow. Also having those other set of skills of being able to communicate, being
organized, being a visionary. It comes town to the EQ, the emotional intelligence, and
relationship building. I look for people who will be respected when they walk onto a
campus because of their actions.”
Kouzes & Posner (2012) supports this notion and defines leadership as a relationship between
those who are leaders and those who choose to follow. DES Azalea has approached many
teachers to consider administration who he identified to have the “it” factor while he was
principal, but only one teacher actually accepted his recommendation to enter school
administration.
At the district level, CAS Marigold expects her principals to tap and plant the seed in
their teachers. She stated that Aloha Complex Area has increased leadership capacity throughout
recent years and principals were learning how to foster teacher leadership in their schools. CAS
Marigold looks for an individual’s “ability to lead people, not manage them. You can teach
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people skills to manage, but I’m looking for people who are leaders. There’s something innate in
people who are leaders.” CAS Marigold emphasized to her principals the importance of having
“direct conversations with teachers that you believe will be leaders. Either plant the seed, water
the seed, or harvest.” The strategy of planting, watering, and harvesting seeds for leadership
provides an ongoing cycle of leadership development in Aloha Complex Area. CAS Marigold
shared her concern that if principals do not tap their potential leaders, “Individuals will start
doubting their feelings about becoming a leader.” She stressed that most individuals do not view
themselves as leaders, and will gain self-confidence when they are explicitly told of their
leadership potential.
Formal Principal Recommendation. There is a formal system in place for individuals
who seek to enter the administration preparation program in Aloha Complex Area. Individuals
must receive principal recommendation, complete a portfolio reflecting leadership
accomplishments, complete a panel interview with their CAS and other educational officers, and
pass an intensive two-week summer training program prior to becoming a vice principal intern.
Once accepted, a candidate must successfully complete two years of internship before earning an
administrative credential. It is important to note that the entire process must start with a formal
principal recommendation. A candidate cannot enter the program without a formal principal
recommendation, which results in principals serving as the primary gatekeeper of who enters
school administration.
All participants in this study had received formal principal recommendations to enter the
administration preparation program, but some participants took longer than others due to
principals not perceiving the participant was prepared for administration at the time and needed
more leadership development. VP Clover was serving as temporary assigned vice principal at his
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school for two years before his principal formally recommended him to the administration
preparation program. VP Tuberose had approached her principal and made her intentions known
that she was interested in applying for the administrator preparation program, however, her
principal did not feel she was ready and wanted her to take on more leadership roles at her school
prior to his recommendation. Although he did not recommend her initially, VP Tuberose’s
principal gave her opportunities to grow and demonstrate her leadership skills for the next two
years before he officially recommended her into the administration preparation program. These
opportunities included becoming a member on the school’s ILT and assisting the curriculum
coordinator in order for her to gain leadership experience and take a balcony view perspective on
leadership.
Knowing Individuals’ Goals. Coaching and mentoring allows principals to get to know
the professional goals of their teachers. In preparing individuals for leadership, when DES
Azalea discovered one of his teachers was interested in administration, he gave her several
opportunities to shadow him. He would set up weekly meetings with the teacher to discuss
leadership. He also provided her “quality readings on leadership for her to reflect on and really
start changing the mindset of teacher-thinking versus leader-thinking.” Principal Hibiscus also
had the same philosophy with coaching and mentoring teacher leaders. She emphasized the
importance of observing and interacting with her teachers to get to know them, and “know the
quality of their work and know what their interests are and what their professional goals are or
whether or not they’re interested in leadership.” By knowing individual’s aspirations, the
mentoring and coaching conversations can be directed toward helping an individual achieve their
professional goals.
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VP Tuberose explained that when she first made her leadership aspirations known to her
principal, she knew she was not ready at the time to enter school administration. She shared she
wanted to “put the feelers out and find out more about what administration is and what
administrators do.” Her principal took the time to mentor her through weekly one-on-one
meetings and gave her opportunities in different roles to “get her feet wet and start to look at the
bigger picture” outside her role in the classroom. Now as a vice principal, VP Tuberose uses the
same mentoring approach when she was approached by a teacher that she felt was not ready to
enter the administrator program.
Identifying and cultivating potential talent is another strategy Aloha Complex Area has
used to build the next generation of leaders. Principals often tap teachers who they perceive to
have potential as future school administrators through casual conversations to encourage them to
consider entering administration. Principals also offer formal recommendations for individuals
to enter the administration program when they perceive the individual is ready for a new
leadership role. Another strategy used to identify and cultivate potential talent is through
mentoring and finding out an individual’s professional goals. These multiple ways of identifying
and cultivating potential talent in Aloha Complex Area have assisted individuals to consider
leadership roles and to expand the leadership pipeline.
Developing a Culture of Lifelong Learners
The third major theme that emerged from the data was the importance of developing a
culture of lifelong learners in the Aloha Complex Area. Seven out of eight participants have or
are working toward a Master’s degree or higher. All eight participants shared the importance of
growing through continuous professional development. The next section will present how the
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Aloha Complex Area develops a culture of lifelong learners through building a philosophy of
leadership and professional development.
Building a Philosophy of a Leadership. The annual 2015 Education Leadership
Institute, which is attended by all public school educational officers across the entire state, had a
theme of “we all are leaders and we all are learners.” Principal Hibiscus reflected on the
importance of this theme as it “says a lot because you build leadership capacity in schools, in
offices, in the organization not just in the adults but also the students.” The theme “we all are
leaders and we all are learners” was presented to the entire state and brought back to every
district, complex area, and school.
Principal Hibiscus emphasized the importance of having “a strong philosophy is terms of
what learning is all about and who are the learners.” She shared one of the goals at her school is
to recognize that all teachers are leaders. If there are teachers who are not ready to participate in
leadership roles, it is because they need more learning and experience themselves because “not
everybody is ready for leadership and not everybody is at the same level of experience.” From
her personal experience, she recounted that “in every single position I’ve ever been in, I’ve
learned something and I walked away being that much better, smarter, knowing much more and
having more experience.”
Kouzes and Posner’s (2012) transformational leadership model outlines how leaders
enable others to act towards the vision inspired and modeled by the leader for the success of the
organization. DES Azalea described that there are some people who just love to learn. He said,
“When I think about building succession, I think about modeling of my practice on a day to day
basis and seeing if people pick up on that to hopefully make them successful.” In Aloha
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Complex Area, and throughout the state, it is an expectation that everyone is a learner no matter
what position they hold and learning is an expectation of leadership.
Professional Development. Lifelong learners require opportunities for continuous
growth through professional development. Principal Hibiscus believes that school does not end
with just high school graduation or college, but it is continuous throughout an individual’s life.
She shared that she has the responsibility to support her all her teachers’ growth as it can directly
impact students. Principal Hibiscus asserts:
“If we’re going to have employees working at the school who are going to be high-
performing, committed, happy in their work, learning and caring about the students, then
we have to support teacher learning. If you don’t support teacher learning, how can you
really do it sincerely for your students? Those who are learning and happy in what
they’re doing and growing are going to be much more successful in their role as a
teacher. They will in turn be caring and compassionate and take the time to help
students.”
Because professional development for her teachers is a priority to Principal Hibiscus, she
often offers to lead trainings herself. She identifies who the leaders, or potential leaders, are at
her school and provides trainings to build the culture and climate of the school. Principal
Hibiscus emphasized, “You have to have a process where people can be involved and people can
share in the leadership.” This belief led Principal Hibiscus to conduct “three-day trainings every
summer on facilitative leadership for department heads so they understood the importance of
process and strategies.” The facilitative leadership trainings focused on the process of identifying
the need, problem analysis, problem solution, and a decision. Principal Hibiscus believes having
these processes in place allows for teachers to “bring their ideas to leadership, have
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representation on the school leadership, and allow communication and input to flow back down
