Occasional Paper No. 42

The Maine Principal Study:

Stability and Change Among Maine Principals, 1997-2001

Gordon A. Donaldson, Jr.

Donald A. Buckingham

Theodore Coladarci

College of Education & Human Development

The University of Maine

Orono, ME 04469

May 2003

A publication of the College of Education & Human Development at the University of Maine and the Penquis Superintendents’ Association.

The Occasional Paper Series is intended to provide educators and policymakers in Maine with information that can assist them as they address the complex problems confronting their communities, education systems, or students. Papers are distributed periodically as topics vital to educational improvement are addressed by faculty and graduate students at the University of Maine. The opinions and information obtained in the Occasional Paper Series are the authors’ and do not necessarily represent those of the University of Maine or the College of Education & Human Development.

The Center for Research and Evaluation is a nonprofit research unit within the College of Education & Human Development at the University of Maine. Since 1985, the Center has linked the College of Education & Human Development to Maine’s schools, communities, and public agencies to more effectively address the complex issues confronting educational systems in the state. To stimulate discussion and promote policy developments, the Center designs and conducts qualitative and quantitative research about school conditions and practices. It disseminates research findings through analytical reviews and bulletins, and publishes original research in The Journal for Research in Rural Education and in a series of occasional papers produced in conjunction with the Penquis Superintendents’ Association. The Center also provides evaluation services, including fiscal, curricular, and administrative reviews.

The Center for Research and Evaluation is funded by the University of Maine and through project grants. It is administered and staffed by social science research and evaluation professionals in conjunction with College and University faculty.

Copyright © 2003 by the Center for Research and Evaluation. This paper may be photocopied for individual use.

Center for Research & Evaluation

College of Education & Human Development

The University of Maine

5766 Shibles Hall

Orono, ME 04469-5766

Phone 207-581-2493 • Fax 207-581-2423

Equal Opportunity Statement

In complying with the letter and spirit of applicable laws and in pursuing its own goals of diversity, the University of Maine System shall not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin or citizenship status, age, disability, or veterans status in employment, education, and all other areas of the University. The University provides reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. Questions and complaints about discrimination in any area of the University should be directed to Office of Equal Opportunity, University of Maine, Room 101, 5754 North Stevens Hall, Orono, ME 04469-5754; (207) 581-1226 (voice and TDD)

A Member of the University of Maine System

Table of Contents

Executive Summary............................................................................................................................ ii

Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 1

The Survey.............................................................................................................................. 2

Basic Descriptors: Maine Principals in 2001....................................................................................... 3

Professional Work Patterns...................................................................................................... 9

How Do Maine Principals Experience Their Work?.................................................................. 14

Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 20

References...................................................................................................................................... 22

Appendix A..................................................................................................................................... 23

Appendix B............................................................................................................................. 25

The Maine Principal Study:

Stability and Change Among Maine Principals, 1997 – 2001

Gordon A. Donaldson, Jr., Donald A. Buckingham, and Theodore Coladarci

Executive Summary

Highlights of the Maine Principal Study 2001:

· Over 50% of responding principals are over the age of 50 (39% in 1997); 11 % are under 40.

· One third of Maine’s principalships continue to turn over every two years; two thirds of the principals have been in their current position less than eight years.

· The number of professional staff and support staff the average principal supervises has risen by 37% between 1997 and 2001 to 40 personnel.

· The average hours per week principals put into the job has risen from 56 to 58.

· The variety and number of activities the average principal often engages in remains very broad.

· Personnel management, public relations and student management now top the list of activities (in 1997, student management, personnel management, and “interactions with the education hierarchy” topped their agendas.

· Principals believe that activity clusters described as “responding to people” and “leading the instructional program” have the greatest positive impact on the school; however, they reported being relatively uninvolved in instructional leadership and professional development activities in both 1997 and 2001.

· Principals in 2001 expressed enthusiasm, optimism, confidence, and a sense of fulfillment about their work, as they did in 1997.

· Principals in 2001 reported that their work was stressful; more principals in 2001 than in 1997 expressed doubt that “the time and the stress are worth it.”

Introduction

School leadership is essential to school effectiveness and improvement. As Maine and the nation have rallied to improve schools, concerns about school principal quality, recruitment, turnover, and work conditions have risen. Since the mid-1980s, we have witnessed a steady stream of articles and studies raising doubts that the principalship is in good health (Fenstermacher, 1999; Murphy, 1992). A 1998 national study of principals (Educational Research Service) and a summary of recent research on principals (Keller, 1998) found that:

1. the principalship is not attracting the best educators;

2. the principalship is not attracting women and minorities in representative numbers; and

3. perhaps most telling, principals report that their work

· does not compensate them in proportion to their responsibilities,

· is stressful,

· is so focused on management and crises that they cannot attend to important instructional matters, and

· intrudes too much into principals’ personal and family time.

·

In Maine, concerns such as these led to a study of administrator supply and demand in the late 1980s, and in 1999 to a summit that looked hard at solutions to “the school leadership crisis” (Maine Leadership Consortium, 1999). The 1999 Select Seminar sought to rally the education and policy communities to five major recommendations for action. In 2003, these remain largely neglected. One factor weakening this initiative for educational improvement has been the absence of a dependable data base on the Maine principalship.

