This study leverages the theories of racialized and gendered organizations as frameworks to examine a Southeastern school district’s aspiring leadership program and hiring practices to determine the extent to which they produce and reproduce gender and race-based norms that promote workplace exclusion for women and people of color interested in the school principalship. Data were obtained from interviews with district administrators, school administrators, and teachers (n = 12). Findings provide support that the district operates in a manner consistent with a racialized and gendered organization. Results are discussed, and implications for improvement are provided.
AchinsteinB.OgawaR. T.SextonD.FreitasC. (2010). Retaining teachers of color: A pressing problem and a potential strategy for “hard-to-staff” schools. Review of Educational Research, 80(1), 71–107.
2.
AckerJ. (1990). Hierarchies, jobs, bodies: A theory of gendered organizations. Gender & Society, 4(2), 139–158.
3.
AckerJ. (2007). Inequality regimes: Gender, class, and race in organizations. In SpadeJ. Z.ValentineC. G. (Eds.), The kaleidoscope of gender; prisms, patterns, and possibilities (2nd ed., pp. 345–355). Sage.
4.
AlvaréM. A. (2018). Addressing racial inequalities within schools: Exploring the potential of teacher education. Sociology Compass, 12(10), e12628. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12628
5.
AnyonY.JensonJ. M.AltschulI.FarrarJ.McQueenJ.GreerE.DowningB.SimmonsJ. (2014). The persistent effect of race and the promise of alternatives to suspension in school discipline outcomes. Children and Youth Services Review, 44, 379–386.
6.
BailesL. P.GutheryS. (2020). Held down and held back: Systematically delayed principal promotions by race and gender. AERA Open, 6(2), 2332858420929298.
7.
BarnettR.DavisS. (2008). Creating greater success in succession planning. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 10(5), 721–739.
8.
BartanenB.GrissomJ. A. (2019). School principal race and the hiring and retention of racially diverse teachers (EdWorking Paper No. 19-59). Annenberg Institute, Brown University.
9.
BartanenB.GrissomJ. A. (2023). School principal race, teacher racial diversity, and student achievement. Journal of Human Resources, 58, 666–712.
10.
BiredaS.ChaitR. (2011). Increasing teacher diversity: Strategies to improve the teacher workforce. Center for American Progress.
11.
BlackmoreJ. (2017). ‘In the shadow of men’: The historical construction of educational administration as a ‘masculinist’ enterprise. In BlackmoreJ.KenwayJ. (Eds.), Gender matters in educational administration and policy (pp. 27–48). Routledge.
12.
BlountJ. M. (2006). Fit to teach: Same-sex desire, gender, and school work in the twentieth century. State University of New York Press.
13.
BowersA. J.WhiteB. R. (2014). Do principal preparation and teacher qualifications influence different types of school growth trajectories in Illinois? A growth mixture model analysis. Journal of Educational Administration, 52(5), 705–736.
14.
BristolT. J.MentorM. (2018). Policing and teaching: The positioning of black male teachers as agents in the universal carceral apparatus. The Urban Review, 50(2), 218–234.
15.
BuckmanD. G.TranH. (2022). Scholarship vs. practice: Best succession planning practices from scholarship as compared with practices employed by a large outer-ring suburban school district in the field. In SabinaL. (Ed.), School administrator succession planning: Identifying high-impact practices, programs, and frameworks in P-12 schools (pp. 65–88). IAP-Information Age Publishing.
16.
BurkhauserS.GatesS. M.HamiltonL. S.IkemotoG. S. (2012). First-year principals in urban school districts: How actions and working conditions relate to outcomes (Technical report). Rand Corporation.
17.
CotterD. A.HermsenJ. M.OvadiaS.VannemanR. (2001). The glass ceiling effect. Social Forces, 80(2), 655–681.
18.
CreswellJ. W. (2014). A concise introduction to mixed methods research. Sage Publications.
19.
D’amicoD.PawlewiczR. J.EarleyP. M.McGeehanA. P. (2017). Where are all the Black teachers? Discrimination in the teacher labor market. Harvard Educational Review, 87(1), 26–49. https://doi.org/10.17763/1943-5045-87.1.26
20.
DavisB. W.LippaA. P.LehrM.GoodenM. A.DinhT. V. (2016). Conceptualizing principal-student racial congruence. Journal of School Leadership, 26, 554–579.
21.
DrudyS. (2008). Gender balance/gender bias: The teaching profession and the impact of feminisation. Gender and Education, 20(4), 309–323.
22.
ElyR. J.MeyersonD. E. (2000). Theories of gender in organizations: A new approach to organizational analysis and change. Research in Organizational Behavior, 22, 103–151.
23.
FusarelliB. C.FusarelliL. D.RiddickF. (2018). Planning for the future: Leadership development and succession planning in education. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 13(3), 286–313.
24.
GatesS. M.RingelJ. S.SantibañezL.GuarinoC.Ghosh-DastidarB.BrownA. (2006). Mobility and turnover among school principals. Economics of Education Review, 25(3), 289–302.
25.
GoldhaberD.TheobaldR.TienC. (2019). Why we need a diverse teacher workforce. Phi Delta Kappan, 100(5), 25–30.
26.
GriffinA.TackieH. (2016). Through our eyes: Perspectives and reflections from Black teachers. Edtrust. org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09. ThroughOurEyes. pdf
27.