to the different departments.” In addition to Principal Hibiscus leading faculty trainings, she
often has her teachers share data and take the lead on trainings because she believes “it’s best to
have the teachers do that because I want them to know they are teacher leaders.”
Principal Daisy shares a similar approach with professional development as Principal
Hibiscus. She tries to personalize and differentiate trainings for her teachers to provide them with
choices they feel would be most beneficial for their own professional growth. Principal Daisy
believes having her “own teachers informing each other about practice” is a powerful way to
build leadership capacity within her own school. She asks teacher leaders within her own school
to offer training sessions on professional development days based on their strengths. Some
training sessions included: integrating technology tools in instruction, differentiation, and
literacy strategies. When possible, she sends teachers to out-of-state trainings and her teachers
return and share what they learned with their colleagues. Principal Daisy asserts that “everyone
is a leader” at her school and she is always trying to distribute workshop information for her
teachers to attend.
At the district level, ongoing professional development is provided to principals and vice
principals. Most recently, in-depth training on coaching was provided to administrators and
academic coaches in Aloha Complex Area. DES Azalea shared at every principal’s meeting,
CAS Marigold would provide time for the principals to practice what they learned at the training
and give them opportunities to coach each other. Similarly, academic coach meetings in Aloha
Complex Area also had coaches share their experiences of coaching teachers at their schools.
DES Azalea shared that he had learned:
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“The most important gift I could have received is the skills of coaching and being able to
provide a heart-centered listening. I’ve learned how to better myself because it’s only
through heart-centered listening which you ask those critical questions, those open-ended
questions to really dig deep into the person that you’re working with so they can come up
with their new ‘aha’s’ or change their behavior and really feel ownership around that.”
Ms. Lily also valued professional development as a teacher. She shared that when her
school started introducing data teams, they “encouraged teachers to step up and do it and we
were provided with as much professional development as possible.” Ms. Lily revealed that every
teacher at her school received training on cognitive coaching, adaptive school leadership, and
Habits of Mind, which all resulted in being great learning opportunities for her and her
colleagues.
As a district resource teacher, Ms. Poppy works with Career and Technical Education
(CTE) coordinators from each high school in the district. Ms. Poppy works with each coordinator
on communicating and decision making with their department members and administrators, and
also mentors each coordinator to be academic coaches in order to help improve instruction in
each of their respective schools. She stated the importance of providing the coordinators
leadership training to utilize and bring back to their individual schools. Ms. Poppy believes part
of her role as the district resource teacher is to “build academic coaches and also try to build
them [coordinators] as leaders as well.” She expressed that she can see the difference between
teachers who have had and have not received any leadership training before. Ms. Poppy noted
through her professional experience that coordinators who had not received any leadership
training have difficulty working with their administrators and colleagues and difficulty
communicating effectively with adults both written and orally.
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Aloha Complex Area has worked to build the next generation of leaders by developing a
culture and philosophy of lifelong learners. This expectation of continuous learning is supported
through professional development at the school and district level for teachers and administrators.
Learning does not stop once an individual takes on a leadership position, but it is an expectation
that growth is continuous at all levels throughout an individual’s professional career.
Discussion of Research Question 1
Based on the findings of this study, Aloha Complex Area works to build the next
generation of leaders through investing in opportunities for growth, identifying and cultivating
potential talent, and developing a culture of lifelong learners. The importance of investing in
opportunities for growth is of significance because it provides structures for building leadership
capacity at all levels within the district regardless of a person’s position. Mentoring and coaching
is a strategy employed by the district regardless of the number of years of experience an educator
has. Providing various opportunities for growth aligns to transformational leadership theory by
investing and developing others to build leadership capacity throughout the organization
(Valentine & Prater, 2012).
The strategies utilized by Aloha Complex Area are similar to those found in previous
studies and validates previous research. Mentoring and coaching provides support to individuals
and is critical to the development of necessary knowledge, dispositions, behaviors and values
(Reyes, 2003). Providing teachers and administrators with professional development assist in
supporting leadership efforts within their schools (Furtick & Snell, 2013). In addition, selecting
potential talent who possess certain identified core competencies is found to be more significant
than traditional hiring criteria (Johnston et al., 2010). These strategies employed by Aloha
Complex Area in this study support past research on best practices to build leadership capacity.
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In order to build the next generation of leaders, school districts must be able to identify
potential talent to invest in. Criteria should be set in order to identify and tap into potential
candidates, however, no formalized set of criteria were found in Aloha Complex Area.
Alternatively, the CAS trusted principal recommendations of potential candidates referred to
enter school administration without set criteria outside of the recommendation form. Principal’s
referred candidates based on their own perception of the candidate’s leadership potential
displayed at their individual schools, without aligning the candidate’s potential to a standardized
set of criteria across the district.
Finally, developing a culture of lifelong learners within Aloha Complex Area has
attributed to the expectation of continuous learning. This philosophy aligns with one of Kouzes
and Posner’s (2012) transformational leadership model to inspire a shared vision. The hope of
instilling this culture of lifelong learning is for all educators to grow and develop their skills to
take on leadership roles. By supporting opportunities for professional development, all educators
will expand their knowledge and skills to become better teachers and better leaders.
Research Question 2:
What are the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the influences of those
practices?
The second research question examines the perceptions of the various stakeholders
regarding the influences of practices used in the Aloha Complex Area that builds the next
generation of leaders. This next section presents how teachers and administrators perceive the
practices of investing in opportunities for growth, identifying and cultivating potential talent, and
developing a culture of lifelong learners within Aloha Complex Area. Three themes emerged
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from teacher and administrator perceptions: systems for leadership development, increased
opportunities for professional development, and collective ownership in leadership development.
Systems for Leadership Development
The teachers and administrators agree that leadership capacity is built in multiple ways in
Aloha Complex Area. Established processes in place for leadership development and succession
provide systems for Aloha Complex Area to focus on building leadership capacity.
There were four systems for leadership development that emerged from the data: administrator
certification, ILT, teacher initiative, and succession.
Administrator Certification. Aloha Complex Area has a clear system in place for
individuals who are interested in becoming a school administrator. Both teachers and vice
principals were very aware of the requirements and processes to become a school administrator
in Aloha Complex Area. VP Clover shared his experience that the two-year administrator
program allowed him to “learn a lot of things. I took ideas from what we learned in the program
and applied it to my job.” The formalized system for administrator certification provides Aloha
Complex Area a structure to identify and train potential candidates to become tenured school
administrators.
Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs). All study participants agreed that ILTs, in one
way or another, have helped build leadership capacity within the district and is part of the
process for leadership development in Aloha Complex Area. Although some individuals shared
that the system does not have to specifically be called “ILT”, all participants agreed that having a
structure for collaborative decision making has led to leadership growth at their schools and
complex area. Ms. Poppy shared that she “does agree with having leadership teams and that it
builds leaders and gives people experience.” Consequently, ILTs provide a structure for
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leadership at the school-level and also complex-wide resulting in leadership development across
all of Aloha Complex Area.
Teacher Initiative. The principals and CAS viewed themselves as having the
responsibility to offer a variety of opportunities for growth but not to force it upon individuals.
Although individuals are often encouraged to take opportunities, it is ultimately is up to the
individual to make that decision. VP Clover shared how teachers are provided opportunities by
leading certain initiatives when they see a need at the school. When his administrative team or
the school’s leadership team shares an area of need, many of his teachers initiate and offer to
assist or lead initiatives in order to meet school needs. As an example, based on low English
Language Arts (ELA) assessment data, ELA teachers at VP Clover’s school initiated a school-
wide argumentative writing initiative so all departments are working to help students improve in
their writing. The school’s leadership team provides the system for addressing school needs and
allowing teachers to bring concerns and initiate solutions. Furthermore, VP Clover explained that
