Executive Summary of the Principal Puzzle Pieces

Purpose / The Executive Summary of the Principal Puzzle Pieces provides definitions for the each of the 7 principal puzzle piece categories. HR Teams can use this summary for shared understanding about HR terminology for key, strategic work.
Intended User(s) / HR/HC Chief, HR/HC Team Leads

Human Resources (HR) plays a critical role in ensuring a highly effective principal leads every school. Below are the key “puzzle pieces” of work that HR teams must focus on to support a district’s efforts to improve and sustain principal quality. While not explicitly stated, the work below can be applied to improving the quality of the assistant principal role as well.

Building a Quality Pool

  • A core function of HR is to ensure the pipeline into the principal pool is filled with sufficient numbers of high quality candidates – both internal and external – and that those in the pipeline match the potential vacancies that are projected each year. A high quality pipeline requires that HR accurately projects vacancies, recruits from multiple pathways, cultivates strong internal candidates, commits to expanding diversity, and robustly screens applicants with a standardized process.

Functions

  • AnalyzingTurnover Data
  • Projecting Principal Vacancies
  • InfluencingProviders of Aspiring Principals
  • Ensuring Sufficient Quality Pipelines from Multiple Pathways
  • Cultivating Internal Candidate Pipelines
  • Expanding Diversity in the Principal Candidate Pool
  • Using a Validated Interviewing Instrument

Selection and Deployment

  • HR plays a key role in sourcing and matching the best principal candidate to a specific school’s vacancy. The selection and deployment function require HR to know the schools and communities well enough to determine which candidates would be the best fit and to provide a selection process with clear roles and responsibilities for all involved. Throughout the principal selection process, HR supports Principal Supervisors and, ultimately, must also support principals and Principal Supervisors in selection of assistant principals. Finally, this important function requires HR to ensure highly capable leaders are deployed to high-need schools.

Functions

  • DevelopingaHiringTimeline
  • Clarifying Roles and Responsibilities in the Hiring and Deployment Process
  • Establishing a Clear and Transparent Selection Process
  • Collaborating with Principal Supervisors to Match Assistant Principal Candidates to School Needs

Induction

  • HR plays an important role in quickly and thoroughly onboarding new principals and assistant principals to achieve success in their schools. From supporting high quality coaching and mentoring for new leaders to ensuring that induction is aligned with principal evaluation systems, HR is well positioned to help prepare new principals for success.

Functions

  • Onboarding New Principals
  • Supporting Quality Induction of New Principals
  • Ensuring High Quality Mentors and Coaches
  • Supporting Alignment of New Principal Induction with Performance Standards
  • TrackingPerformanceProgressof NewHires

Compensation and Benefits

  • CompensationandBenefits areways to ensurethat principals arepaid commensuratelyfor their hardworkandreceivethosebenefitsthat encouragethemtostayinthe field.Thesefunctions impact the district's abilitytohavea competitiveedgewith surroundingdistricts or private orcharter school alternatives.
  • Educational reformhas focused ondifferentiationofsalaryandbenefits torewardandrecognizehigh performanceforimprovedretention.Districtsimplementingpayfor performanceorpayfor differentiated rolesareutilizingcompensation systems toattractandretaineffectiveprincipals, bothfromoutsideandinsidethedistrictandto leveltheplayingfield betweenhigh- andlow-need schools.

Functions

  • Comparing Principal Compensationwith SurroundingDistricts
  • Ensuring Principal Compensation Remains Attractive
  • StructuringCompensation Systems Based on Performance and/or Need
  • Individualizing Benefit Systems

Performance Management

  • PerformanceManagementisa comprehensivefunctionthatincludeshowthedistrictsetshighstandards andmeasures againstthosestandards at the individual, team, school, department,anddistrict-wide levels.
  • Performance Management ensures the district is constantly improving the quality and effectiveness of its workforce. Components of performance management include setting high standards for all, identifying and retaining high performers, supporting the development of all others toward continuous improvement, understanding that not everyone will perform well enough and taking appropriate action when they do not, utilizing performance feedback to assist assistant principals aspiring to the principalship, and linking performance results to developing opportunities and HR decisions. It is both an approach to work as well as a set of systems that hold all accountable for outcomes.

Functions

  • Using MultipleMeasuresin Principal EvaluationSystem
  • Ensuring Inter-rater Reliability of Principal Supervisors
  • Providing Regular and Comprehensive Human Capital Feedback to School Leaders
  • Providing Performance Management Feedback to Assistant Principals Aspiring to the Principalship on Readiness Potential
  • Providing Principal Supervisors Guidance on all Principal Evaluations with Additional Support for Low Performers
  • Linking Performance to HR Decisions and Principal’s Development Opportunities

Career Management

  • Career Management encompasses the differentiated opportunities available to principals that maximize the use of their talent in the organization and improve retention. Managing the career of an employee over time is a relatively new function for HR/HC. Urban districts must retain highly effective leaders and HR must ensure that retention by working closely with each principal to address their career needs, especially since the role of the urban principal is such a high-stress job. Career management may be aligned to Compensation/Benefits and Performance Management, as differentiation of roles and responsibilities often carry additional compensation, release time, or other benefits.

Functions

  • Providing Expanded Leadership Roles for Existing School Leaders
  • Retaining Highly Effective School Leaders
  • Promoting Highly Effective leaders to Principal Supervisors and Other Leadership Roles

Supervisors of Principals as Human Capital Managers

  • HR/HC plays an important role in building capacity of Principal Supervisors as Human Capital managers and to build their work as a team around best practices in principal and assistant principal management. HR staff can accomplish support for the role of Principal Supervisor as HC Manager through extensive use and analysis of Human Capital data, direct counsel to Principal Supervisors, strong collaboration throughout the principal and assistant principal staffing process and through structuring systems that encourage best practices in Human Capital management.

Functions

  • Providing data to Support Principal Supervisors HC Management
  • Providing Learning Opportunities and Clear Instructional Role Definition for Principal Supervisors as Human Capital Managers
  • Supporting Principal Supervisors in the Staffing and Allocation Process
  • Providing Human Capital Management Tools to Support Principal Supervisors in Decision-Making
  • Differentiating Support to High-Need Schools Providing Management Tools to Guide Principal Supervisors

1

Executive Summary of the Principal Puzzle Pieces