Principal influence in teacher hiring: documenting decentralization over time

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JEA-05-2017-0061
Published date09 May 2018
Date09 May 2018
Pages277-296
AuthorMimi Engel,Marisa Cannata,F. Chris Curran
Subject MatterEducation,Administration & policy in education,School administration/policy,Educational administration,Leadership in education
Principal influence in teacher
hiring: documenting
decentralization over time
Mimi Engel
School of Education, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Marisa Cannata
Department of Leadership, Policy and Organizations, Vanderbilt University,
Nashville, Tennessee, USA, and
F. Chris Curran
School of Public Policy, UMBC, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
Abstract
Purpose Over the past decade, policy researchers and advocates have called for the decentralization of
teacher hiring decisions from district offices to school principals. The purpose of this paper is to document the
trends across two and a half decades in principalsreported influence over teacher hiring decisions in the USA
and explore how and whether principal influence varies systematically across contexts.
Design/methodology/approach Regression analysis with secondary data using seven waves of
nationally representative data from the Schools and Staffing Survey.
Findings Principals report increased influence over the 25 years that the data span. While principals of
urban schools were much more likely to report having less influence over teacher hiring compared to their
non-urban counterparts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, their reported influence increased more than that of
other principals.
Research limitations/implications Empowering principals as primary decision-makers assumes that
they have the best information on which to make hiring decisions. At the same time, other research suggests
that local teacher labor market dynamics contribute to the inequitable sorting of teachers across schools.
This study raises questions regarding the implications of the increased influence of principals in teacher
hiring on equity of access to quality teachers across schools.
Originality/value This is the first study to explore whether and how principal influence in teacher hiring
decisions has changed over time.
Keywords Principals, Decision-making, Administrators, Teacher hiring, Local control,
Teacher labour markets
Paper type Research paper
Use of district-wide data management and teacher evaluation systems in the USA has spread
rapidly. This means that principals have more information than ever before on their teachers,
adding new weight to their role as human capital managers (Cannata et al., 2017; Odden and
Kelley, 2008). Understanding how principals engage in this role is important, as evidence
suggests that organizational management activities, including teacher hiring, are an important
means through which principals likely affect student learning (Grissom and Loeb, 2011).
The evidence base on teacher hiring decisions is growing. To date, much of the research
has focused on the criteria school and district administrators care about, the tools they use,
and the processes they engage in when hiring teachers (Cannata et al., 2017; Cannata and
Engel, 2012; Engel, 2013; Engel and Finch, 2015; Engel and Curran, 2016; Harris et al., 2010;
Liu et al., 2008; Rutledge et al., 2010). An area that has received less attention from
researchers is the locus of decision-making for teacher hiring. Recently, however, scholars
have argued that principal autonomy in teacher hiring may have negative equity
implications for districts and schools (Engel and Cannata, 2015), particularly in contexts
where principals have severely constrained access to qualified teachers (Engel et al., 2014).
Journal of Educational
Administration
Vol. 56 No. 3, 2018
pp. 277-296
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0957-8234
DOI 10.1108/JEA-05-2017-0061
Received 23 May 2017
Revised 29 September 2017
Accepted 2 October 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-8234.htm
277
Principal
influence in
teacher hiring
This paper builds on prior case studies and research from single or a small handful of
districts to explore whether principal influence over teacher hiring has changed over time.
Conventionalwisdom suggests that teacherhiring has become less centralizedover time, with
authority moving from district human resource departments to principals. However, there is
little empirical research to back up anecdotal claims regarding this trend. Further, little
is known about district characteristics that are associated with trends and variation in the
centralization of teacher hiring.
Using data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), this study examines trends in
the reported influence of principals in hiring new teachers. The SASS has been administered
to seven cross-sectional, nationally representative samples of schools between 1987-1988
and 2011-2012. Each round has included a survey item about principal influence on teacher
hiring. Using these data, this paper addresses the following research questions:
RQ1. To what extent is teacher hiring decentralized to principals, and how does principal
influence vary across contexts?
RQ2. Has principal influence over teacher hiring increased over time?
RQ3. Do school, district, and contextual factors including urbanicity, charter status, and
collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) explain some of the variation in principal
reports of influence in teacher hiring?
Evidence on decision-making in teacher hiring
A handful of studies provide insight into decision-making in teacher hiring and the extent to
which these decisions are made centrally, at the district level, or are decentralized to schools.
This research reveals the complex nature of the hiring process, indicating that, at least in the
contexts studied, principals have some autonomy in hiring but are also constrained by
district staffing practices (Liu et al., 2008) and that the extent to which hiring is centralized
varies across districts and states (Liu and Johnson, 2006). District central offices can play
several key roles in teacher hiring including recruiting and screening applicants, processing
applications and managing a centralized database of district applicants, extending the
formal job offer, and processing new hires, often through the human resources department
(Balter and Duncombe, 2008; Engel et al., 2014; Levin and Quinn, 2003; Liu et al., 2008).
In some cases, the first contact that a prospective teacher may have is with staff from a
districts office of human resources as opposed to a school administrator (Balter and
Duncombe, 2008; Levin and Quinn, 2003). In addition, district rules and regulations
regarding teacher transfers, vacancy notifications, seniority, budgets, and changes in
student enrollment can both displace teachers and limit principal autonomy in deciding
which teachers to hire to fill vacancies (Levin et al., 2005; Liu et al., 2008). Such constraints
may further exacerbate the inequitable distribution of teachers across schools and districts,
with particularly negative implications for large urban districts (Engel and Cannata, 2015;
Levin et al., 2005). Finally, teachers are official employees of their local district or school
board. Thus, while evidence indicates that, at least in some contexts, principals can and do
offer prospective teachers jobs (e.g. Engel, 2013), official hiring is often handled centrally.
Recent studies suggest that the teacher hiring process is relatively decentralized in some
contexts. In Chicago, for example, principals reported that first interactions often occurred
at their schools or at district-run job fairs, and principals reported being the primary
decision-makers with regard to teacher hiring (Engel and Finch, 2015). Similarly, principals
in a mid-sized Florida district were found to be the primary decision-makers in the teacher
hiring process (Rutledge et al., 2010). Cannata and Engel (2012) found that the majority of
principals in both charter and traditional public schools in seven states reported having
moderate to major influence in the teacher hiring process.
278
JEA
56,3

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