To remedy this data vacuum, the University of Maine’s Gordon Donaldson and Charles Hausman in 1997 conducted the first Maine Principal Study, surveying all Maine principals and assistant principals on a range of issues impacting their ability to lead Maine’s schools (Donaldson & Hausman, 1998; 1999; Hausman et al., 2002). Then, in April of 2001, Donaldson with Don Buckingham and Ted Coladarci again surveyed all Maine principals using substantially the same questionnaire. This longitudinal study will again survey Maine principals in 2005 and 2009. The study has been undertaken with support from the Maine Principals’ Association and the Center for Educational Research and Evaluation at the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Maine.

This monograph describes the results of the 2001 questionnaire and compares the profile of Maine principals that emerges from these results with the 1997 profile. For more detailed data or to share observations and comments, readers are encouraged to contact any of the authors.

The Survey

In May 2001, questionnaires and cover letters were mailed to the 957 principals who were listed on the Maine Department of Education’s roster of 2000-2001 principals and assistant principals. Of the 503 returned surveys, 492 were usable in the final study. Once duplicates were removed from the initial mailing (32), the final response rate was 53%. Of these respondents, 26% were assistant principals; 5% were teaching principals; and the remainder (68%) were supervising principals. The results reported below are restricted to the latter two groups: the 363 Maine principals who served as the only administrator or the supervising administrator of a Maine school in 2001.

The profile of responding principals is fairly representative of the state’s principal population in several respects. It matches approximately the statewide distribution of principals with respect to gender, school size, and the percentage of students eligible for free/reduced lunch (see below). As with all surveys, however, principals who did not respond are likely to share some characteristics, and thus these data should be used with caution. We conjecture that principals who felt most burdened by their work in May 2001 and who were less interested in the goals of the survey were less likely to have responded.

Basic Descriptors: Maine Principals in 2001

A Few More Women and Closer to Retirement

The 2001 respondents include a slightly higher percentage of women than did the 1997 group (43.5 % vs. 41%). As expected, more principals (50%) now are over 50 years of age than was the case four years ago (see Table 1). The percentages of principal falling in the 41-50 age bracket has declined since 1997 while those in the 31-40 bracket have grown slightly.

Most Maine principals are married or living with a significant other; they also share their homes with children, parents, others, or some combination of these. The percentage of principals carrying responsibilities for other people at home has grown since 1997. Most important is the growing number of principals caring for a parent or other relative (15% in 1997; 38% in 2001).

Slightly under half Maine principals live inside the district in which they work.

Table 1. Description of Respondents
	1997		2001
	n	%	n	%
Gender
Female	177	41	158	43.5
Male	255	59	205	56.5
Age
21-30	2	0.5	3	0.8
31-40	38	8.8	37	10.2
41-50	231	53.5	140	38.6
51 and over	161	37.3	183	50.4
Family condition
Married, significant other	NA	86	313	86.2
Single, involved	NA	5	22	6.1
Single, uninvolved	NA	9	24	6.6
Dependents living at home
1 or more children	NA	62	NA	74
1 or more parents	NA	15	NA	38
1 or more others	NA	0	NA	30
Residence
In district	NA	NA	160	44.1
Out of district	NA	NA	203	55.9

Home Grown with Preparation that was “Relevant”

Nearly every responding principal held a graduate degree, with 74% at the Master’s or Master’s Plus Credits level, 17% at the CAS level, and 5% holding a doctorate. Fully 90% did their administrative graduate preparation in Maine. Forty-six percent have matriculated at the University of Maine for these purposes and 37% at the University of Southern Maine (3.6% reported studying at the University of New England). On average, the principals rated their graduate study as “relevant” to their work (mean score of 2.02 where 1 = very relevant, 2 = relevant, 3 = mostly irrelevant, and 4 = irrelevant).

Experienced, but Continuing High Rates of Turnover

The average Maine principal has 12.3 years of experience in administration and 13.2 years experience in teaching. This typical principal has worked at her/his present school for 9.4 years; of those, 6.8 years have been in her/his current position as a principal or teaching principal. These data are roughly the same as the 1997 figures. The typical principal is thus fully vested in the Maine State Retirement System and, given that Maine principals are an aging population, the state is likely to see major turnover in the next 4 to 8 years.

To get a better grasp of longevity/turnover patterns, Table 2 contrasts principals by different lengths of tenure in administration and in their current positions. What is striking

Table 2. Length of Tenure (Percentages)
	1997	2001
Number of Years	in Current Position	in Administration	in Current Position
1 or fewer	17.4	2.8	16.0
2 or fewer	34.3	10.7	30.9
5 or fewer	60.4	27.5	56.5
7 or fewer	70.5	34.7	66.7
10 or fewer	79.8	44.6	77.7
More than 10	20.2	55.4	22.3
More than 15	9.5	37.5	11.3

about these data is the continuing pattern from 1997 to 2001 of low tenure in Maine principalships. In 1997, 60% of principals had been in their current positions for 5 years or less, with 34% for 2 years or less. By 2001, this pattern had improved slightly but