Fully online principal preparation: prevalence, institutional characteristics, geography

Published date16 March 2020
Pages283-301
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-05-2019-0088
Date16 March 2020
AuthorFrank Perrone,Mary F. Rice,Erin A. Anderson,Sajjid Budhwani
Subject MatterEducation,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education
Fully online principal preparation:
prevalence, institutional
characteristics, geography
Frank Perrone
Department of Teacher Education, Educational Leadership and Policy,
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
Mary F. Rice
Department of Language, Literacy and Sociocultural Studies,
University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, and
Erin A. Anderson and Sajjid Budhwani
Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of Denver,
Denver, Colorado, USA
Abstract
Purpose Principal preparation program pedagogy and course delivery are critical to principal candidates
preparedness to lead. Research around online program delivery, however, is relatively sparse. This study
examined the extent to which university-based educational leadership programs offered fully online (FOL)
pathways to the principalship, as well as program geographic locations and institutional characteristics most
associated with FOL offerings.
Design/methodology/approachData were collected through website reviews and coding checks, and then
merged with national postsecondary data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, classification tree
analysis, and geographic information system (GIS) mapping.
Findings Roughly 43 percent of all reviewed programs offered an FOL pathway to licensure, which suggests
substantial growth in FOL offerings over the last 10 years. While a number of factors were deemed important,
geographic characteristics were most associated with FOL status. GIS mapping further illustrated findings
with a visual landscape of program FOL offerings.
Research limitations/implications This study considered only programs for which degrees or
certificates could be earned without ever visiting campus in-person for classes. Hybrid programs were
excluded from the analysis.
Practical implications Findings make a clear call for more research into online principal preparation
program design and course delivery.
Originality/value This study provides the first overview of fully online university-based principal
preparation programs in the United States while also offering a previously unavailable landscape of all
programs specifically leading to licensure. It is also the only higher education study to map or investigate
factors associated with FOL offerings and raises questions about prior FOL higher education research.
Keywords Online learning, Principal preparation, Leadership preparation, Higher education, Online degrees,
Principals
Paper type Research paper
Background
Principals affect student learning (e.g. Leithwood et al.,2010;Leithwood et al., 2004) and are
inextricablyrelated to the overallhealth of school environments(e.g. Branch et al.,2013)aswell
as critical teacher attitudes and behaviors (e.g. Boyd et al., 2011). Further, quality principal
preparationis directly related to principalcandidatesabilities to lead(e.g. Clayton et al., 2013).
Principalleadership abilitiesare supported by identifiedpreparation programcomponents (e.g.
Darling-Hammond et al.,2009). Specific integral program components include effective
Fully online
principal
preparation
283
The authors would like to acknowledge Dr. Adam D. Nowak, Associate Professor of Economics at West
Virginia University, for his contributions to this study.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/0957-8234.htm
Received 29 May 2019
Revised 17 September 2019
21 December 2019
Accepted 26 December 2019
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 58 No. 3, 2020
pp. 283-301
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-05-2019-0088
mentoringand internships(e.g. Clayton et al.,2013),universitydistrictpartnerships (Davisand
Darling-Hammond, 2012), quality faculty (Hackmann and McCarthy, 2011), and coherent
curricula (e.g. Orphanos and Orr, 2013). Pedagogy and program delivery also matter in
ensuring candidate preparedness (e.g. Bowers and Murakami-Ramalho, 2010;Cosner
et al.,2015).
The importance of well-prepared principals and specific program components has been
documented, but limited research has focused on various delivery modes, specifically online
principal preparation (Crow and Whiteman, 2016). Similar to broader trends in graduate-level
course enrollment (Moloney and Oakley, 2010), some research suggests that online
educational leadership preparation program (ELPP) offerings are increasing (e.g.
Anderson et al., 2018;Hackmann and McCarthy, 2011). Such expansion of online ELPP
principal pathways may have implications for access to, and quality of, preparation.
Furthermore, fully or mostly online principal preparation has some potential to address
principal shortages in impacted areas of the country, such as rural or large urban districts, or
in hard-to-staff schools (Peters-Hawkins et al., 2018;Podolsky and Sutcher, 2016). If online
principal preparation has the potential to increase the pool of principals in the United States,
more information is needed about online principal preparation programs, specifically the
geographic distribution and institutional characteristics of fully online programs.
Research questions
This study addressed the following research questions:
(1) How many ELPPs offer any fully online degree/certificate (i.e. certificate, masters,
specialist, certificate of advanced study) with eligibility for building-level licensure?
(2) Which institutional characteristic(s) best determine whether an ELPP offers a fully
online pathway to the principalship?
(3) What is the geographic distribution of ELPPs offering fully online pathways to the
principalship?
This paper does not intend to take a position on the quality of FOL or to make an argument
about the educational experience of face-to-face versus online learning. Instead, the purpose
of this study was to provide a landscape of the program delivery options and to present
trends in online ELPP programming.
Online principal preparation
In the fall of 2016, there were 6,359,121 postsecondary students taking at least one fully online
course, comprising 31.6 percent of all higher education enrollments (Seaman et al., 2018). This
represents an increase of almost four percentage points from 2013. Online career preparation
has become common in many courses of study, including teacher preparation. Most
universities and colleges of education in the United States already offer, or are planning to
offer, online teacher certification, endorsements, and even graduate degrees (Dell et al., 2008).
According to the most recently available data about teacher preparation, the American
Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (2013) reported that nearly 75 percent of
universities offered online teacher preparation courses. Despite some knowledge about online
teacher preparation, the extent to which building-level principal preparation is offered in
online environments has been largely unknown.
There is evidence to suggest that principal preparation programs are also using online
learning as a primary delivery mode. Robey and Bauers(2013)study of ELPP redesign
provides some suggestion of online instructions prevalence in principal preparation. The
researchers received survey responses from 181 of 361 (52 percent response rate) program
JEA
58,3
284

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT