Full Length Research Paper

Variation in the willingness of superintendents to recommend hiring alternatively licensed principals

Thienhuong Hoang

Pomona College of Education and Integrative Studies, California State Polytechnic University, U.S.A. E-mail: tnhoang@csupomona.edu.

Accepted 22 September, 2009

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to report the viability, as expressed by superintendents, of alternative routes to principal licensure as a solution to the principal shortage, regardless of whether it is a quantitative or qualitative shortage. The researcher’s interest is in assessing and explaining the variation in superintendents’ willingness to recommend hiring alternatively licensed principals. In this article, the researcher reports on a set of 17 interviews with superintendents from across the United States. This study provides informative data regarding superintendents’ attitudes and views about the subject for policy makers at the state, university, and local levels. The data contained several variables that may affect superintendents’ willingness to recommend the hiring of these principals. These are in four domains: (1) conditions under which superintendents would consider hiring alternatively licensed principals, (2) concerns superintendents have about the ability of alternatively licensed principals to do the job and to relate to constituents, (3) the availability of appropriate instruction and guidance in mentoring and other training programs, and (4) past behaviors and experiences with alternatively licensed personnels.

Key words: Educational leadership, principalship, alternatively licensed principals.