these opportunities are typically not assigned to teachers and individuals volunteer to take on
these leadership opportunities.
Ms. Lily shared how having systems in place at the school level allowed for teachers to
take initiative on school needs. She remembered an example of a colleague who noticed student
survey results displayed the need for students to feel more of a sense of belonging at their school.
Ms. Lily shared,
“He took it upon himself to start a grassroots committee to change our bell schedule and
incorporate an advisory class. He approached the leadership team with the survey data
and his ideas, and the leadership team supported his ideas. These things built us as
teacher leaders and we totally ran with it.”
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The systems in place at the school level allow for teachers to assess school needs and generate
solutions, which result in promoting a culture for teachers to take initiative and a process for
school improvement.
Succession. Although there is no formalized leadership succession plan in Aloha
Complex Area, administrators do consider succession and hope to select individuals from a
qualified applicant pool. VP Tuberose shared that her principal is “building the capacity within
[her] so either I can apply for her position when it becomes vacant, or get to a point where I’ve
learned all I can here and then apply to be a principal somewhere else in the district.” VP
Tuberose perceives that her principal is working to develop her leadership skills in order for her
to take on another leadership position in the future. As such, the perception of VP Tuberose is for
her to continue her professional journey and eventually become a principal. As succession occurs
in Aloha Complex Area, individuals step into different positions and ultimately continue their
leadership development in a different role. Ms. Poppy believes that anytime a “teacher is doing
something other than just teaching can be considered leadership preparation.” Ms. Poppy gave
examples of teachers working with data, accreditation, and academic plans as opportunities for
leadership development. Ms. Poppy’s current role as district resource teacher requires her to
work with multiple school administrators across the district. She shared that she feels individuals
who were solely classroom teachers prior to entering administration, without having had any
other leadership roles while teaching, were not well-rounded administrators and are more
challenging to work with due to a more narrow view on leadership. She shared,
“One of my pet peeves with the administrators I’ve worked with are the ones who have
had only experience being a classroom teacher. They weren’t well-rounded and they
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didn’t have experience in working with others or making decisions from a school-wide
point of view.”
Similarly, Ms. Lily shared being exposed to different situations and opportunities are what best
developed her leadership skills. “Having been department head, going through the National
Board process, being curriculum coordinator and accreditation coordinator are all positions I was
put in that exposed me to different things and required me to make decisions as a leader,” Ms.
Lily stated.
Conversely, there are challenges when succession does occur in Aloha Complex Area.
VP Clover shared how he felt his school had too many individuals move from teacher to
administration too quickly and left the school to pursue other administrative positions in the
district. The migration of strong leaders resulted in his school having to rebuild leadership
capacity in other individuals. He explained,
“I think the problem becomes when we slide a good person out of a certain position into a
leadership position like a department head or administration. Then we have to fill that
lowest position and it’s a major challenge to fill those positions. You have to make sure
those people are ready to fill in when we need them because you don’t always know
when it’s going to happen.”
Ms. Lily shared a similar challenge at her school. She expressed,
“We lost two strong teachers who went to private schools all in one year. Then six key
people left in the past five years to be administrators at other schools. Morale was down
because people were working harder without those key people. It was a growing time for
all of us, which was good that people had to step up and learn.”
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VP Clover and Ms. Lily’s challenges at their schools can be perceived as a double-edged sword.
On one hand, leadership capacity is being built as individuals are moving into leadership
positions, however, too much movement and succession too quickly leaves the school in a
challenging situation to ensure quality individuals are available to replace those vacancies.
Increased Opportunities for Professional Development
Aloha Complex Area holds monthly district principal, vice principal, and coordinator
meetings. In addition, quarterly Complex ILT meetings frequently have leadership training
embedded in the agenda for teachers and administrators. As an example, one Complex ILT
meeting agenda included training on cognitive coaching strategies with facilitative leadership.
Despite the leadership training offered by Aloha Complex Area, not all administrators perceived
the trainings to be sufficient in building leadership capacity. VP Clover expressed his perspective
that he “does not see vice principals in the complex area trying to develop each other into better
leaders or preparing each other for principalship.” Rather, he believes the monthly vice principal
meetings are mostly used to solve problems at their schools instead of developing and growing
leadership skills.
VP Clover stated, “Most of the trainings that helped me in my administrative role now
was through my Master’s program or ACE (Administrator Certification for Excellence) program,
not through district.” Similarly, Ms. Lily shared that professional development was offered more
for teachers in the past, but more recently, there are less opportunities to attend trainings with
budget constraints. Ms. Lily laments, “I think the district really needs to step up with that
[professional development]. Teachers can’t afford to go on their own, or they are just burnt out.”
Ms. Lily shared that she used to be able to attend several conferences both locally and
nationally. She elaborates how she learned a lot from these conferences and even presented at a
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few local and national conferences. Ms. Lily explained that developing lifelong learners is
important at her school and in the complex area. She shared, “It seems like all our principals are
really into empowering people and our CAS is always trying to nurture and build people and
push others to pursue their goals.” These perceptions of both administrators and teachers display
the desire for more professional development to be offered than what is currently being offered
in Aloha Complex Area.
Collective Responsibility for Leadership Development
Based on the several strategies Aloha Complex Area uses to build leadership capacity,
the data found that both teachers and administrators expressed a responsibility and ownership in
contributing to the leadership development in others. Regardless of the participant’s position, the
findings show collectively that the responsibility for leadership development cannot rest on one
individual or position. CAS Marigold expressed, “You have to have a plan for how you’re going
to develop leaders, and then you have to have partners who come alongside because it can’t just
be me.” Similarly, Principal Hibiscus reflected when she first became a high school principal that
“I cannot do this alone. I would need to build leadership capacity so that I wouldn’t end up
having to do it alone. It’s going to take more than just me.” VP Clover added,
“It’s important to have a leader support staff. Although the principal has to support
developing leaders, she has to also believe in a lot of other people to develop leaders too
because it can’t just be her doing it alone.”
As teachers, both Ms. Poppy and Ms. Lily shared how they have worked with their colleagues to
develop leadership skills. As a district resource teacher, Ms. Poppy is “working with my five
CTE coordinators to get them leadership training. I’m building them as academic coaches and
leaders too.” Ms. Lily relates,
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“It’s about motivating and enticing each other as teachers to get involved with school
initiatives like our Literacy Dream Team. We have to empower people and build leaders
within because I think it has to be a shared leadership opportunity.”
The findings conclude that all stakeholders in Aloha Complex Area have a sense of ownership
when it comes to building leadership capacity. None of the participants stated who was
responsible for developing leaders. It was clear that all participants, regardless of their position,
acknowledged their role and contributions toward building leadership capacity in others.
Discussion of Research Question 2
Based on the findings, perceptions of various stakeholders in Aloha Complex Area are
mostly aligned when it comes to investing in opportunities for growth, identifying and
cultivating potential talent, and developing a culture of lifelong learning. The significance of the
common perceptions among the various stakeholders indicates a strong alignment of strategies
and approaches to building leadership capacity within Aloha Complex Area. Johnson et al.,
(2010) asserts that recruiting and retaining leaders extends beyond the superintendent or
principal, but is also the responsibility of teacher leaders and staff because recruitment is
continuous. This study validates previous research on talent identification and recruitment as
data collected found that the responsibility of identifying and cultivating potential talent was the
responsibility of all educators despite their position.
Furthermore, the findings also examined the notion of shared responsibility when it
comes to building the next generation of leaders. Aloha Complex Area has worked to develop a
culture of lifelong learners, which has influenced the perceptions that both teachers and
administrators serve an important role in the development of the district’s leadership pipeline. By
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building a philosophy of shared leadership, all participants acknowledge the value of and
contribute toward the development of leaders.
Despite the common perceptions of the approaches to build leadership capacity between
teachers and administrators, it was evident there was a lack of formality in these strategies. It was
perceived that leadership opportunities should be provided and that individuals would take on
