WHO WILL LEAD? THE PRINCIPAL SHORTAGE.

• Author: Groff, Frances

School principals have a tremendous impact on making a school successful.

But not enough educators want the job.

Don Anderson's job as a school principal has changed a great deal since he began his career in 1965 in Adams county, Colo. "When I started my career more than 30 years ago, things were much simpler. The focus was on making sure students learned the 'Three R's (reading, writing and arithmetic).' I had time in my day to sit down and have a cup of coffee with someone on my staff or talk to a student. Now I have to worry about so much more. Basically, any problem society is facing is found in the schools, and it is now the principal's personal responsibility to address it."

Joanne Cockrell, principal of Fox Technical High School in San Antonio, Texas, has also seen changes, "When I became a principal, I saw it as the best way to help students. I took the job because I loved the job, and I still do. Unfortunately, the job has changed so much that a lot of principals don't love it anymore. Many of my peers are choosing to retire. In fact, half of the principals in my school district will retire at the end of the year."

Texas is not alone. Many students across the nation returned to schools last fall without full-time principals. In Vermont, one out of every five either resigned or retired at the end of the school year. Washington state saw 15 percent of its principals do the same. In New York city, students in 163 schools started the school year with a temporary principal. The shortage is becoming a national crisis. Students already facing numerous challenges are now attending schools that have no leadership.

The focus of education reform over the last several years has been to improve schools by working to improve teacher quality and increase the number of teachers in the classroom. Because of persistent criticisms from parents and taxpayers that school districts were too "top heavy" with administrators, funds that once went to administration, were redirected toward teachers. While the need to improve teacher quality and increase the number of teachers in schools is extremely important, so is the need to have principals and administrators to lead schools down that road to success.

"Teachers need to have a principal who can provide a clear instructional direction and work with us to develop curriculum so we can provide the best education for our students," says Vicki Gonzales, who has taught for 11 years in the Denver public school system.

"I see it as my responsibility to show teachers how to set and achieve goals to improve student performance so that they can teach their students how to do the same," Cockrell says.

"The importance of school leadership is the next step in school reform," says Missouri Senator Steve Stoll, chair of the NCSL Task Force on School Leadership.

"One of the most important reasons to look at the subject of school leadership is the tremendous impact school principals have on student learning and successful schools," he says. "Any time we talk about education reform and improving learning for students, a strong principal is mentioned as being an important part of the package.

Legislatures in recent years have...