GriffithM. B. (2012). Effective succession planning in nursing: A review of the literature. Journal of Nursing Management, 20(7), 900–911.
28.
GrissomJ. A.EgaliteA. J.LindsayC. A. (2021). How principals affect students and schools. Wallace Foundation.
29.
GrissomJ. A.KeiserL. R. (2011). A supervisor like me: Race, representation, and the satisfaction and turnover decisions of public sector employees. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 30(3), 557–580.
30.
GrissomJ. A.ReddingC. (2015). Discretion and disproportionality: Explaining the underrepresentation of high-achieving students of color in gifted programs. Aera Open, 2(1), 2332858415622175.
IskanderL. (2022). “I assumed it was a much safer place than it really is”: Nonbinary educators’ strategies for finding school jobs. Journal of Education Human Resources, 40(1), 114–134.
33.
JangS. T.AlexanderN. A. (2022). Black women principals in American secondary schools: Quantitative evidence of the link between their leadership and student achievement. Educational Administration Quarterly, 58(3), 450–486. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161x211068415
34.
KanterR. M. (1977). Men and women of the corporation. Basic Books.
35.
KimelbergS. M.BillinghamC. M. (2013). Attitudes toward diversity and the school choice process: Middle-class parents in a segregated urban public school district. Urban Education, 48, 198–231. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085912449629
36.
KrullM.RobicheauJ. (2020). Racial microaggressions and racial battle fatigue: Work-life experiences of black school principals. Journal of Education Human Resources, 38(2), 301–328.
37.
LevinS.ScottC.YangM.LeungM.BradleyK. (2020). Supporting a strong, stable principal workforce: What matters and what can be done (Research report). Learning Policy Institute.
38.
LoganJ. R.Burdick-WillJ. (2017). School segregation and disparities in urban, suburban, and rural areas. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 674(1), 199–216.
39.
MarinA.WellmanB. (2011). Social network analysis: An introduction. In ScottJ.CarringtonP. J. (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of social network analysis (pp. 11–25). Sage Publications.
40.
MastracciS.ArreolaV. I. (2016). Gendered organizations: How human resource management practices produce and reproduce administrative man. Administrative Theory & Praxis, 38(2), 137–149.
41.
MerollaD. M.JacksonO. (2019). Structural racism as the fundamental cause of the academic achievement gap. Sociology Compass, 13(6), e12696. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12696
42.
MyungJ.LoebS.HorngE. (2011). Tapping the principal pipeline: Identifying talent for future school leadership in the absence of formal succession management programs. Educational Administration Quarterly, 47(5), 695–727.
National Center of Education Statistics. (2019b). Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS): Average annual salary for school principals, by years of experience as a principal, school type, and selected school characteristics, 2017-2018. Retrieved May 14, 2022, from https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/tables/ntps1718_2019082204_a12n.asp
46.
OplatkaI. (2017). ‘I’m so tired and have no time for my family’: The consequences of heavy workload in principalship. International Studies in Educational Administration (Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management (CCEAM)), 45(2), 21–41.
47.
PurkissS. L. S.PerrewéP. L.GillespieT. L.MayesB. T.FerrisG. R. (2006). Implicit sources of bias in employment interview judgments and decisions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 101(2), 152–167.
48.
RandolphA. (2013). The wrong kind of different: Challenging the meaning of diversity in American classrooms. Teachers College Press.
ShakedH.GlanzJ.GrossZ. (2018). Gender differences in instructional leadership: How male and female principals perform their instructional leadership role. School Leadership and Management, 38(4), 417–434.
51.
ShermanW. H. (2005). Preserving the status quo or renegotiating leadership: Women’s experiences with a district-based aspiring leaders program. Educational Administration Quarterly, 41(5), 707–740.
SulskyJ. (2023). Barriers to teacher diversity in a predominantly white district. Journal of Education Human Resources, 41(4), 662–685.
54.
SwanbergJ. E. (2004). Illuminating gendered organization assumptions: An important step in creating a family friendly organization: A case study. Community Work & Family, 7(1), 3–28.
55.
TessemaM. T.TesfomG.FairclothM. A.TesfagiorgisM.TeckleP. (2022). The “great resignation”: Causes, consequences, and creative HR management strategies. Journal of Human Resource and Sustainability Studies, 10(1), 161–178.
56.
TracyG.WeaverC. (2000). Aspiring leaders academy: Responding to the principal shortage. NASSP Bulletin, 84(618), 75–83.
57.
TranH. (2014). Does district performance and the regional labor market influence how districts pay principals in California?Journal of School Public Relations, 35(4), 511–541.
58.
TranH. (2022). Revolutionizing school HR strategies and practices to reflect talent centered education leadership. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 21(2), 238–252.
59.
TranH.JenkinsZ. (2022). Embracing the future of education work with talent centered education leadership. Journal of Education Human Resources, 40(2), 266–276.
60.
TranH.McCormickJ.NguyenT. T. (2018). The cost of replacing South Carolina high school principals. Management in Education, 32(3), 109–118.
VerslandT. M. (2013). Principal efficacy: Implications for rural grow your own leadership programs. The Rural Educator, 35(1), 2.
63.
WilkersonB. (2007). Effective succession planning in the public sector. Watson Wyatt Worldwide, 1–7.
64.
WilsonC. M. (2016). Enacting critical care and transformative leadership in schools highly impacted by poverty: An African-American principal’s counter narrative. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 19(5), 557–577.