these projects or leadership roles based on their own initiative. The data showed Aloha Complex
Area had clear systems for leadership development through the administrator certification
program, ILT, and school processes for teacher initiative. In addition, leadership succession is
occurring in Aloha Complex Area, however, the challenges of rapid succession have posed a
problem for schools losing too many leaders in a short period of time.
Research Question 3:
What are the factors that both facilitate and inhibit the development and implementation
of strategies designed to build leadership capacity?
The third research question in this study investigates the factors that facilitate and inhibit
the development and implementation of strategies designed to build leadership capacity. There
were four themes that emerged from the data. These four overarching themes in response to the
final research question presented in the next section include: alignment within the complex area,
development of trust, lack of resources, and lack of intentionality and fidelity.
Alignment within the Complex Area
As evidenced by the data, having common beliefs and systems aligned throughout the
complex area facilitates the development of building leadership capacity. This alignment of
having common beliefs and philosophies throughout the complex area results in providing
common structures to prepare the next generation of leaders within the district. Aloha Complex
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Area uses their common belief of building leadership capacity and the structure of ILTs as a
vehicle to facilitate the development of leaders.
Common Belief of Building Leadership Capacity. All study participants acknowledged
the importance of building leadership capacity within Aloha Complex Area. Having this shared
belief facilitates the implementation of strategies to build leadership capacity at the school,
district, and even state level. The state’s motto of “everyone is a leader and everyone is a
learner” assists with setting the expectation that all individuals have the capacity to be a learner
and leader. The expectation is for all individuals at all levels of the organization – from the
students to the state superintendent. VP Clover articulates this alignment:
“I believe everyone is trying to build good leaders in the state and district and complex
areas. It gets talked about a lot, but in terms at our school, we really focus on that. It’s not
a byproduct. We need to develop leaders because we need people to help lead the
school.”
Having a common belief of building leadership capacity facilitates the ability to focus on
strategies to achieve the goal of developing leaders for schools, districts, and the state. As VP
Clover shared, the leadership at his school is not a byproduct, but was intentionally created for
the purpose out of necessity for school improvement. Principal Daisy shares her strategy she uses
at her school:
“My goal is to use high leverage practices to help provide opportunities for individuals to
learn and build capacity around leadership and school improvement. Through time, there
will be a whole room full of people that are popping up as leaders.”
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School and district leaders use several approaches to build leadership capacity, however, sharing
the common belief and importance of building leadership capacity facilitates the implementation
of strategies throughout the district.
ILT Model. The ILT model is an aligned structure found at every school in Aloha
Complex Area. This alignment facilitates the development of leaders in the district by sharing
common language, vision, and goals. Every school in Aloha Complex Area worked with their
ILT to develop their school’s SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) goal
and powerful instructional practice (PIP). Together as a complex area, all schools come together
to share their progress and professional learning cycle through school improvement data. With
all schools having an ILT, every principal at each school is able to identify leaders within their
ILT. Principal Daisy shares that the ILT “allows a principal to look at who wants to lead, who’s
good at leading, and bringing your team together and then practice leading and see who’s
emerging from that group.” DES Azalea concurs by stating, “I think we have a good structure
through ILT to build teacher leaders.”
Observation data also aligned with participant interview data. At a quarterly complex
area ILT meeting with all schools in attendance, the CAS shared in her closing remarks that
everyone in the room is a leader because they are serving on their ILT. She stated, “Now, we
have over 100 leaders and teachers with ILT. With this shared leadership, I know that leadership
will continue on when I’m no longer in this position.” Ultimately, the data finds that the
alignment of the ILT process within Aloha Complex Area facilitates leadership development
particularly in teachers.
The alignment of a common belief of building leadership capacity and ILT model in
Aloha Complex Area has facilitated the development of leadership capacity. By aligning
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resources and district-wide initiatives, each school has been able to work towards their goals
collectively. All participant perceptions on the importance of building leadership capacity were
aligned, and therefore, having common understandings, processes, language and goals facilitate
building leadership capacity in Aloha Complex Area.
Development of Trust
The second theme that facilitated the development and implementation of strategies
designed to build leadership capacity was the development of trust. The strategies Aloha
Complex Area used to build leadership capacity required trust within each ILT for collaborative
decision making. In addition, providing teacher opportunities to lead initiatives also requires
administrators to release control and trust teacher leaders.
Aloha Complex Area’s ILT process encourages teachers to take the lead on school
initiatives and decision making. VP Clover shares an example where his school is focusing on a
school-wide argumentative writing initiative. He shares, “We’ve allowed control to go to the
teachers. They’re just going with it. It’s really going well and I’m super impressed with our
teacher leaders.” Conversely, Ms. Poppy shared her perspective about the need for trust:
“A lot of times, our leaders are leaders for a reason because they are control people.
They do everything. They like everything their way. But often times we wait too long to
let go of that control and letting others run with it. We wait until they are an administrator
to let them run with it.”
Ms. Poppy’s teacher perspective demonstrates that teachers are eager to take the lead on
initiatives and the development of trust is critical in order to implement strategies that build
leadership capacity.
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One way Aloha Complex Area allows teachers to build leadership skills is to participate
in the collaborative decision making process through ILTs, which requires trust between all
members within the ILT. Principal Hibiscus explains “school improvement is about
implementing a collaborative process because you can’t do it by yourself.” School improvement
cannot be achieved solely by the principal, therefore, it is critical to engage others in the
collaborative decision making process to help make the right decisions for the school. Trust is a
major required component in an ILT in order for tasks to be delegated and decisions can be made
collaboratively. VP Clover explained, “You have to let teachers run with it and release control.
You have to trust in the collaborative process even though it may not happen exactly how you
want it to go.” In addition, school teams must trust members to follow through on decisions,
keep certain discussions confidential, and believe decisions made are with the intent that is best
for the school and not the individual. The development of trust is a major factor that facilitates
the implementation of strategies designed to build leadership capacity in Aloha Complex Area.
With the development of trust, school leaders are able to offer a collaborative decision making
process, and relinquish control to allow teachers to take the lead on certain tasks.
Lack of Resources
One theme that inhibited the development and implementation of strategies designed to
build leadership capacity was the lack of resources. The challenges of insufficient time, money,
and people have hindered the ability for Aloha Complex Area to fully meet the needs of
leadership development.
Time. Time is limited in Aloha Complex Area due to the teacher contractual work hours
and also a shortened summer. These limitations impact the ability to provide more professional
development for teachers. The Hawaii State Teacher’s Association limits a teacher’s workday to
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seven hours a day, with most workdays ending at 3:00 p.m. Ms. Lily recalls how contractual
limitations can pose a challenge when fellow teachers are not willing to work past their contact.
She recalls one teacher arguing with her when she was trying to schedule a meeting to plan a
teacher training. He told Ms. Lily, “You can’t call a meeting. It’s not during our contractual
time.” In addition, shortened eight-week summer breaks also limit the opportunities to plan
professional development trainings and the interest for teachers to attend. Ms. Lily laments,
“Our summers got shorter and shorter, so when we tried to offer trainings in the summer, people
were burnt out and just wanted to relax on their summer break.” Shorter summers also led to
condensing the amount of time administrators have to close out the school year and prepare for
the new school year.
Money. Funding limitations have had a clear negative impact in Aloha Complex Area.
With decreasing student enrollment, schools are finding less flexibility with money to provide
training sessions for teachers. In an effort to be fiscally responsible, many schools in Aloha
Complex Area have kept trainings locally rather than sending teachers to out-of-state training.
However, there is recognized value to sending individuals to out-of-state training according to
Ms. Lily. She shared how important professional development is to her and her colleagues:
“If you offer professional development for your professional teachers, you need to treat
them as professionals and pay them for it. Our principal would pay us a stipend if we
went to trainings over the summer. Professional development really helped support the
teachers, but it’s so hard to get that professional development to our teachers now with
the lack of funding and the opportunities are just less now.”
The lack of both time and money has inhibited the ability for Aloha Complex Area schools to
provide more professional development for individuals. Ms. Lily expressed,
