Leadership magazine Jan/Feb 2016 V45 No 3 | Page 23

ASKED Answered

With an increasing need for public school educators,
what’s the best pipeline to education leadership?

Three education stakeholders share their thoughts about ensuring strong school leaders
In truth, the seeds of the leadership

Karen Kearney
Project Director,
Leadership Initiative, WestEd

pipeline begin on the first days of every student’s schooling.
From the beginning, students see teachers who are welcoming, help them learn new things, and treat every student fairly.
Over time, students see teachers and other staff members who
are engaged with students and care about both their learning and well being, who have other teachers as friends and
colleagues and who celebrate reaching goals and making a
difference. How teachers treat students and each other influences students’ responses to the question: Would I want to
be a teacher?
Similarly, teachers note principal behaviors. Working conditions, helpful or absent feedback, and engaging with a flourishing or flat school culture affect whether or not teachers stay
in the job, are effective and satisfied and become interested

The first time I heard the term “the greying of
K-12 leaders” I understood that in addition to a mounting
teacher shortage, there is a looming shortage of educational
leaders in California. As early as 1983, researchers estimated
that 40 percent of the then-current principal workforce would
have retired by 2014. The current practice of raiding our classrooms for the best and brightest teachers, or waiting for them
to come to us to fill administrative roles may not be adequate
to meet the growing need for school leaders.
As the current leaders in California, we must take an active
role in not only mentoring and encouraging emerging leaders,
but we must also create opportunities for aspiring leaders to
assume leadership roles in our schools. Those with personal
ambition, political skill or “natural” leadership talent tend to

rise to the top. What is clear, however, is that good candidates
may never enter the race. Our new pipeline must seek to attract
those non-traditional applicants who may not naturally see
themselves as principals.
District-led leadership training/internships may be a solution for attracting and training our next generation o