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“This is a department issue because the funding has been such garbage and professional
development opportunities for our teachers is seriously lacking. We used to go to these
amazing conferences like AVID every summer. One year, we sent 22 teachers to an
AVID Conference and the conversations we had as a faculty after we can back really
focused on improving student engagement strategies. It was really valuable to my own
personal growth.”
Although most individuals understand school’s limitations with time and money, these obstacles
pose a discouragement for those who are really interested in continuous professional learning.
People. Another deficient resource that inhibits the implementation of strategies to build
leadership capacity is lack of willing people. Ms. Lily laments, “that most teachers are too
stressed and burnt out to want to step up and take on a new role.” With many teachers working in
survival mode, the reality is that some teachers do not have any interest in administration and
just want to remain classroom teachers. Principal Hibiscus shared that she has several veteran
teachers at her school who enjoy the classroom and have no interest to go into administration.
She empathizes, “They just want to teach and that’s ok. They are still leaders in their
department.”
The challenge of not having enough people who are willing to move into school
administration poses a threat to developing a leadership pipeline. CAS Marigold shares, “You
can have a succession plan, but it’s always up to that individual person.” Similarly, DES Azalea
concurs, “The challenging part is really finding the people who are willing to step out of their
comfort zone and really make that leap into educational administration and becoming future
administrators.” A district can develop and implement various strategies to build leadership
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capacity, however, these efforts will be useless without willing individuals to take on the
challenge of leadership.
Lack of Intentionality and Fidelity with Random Acts of Support
The final theme that inhibits the development and implementation of strategies designed
to build leadership capacity in Aloha Complex Area is the lack of intentionality and fidelity with
random acts of support. Although Aloha Complex Area uses several strategies to build
leadership capacity, the data found most strategies were randomly implemented based on the
individual’s perceptions. As an example, DES Azalea provided his perspective on Aloha
Complex Area’s professional development trainings:
“It was just a random act. You go to a meeting, hear a few principals speak, but there was
no follow up. So it goes back to the ability to provide time, to provide feedback and
coaching. I think that’s the two things I would really emphasize.”
There is sufficient evidence to support strategies of mentoring and coaching, providing and
creating opportunities to build leadership skills, offering professional development, and
identifying and cultivating talent in Aloha Complex Area, however, the data found these
strategies were not necessary implemented with fidelity. Ms. Poppy shares:
“A challenge that hinders building leadership capacity is not being intentional about it. I
don’t feel like that’s a discussion. It’s not forefront on an administrator’s mind. If it’s not
forefront to build leaders, then you’re not going to be intentional about it. I think Aloha
Complex Area, and any complex area, needs to do a needs assessment. What do we need
and then from that, you develop your vision or goals. If leadership is one of those needs,
then they need things in place.”
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Similarly, DES Azalea also noted that mentoring and coaching seemed to be mostly surface-level
conversations being had with teachers rather than critical conversations. All study participants
acknowledged the importance of mentoring and coaching to provide feedback for professional
growth, yet the evidence supports a lack of intentionality and consistency with these efforts.
Despite being assigned a mentor who would meet with DES Azalea once a month, the time spent
during the mentoring session was more for venting and sharing his problems. He laments:
“I was pretty much left to sink or swim in my first two years as principal. They had a new
principal’s academy and some formal trainings, but there was really no follow-up or
feedback or coaching. I think that’s what is lacking in my experience going through the
system that I didn’t have a consistent coach to help me through the process.”
Similarly, Ms. Poppy also wished she had a mentor who would have helped her during her initial
years as a beginning teacher taking on a department head role. She shared:
“What am I supposed to be doing as a leader? What does a leader mean? I was always
confused on what was my role. That was a barrier for me. I think being put into a position
and not having time with an administrator, both at the school and district level because I
really don’t spend a lot of time with my direct administrator.”
Additionally, VP Clover shared his unconscious efforts of mentoring a teacher who he felt had
potential to be a future administrator: He shared how mentoring the teacher “definitely wasn’t
conscious, but it did happen. We talked a lot about what I have to do as an administrator.”
The data supports that Aloha Complex Area views building leadership capacity as a priority,
however, the strategies to accomplish this objective are implemented inconsistency without
intentionality through random acts of support.
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With formal leadership preparation programs such as the Teacher Leader Academy,
Certification Institute for School Leaders, and the Principal Academy offered in Aloha Complex
Area, the research found that there are still are areas of need in leadership development within
the complex area. DES Azalea asserts:
“Systematically we have to change the structure of how support is provided for teacher
and new administrators. Principals are mentors and need to become better coaches and
carve out the necessary time to help these leaders become successful. I didn’t feel like I
got the right support when I first started my principalship.”
Although DES Azalea acknowledges that Aloha Complex Area has a good structure to identify
teacher leaders through ILTs, he reflects, “I think we need to get better at cultivating leaders. I
mean it’s one thing to identify them, but the bigger piece is how do we support them to become
successful.” The belief of needing more comprehensive systems of support in Aloha Complex
Area is shared by both administrators and teachers. Ms. Poppy believes:
“From a district point of view, there needs to be systems in place to train administrators.
How are we going to develop a system and how are we going to train teachers to become
leaders? I’ve learned in trying to build the people I work with requires being very
intentional and having a system in place to let them take the lead.”
The importance of intentionality when developing leaders is clearly evidenced in the
data. Ms. Poppy shared as a teacher, she found the biggest impact in leadership development
with her and her department was when they worked with an outside consultant. There was an
extra support person to guide the department, however, she shared they met only two to three
times a year for half a day. Although the school brought in a consultant to work with
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departments, the infrequency of their meeting sessions is evidence of schools implementing
random acts of support.
Clear Criteria for Talent Identification. The data supported the lack of clear criteria for
talent identification in Aloha Complex Area. Without set criteria for talent identification,
individuals are basing their recommendations on their own perceptions. The lack of intentionally
selecting potential talent in a systematized manner across the complex area results in inconsistent
ways of recruiting potential talent, and ultimately, the recommendation of leadership candidates
who possess an inconsistent set of skills and knowledge. My Poppy questions how administrators
select individuals in the district since there is no set system:
“There needs to be a system on identifying who your future or current leaders would be.
Why do we choose a grade level chair or department head? Is it because they’re the most
seasoned person? They’re the most organized person? They have great relationships? Or
have they expressed interest in leadership? I don’t feel like we really have those
conversations with them and it’s not intentional.”
In addition to not having set criteria for talent identification, the concern of needing a stronger
system of support is expressed by DES Azalea. He shares that Aloha Complex Area needs to
improve on cultivating talent. DES Azalea states, “It’s one thing to identify them, the bigger
piece is how to support them to become successful. Find the right people with the right qualities
and the right mindset, and then build the skills after.” He believes there is a set of foundational
criteria to identify talent, and that systems of support are necessary to continue building skills
after the talent has been identified.
This study found that promising practices of developing and implementing strategies to
build leadership capacity consisted of aligning initiatives throughout the complex area and
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developing trust between individuals. The alignment within the complex area assists with
ensuring all schools are working to build leaders through the ILT model and the importance of
lifelong learning. Furthermore, trust is essential to a collaborative decision making process and
building teacher leadership, however, the lack of resources and intentionality has hindered the
ability for Aloha Complex Area to build leadership capacity through limiting the professional
development efforts and trying to improve through random acts of support.
Discussion of Research Question 3
Complex area alignment and the development of trust are both factors that facilitate the
development and implementations of strategies to build leadership development. The alignment
of initiatives across all schools within Aloha Complex Area allow for more opportunities to be
available for professional growth through ILTs, common professional development, and a
common philosophy of lifelong learning. The development of trusting relationships was evident
throughout the district at all levels. As advocated in existing literature, trusting relationships
support individual growth and development along with allowing collaborative decision-making
to occur in high-trust school (Hitt et al., 2012; Wahlstrom & Louis, 2008). This study validates
previous research on the positive impacts trust has with shared leadership and justifies the
importance of development of trusting relationships to build leadership capacity in others.
The lack of resources and lack of intentionality with random acts of support are both
factors that inhibit the implementation of strategies to build leadership capacity. Although Aloha
Complex Area uses several strategies to develop leadership capacity, these strategies are
implemented with inconsistency and often without fidelity. In respect to identifying and
cultivating potential talent, there were no common or formalized set criteria for identifying
individuals with potential talent. Teachers and administrators used their own criteria to tap into
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individuals without any formal guidelines. The importance of intentionality is reflected in
research by Fink and Brayman (2006) and Hargreaves (2005), who assert that thoughtful
succession plans can directly sustain school improvement and recommend that all schools should
have a leadership succession plan that is included in their school improvement plan. This study
validates previous literature and emphasizes the importance of identification and recruitment of
potential talent as a first step to build a leadership pipeline. In addition, this study validates the
need of more thoughtful succession planning in order to strengthen leadership cultures within
districts. Additionally, there is a clear need to develop a more distinguished leadership pipeline
in Aloha Complex Area through explicit and intentional acts of support.
Summary
This chapter discussed the study’s findings and was organized by research question. The
results indicate that Aloha Complex Area uses several strategies to build the next generation of
leaders that align with previous literature. Aloha Complex Area has been able to develop a
leadership pipeline by investing in opportunities for growth, identifying and cultivating potential
talent, and developing of culture of lifelong learning. Both teachers and administrators share
similar perceptions regarding the influences of the practices used to build leadership capacity. In
addition, this study found that alignment and development of trust within the complex area also
facilitated the implementation of strategies to build leadership capacity. The results of this study
indicate that the lack of resources and intentionality have inhibited the ability to implement the
strategies to develop leadership capacity effectively. The lack of intentionality has led to random
acts of support, which lead to inconsistent implementation of strategies and results. The next
chapter will examine the implications of these findings and offer suggestions for future research
on building leadership capacity.
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CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION
Building leadership capacity is critical to long-term success of a system district and
ensuring the development of quality leaders must be a priority. Educational leadership has
evolved dramatically over the last century as the role of administrators has gone from being
operational managers to transformational leaders. With a current leadership shortage, school
districts are left struggling to find effective and willing leaders to lead schools. Without the
development of quality leaders and willingness of individuals to step into leadership positions,
overall student learning and achievement will be negatively affected.
Many school districts face a succession challenge and few districts have formal
succession plans in place to ensure the next generation of school leaders. As school districts
struggle to find ways to attract and retain leaders, it is critical for school districts to identify and
implement promising practices that build leadership capacity.
Purpose of the Study
School districts have an important role to play in developing the pipeline of future
leaders. Having both leadership development and succession plans are critical to creating a
leadership pipeline. Without these contingency plans, districts may face the problem of not
having willing and qualified individuals to fill leadership vacancies. Developing leadership
pipelines are important because effective leadership can have a positive impact on the success of
students, teachers, and overall student achievement. Due to these benefits of effective leadership,
it is critical to examine the promising practices of building leadership capacity.
The purpose of this study is to explore promising practices within a K-12 school district
that identifies and develops both potential and current leaders through a continuous leadership
pipeline. The goal of this study is to examine the strategies employed by a school district that has
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effectively developed a succession management system to ensure a talent pool of qualified
candidates with the skills and competencies are able to lead and contribute to the future needs of
its organization. The following research questions guided this study:
1. In what ways does Aloha Complex Area work to build the next generation of leaders?
2. What are the perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the influences of
those practices?
3. What are the factors that both facilitate and inhibit the development and
implementation of strategies designed to build leadership capacity?
Data collection for this study was conducted through a series of interviews, observations, and
artifact collections centered on the research questions. Interviews and observations provided the
best data to answer all research questions for this study. The collection of artifacts also provided
supplemental data to triangulate results for research question number one and three.
Summary of the Findings
The previous chapter examined the study’s findings outlined by each research question.
The results indicate that Aloha Complex Area uses several informal and formal strategies to
build the next generation of leaders. Despite the multiple strategies employed by the district, the
findings indicate the need for increased intentionality of the strategies utilized to develop
leadership capacity. Moreover, the findings also suggest further systems in Aloha Complex
Area’s leadership pipeline need to be developed in the area of talent identification. Finally, it is a
shared responsibility that all educators within Aloha Complex Area play a role in building
leadership capacity.
The study findings indicate the importance of implementing several strategies with
fidelity in order to facilitate leadership growth and development. Aloha Complex Area’s formal
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strategies for leadership development include ILTs at every school, principal recommendations
into school administration, and professional development. The ILT process works to ensure
every school has an instructional focus and goal to achieve collaboratively. Waters and Marzano
(2006) support the importance of district-level leadership significantly impacting student
achievement through collaborative and non-negotiable goal setting for student achievement and
classroom instruction. The implementation of ILTs in Aloha Complex Area has allowed teacher
leaders an opportunity to set, monitor and assess instructional outcomes at their own schools,
which also provides them an opportunity to develop their leadership skills.
Similarly, Aloha Complex Area’s informal strategies to build leadership capacity
included providing various leadership opportunities for individuals, tapping potential talent, and
discovering the professional goals of an individual. As teachers consider transitioning into school
leadership, it is necessary to prepare individuals for the steep learning curve that comes with
moving from the classroom to administration. To prepare for the steep learning curve, this
study’s findings aligned with Hitt et al. (2012) who asserts leadership preparation and knowledge
is gained through lived experience in leadership roles. As such, all eight participants have held
prior leadership roles as department head or leader on a school project, initiative, or event.
Although formal leadership preparation programs do serve a purpose in administrative training,
the findings in this study acknowledge the importance for individuals to gain leadership skills
through lived experiences.
Another finding from this study revealed the importance of intentionality when
implementing strategies to build leadership capacity. Although Aloha Complex Area works to
build their next generation of leaders using multiple strategies, not all approaches were
implemented with intentionality, which may have impacted the effectiveness of the strategy.
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Specifically, the data revealed inconsistencies with implementation of mentoring and coaching in
the district. The perceptions of the study’s stakeholders varied when it came to their experiences
with mentoring and coaching. Participant responses ranged from not having received any
mentoring or coaching to having a strong mentor significantly impacting leadership growth and
development. Research supports the need for intentional mentoring and coaching for both
teachers and current administrators to continue their professional development. Johnston et al.
(2010) states that mentors should frequently monitor the growth and progress of their mentee
toward the achievement of their personal development goals. Further research from Hitt et al.
(2012) also asserts “an intentional and mindful approach to supporting the development of
educational leaders is critical to those who aspire to educational leadership and those who
comprise the ranks of current administrative positions” (p. 1). The need for consistent,
intentional and quality mentoring and coaching can be further developed to strengthen leadership
growth within Aloha Complex Area’s leadership pipeline.
In regard to the systems, the study findings indicated current systems in Aloha Complex
Area’s leadership pipeline should be further developed in the area of talent identification. The
study found that talent identification is based on the perceptions and recommendations of school
principals without set criteria. Although most schools do not have a formal recruitment process
in place (Grunow, Horng & Leob, 2010), creating clear criteria and systems for identifying
potential talent can benefit the development of Aloha Complex Area’s leadership pipeline.
Myung et al. (2011) affirms that districts with effective leadership pipelines identify potential
talent early and provide them with necessary leadership development opportunities. School
districts will also be more likely to attract quality candidates if explicit criteria on how
effectiveness is defined and job requirement expectations (Johnston et al., 2010).
BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY IN K-12

104

Lastly, the data found that building leadership capacity it is a shared responsibility of all
educators within Aloha Complex Area. From the CAS level to teacher level, participants shared
ways in which they have worked to build leadership capacity in others. CAS Marigold stressed
the importance to “have a plan for how you’re going to develop leaders, and then you have to
have partners who come alongside because it can’t just be me.” The study also found that
teachers encouraged each other to take leadership positions and worked to develop each other as
leaders. In addition, the ILT model that requires collaboration and shared leadership provides
another venue where leadership development becomes the responsibility of all and not just the
principal or CAS.
Implications for Practice and Policy
The findings from this study have implications for educators and policymakers working
to build a leadership pipeline. Although several approaches to building leadership capacity can
be identified, it is unclear which strategy is the most effective because it was not measured as
part of the research study. Educators and policymakers may find the implications of this study
helpful for building leadership capacity across a school district.
The study suggested the importance of intentionality when implementing strategies for
leadership development and growth. Although districts juggle multiple priorities, leadership
development should be one of the major priorities for districts to ensure qualified individuals can
fill future leadership vacancies. It is critical for districts and school leaders to be strategic and
proactive toward strengthen leadership pipelines. To reinforce the need for intentionality,
formalized mentoring and coaching should be instituted throughout the district and offered
continuously throughout an educator’s career. As such, academic coaching should be offered to
all teachers who are identified as potential talent by principals to focus on leadership
BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY IN K-12

105

development. Furthermore, it is critical to provide quality mentoring and coaching in order for
individuals to reflect, analyze, and assess their own learning. Additionally, if principals are to be
mentors to teachers, principals also will require extensive training on effective coaching and
providing quality feedback. Although mentoring and coaching is offered to some degree in
Aloha Complex Area, a more formalized and continuous plan to provide quality feedback to
educators is needed.
The data also found that all educators perceived a shared responsibility in building
leadership capacity in the district, which is a significant attribute of transformational leadership.
With all educators taking ownership of their role impacting leadership growth and development
of others, it is critical to provide meaningful professional development through proper trainings
on leadership and leadership building. Although there are various professional development
opportunities offered, targeted training on leadership development should be offered to teachers
and administrators. Leadership trainings should also be continuous with follow up sessions
throughout the year, rather than one-time workshops, in order for individuals to continue
learning and practicing implementing new strategies.
Lastly, the study also concluded further talent identification criteria should be developed
in the leadership pipeline. Although there are systems in place to recommend individuals into the
administrative preparation program, there also should be clear and set criteria for talent
identification. Principals currently are the gatekeepers for individuals entering the administrative
preparation program, and formal recommendations are based on each principal’s perception on
whether an individual is ready or not for the administrative preparation program. This can pose a
problem with principal bias towards a potential applicant interested in entering the program and
possibly develop inconsistent candidates into the applicant pool. Without clear and set criteria to
BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY IN K-12

106

determine how potential candidates would be deemed “ready”, individuals who enter the
program will possess inconsistent knowledge, skills, and attributes. It is recommended that
school districts consider this study’s findings and apply the implications for practice to
strengthen leadership pipelines.
Recommendations for Future Study
This study examined the strategies, perceptions of stakeholders, and factors that facilitate
and inhibit leadership development within a K-12 school district. Attempts were made to collect
thorough data to answer the study’s research questions, however, additional questions emerged
during data collection and analysis that were unable to be addressed as a result of time
limitations and limitations based on participant responses. The next section provides
recommendations for future study.
The participants in this study included a superintendent, a district educational officer,
principals from an elementary, middle, and high school, vice principals from an elementary and
high school, and teachers from high school and district. Although their responses do provide
strategies and perceptions in which Aloha Complex Area builds the next generation of leaders, it
would be worthwhile to conduct a mixed-methods study to include more participant perspectives
based on the findings of this study to make it more generalizable. Similarly, it is also
recommended to conduct a cross-analyses study on multiple school districts within the same
state as Aloha Complex Area. Although the findings suggest ways leadership capacity is built
and factors that facilitate and inhibit the development of these strategies in Aloha Complex Area,
it would be worthwhile to compare the findings with the other districts in the state. The findings
from this recommended study could provide strategies on how to improve developing and
retaining leaders across the state. It would also be important to compare factors that impede
BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY IN K-12

107

strategies for leadership development across multiple districts for the state and policymakers to
develop strategies to approach these obstacles. In addition, it would be worthwhile to further this
study’s findings by examining the effectiveness of each promising practice used in building
leadership capacity throughout a school district. This recommended study would provide school
districts the most effective strategies to use for strengthening a leadership pipeline to further
develop leaders within a district.
Finally, the findings from this study suggest the strategies used to build leadership
capacity in Aloha Complex Area prepare individuals to step into leadership roles. As such, these
strategies need to be studied over a longer period of time to determine if individuals are prepared
or are successful in their new leadership positions. Due to the time limitations of this study, a
future qualitative longitudinal study is recommended to explore the effectiveness of leaders when
they step into new leadership positions. It would be important to examine the quality and
preparedness of these leaders as they move from leadership position to the next.

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Appendix A
Participant Recruitment Letter

Dear Participant,

You are cordially invited to participate in this study because of your position in an organization
with promising leadership practices. I am a doctoral candidate in the Rossier School of
Education at the University of Southern California completing my dissertation. The purpose of
the study is to examine your organization’s leadership capacity building which will contribute to
understanding best practices and to assist other organizations looking to strengthen their
leadership development.

This study will address the following research questions:

1. In what ways does the organization work to build the next generation of leaders?

2. What are the perceptions of stakeholders regarding the influence of those practices?

3. What are the factors that both facilitate and inhibit the development and implementation
of strategies designed to build leadership capacity?

Your participation is voluntary and at any time you may stop or withdraw from the study without
any consequences. Any identifiable information about you will be kept confidential at all times
during and after the study.

Your participation in this study will consist of the following during an 8 week period:

1) 45 minute interview
2) Observations in meetings, trainings, and field visits

If you have any questions or would like to participate, please contact me at ____.

Thank you for your consideration to participate in this study. Your input and contributions are
vital to the success of this study about promising leadership practices.

RESEARCHER NAME
Doctoral Candidate- Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California

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Appendix B
Interview Protocol for Administrators

Organization’s Name _______________________________________
Participant’s Name _______________________________________
Title of Participant _______________________________________
Location _______________________________________
Interviewer _______________________________________
Time Start_______ End_______ Total_____________

Administration:

I’d like to ask you some questions about your experience as a leader.

1. Tell me about your role in the organization.

2. What is your organization’s mission and vision?

3. Tell me about your experience as an administrator.

4. What or who influenced you the most to apply for a leadership role in this organization?

5. Tell me about how your organization prepared you for your administrative role.

Now, I’d like to ask you some questions about leadership succession planning.

6. What is your organization’s philosophy/belief about leadership capacity building?

7. What does a succession plan look like in your organization?
Probe: How is the succession plan implemented?

8. Are there any challenges to implementing your succession plan and what are they?

9. What kind of formal and informal leadership opportunities are available at your
organization?

10. How does your organization identify the next generation of leaders?

11. When you are thinking about tapping a leader what characteristics/qualities are you
looking for?

12. When you notice an individual who has those qualities, what do you do?

13. How do you support an individual who is not ready for a leadership position but is
interested?

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14. Are there any individuals that have stepped into a leadership role in the last two years? If
so, how many?

15. Given the succession pipeline right now, what are some changes you might implement?

16. What do you envision those changes to look like?

17. As we finish up this interview, I want to ensure that I understand your experiences with
leadership succession. I would like to provide you an opportunity to share anything you
feel is important about building leadership capacity internally that I have not asked.

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Appendix C
Interview Protocol for Teacher Leader/Community Member

Organization’s Name _______________________________________
Participant’s Name _______________________________________
Title of Participant _______________________________________
Location _______________________________________
Interviewer _______________________________________
Time Start_______ End_______ Total_____________

Teacher Leader/Community Member:

I’d like to ask you some questions about your experience as a leader.

1. Tell me about your role in the organization.

2. What is your organization’s mission and vision?

3. Tell me about your organization’s philosophy/belief about leadership capacity building.

4. How does your organization prepare leaders for administrative roles?

5. What opportunities of formal and informal leadership activities are available at your site?

6. How is it communicated to you?

7. What kind of support or opportunities have you received to pursue a leadership role or in
your current leadership position?

8. Who has been the most influential in helping you to develop in your role and how have
they assisted you in your development?

9. What traits and characteristics do you feel you possess in your leadership role?

10. Where do you see yourself in five years?

11. How do you plan to achieve these goals?

12. What changes do you feel should be implemented to build leadership capacity in your
organization?

13. What do you envision those changes to look like?

14. What do you feel are the challenges that hinder leadership opportunities in your
organization?
BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY IN K-12

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15. What are some barriers you faced when you transitioned into a leadership role?

16. What are some areas of growth you might want to focus on for your personal leadership
development?

17. As we finish up this interview, I want to ensure that I understand your experiences with
leadership. I would like to provide you an opportunity to share anything you feel is
important about building leadership capacity internally that I have not asked.

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Appendix D
Observation Protocol

Organization Name _______________________________________
Type of Observation _______________________________________
Location _______________________________________
Participants _______________________________________
Time Start_______ End_______ Total_____________

Observation Field Notes:

1. Describe the physical setting. Include the arrangement of the furniture and represent all
participants in the picture. Please describe the physical setting and description of
participants. Total number of participants:_________

What are you looking for? Researcher Notes
• What does the
environment look like?

• Physical set up?

• How are the people
grouped?

• Who is leading?

• What is the agenda?

• Time intervals on each
topic?

• Diversity/gender/age/
ethnicities

• Attire of participants?

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2. Focus on the interaction between the leader and others. Write a narrative of the observed
interactions/behaviors and record verbatim of the conversations. Be sure to time stamp all
events, approximately every 10 minutes.

Time What are you
looking for?
Researcher Notes
• Context of
interaction?
(Hallway
conversation,
informal/formal,
etc.)

• Noteworthy
interactions

• Engagement of
Participants- How
actually engage
are participants?

• Tone of the
meeting (energy)

• Verbal/non-verbal
communication

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Post Observation Field Notes Reflection
Think about what happened during the observation that was not documented. Did the leader say
or do anything that is of particular interest to the study of leadership succession? Are there any
opinions you would like to share regarding building leadership capacity? What feelings do you
have about the leader’s interaction with the others in the meeting and how the interaction did/did
not support leadership succession? Do you have any interesting/new thoughts as a result of the
observation?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
For additional resources - http://dissertationedd.usc.edu/
DSC contact information – rsoedsc@rossier.usc.edu or (213)740-8099

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Leadership pipelines are critical for the development and growth of potential and current leaders. The theoretical framework for this study is based on the five practices of Kouzes and Posner’s (2012) transformational leadership model. The purpose of the study is to explore promising practices within a K-12 school district that identifies and develops potential and current leaders through a continuous leadership pipeline. Also, this study sought to determine factors that facilitate and inhibit the development and implementation of strategies designed to build leadership capacity. This qualitative case study included eight participants, and data collection included a series of interviews, observations, and artifacts centered on the research questions. Findings indicate several promising practices for building leadership capacity that included investing in opportunities for growth, identifying and cultivating potential talent, and developing a culture of lifelong learners. Additionally, the alignment of strategies across the district and the development of trust served as factors that facilitated the implementation of promising practices. Findings also reveal that the lack of resources and inconsistent implementation of certain practices inhibited the development of some strategies designed to build leadership capacity. This study contributes to the current body of educational leadership research and offers suggestions for school districts to strengthen leadership pipelines through a formalized system for mentoring and coaching, setting clear criteria for talent identification, and continuous professional development on leadership.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Chen, Janice Vivian (author)

Core Title Leadership pipeline and succession: promising practices for building leadership capacity in a K-12 school district

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Defense Date 03/04/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag building leadership capacity,leadership pipeline,leadership succession,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Stowe, Kathy (committee chair), Malloy, Courtney (committee member), Picus, Lawrence (committee member)

Creator Email janicevc@usc.edu,janicevchen@yahoo.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-218684

Unique identifier UC11279131

Identifier etd-ChenJanice-4186.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-218684 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-ChenJanice-4186.pdf

Dmrecord 218684

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Chen, Janice Vivian

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA