Why Principals Matter: Exploring The Research On School Leadership. School Leadership Brief_18P429_digital_FINAL | Page 11

In Tennessee, principals with less
experience and lower evaluation
scores are more likely to work in
lower-performing and higher-poverty
schools.
Thirty-eight percent of principals working
in schools with the lowest student
achievement have three or fewer years of
experience, compared to about a quarter
of principals in schools with the highest
student achievement. Figure 3 shows
principals with three or fewer years of
experience are more likely to be working
in schools with high student poverty.
Additionally, more principals with lower
evaluation scores are working in high-
need schools than those with higher
evaluation scores. On average, principals
at high-poverty or low-achieving schools
have evaluation ratings about a half
rating point lower than principals at low-
poverty or high-achieving schools. 23
Figure 3
PRINCIPAL PLACEMENT
A Greater Share Of Principals With Three Or Fewer Years
Of Experience Are Leading High-Poverty Schools.
40%
36%
35%
30%
26%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Low Poverty (Fewer Than 20% Of Students)
High Poverty (More Than 80% Of Students)
Source: Jason A. Grissom, “School Leadership and School Improvement in Tennessee” (presentation,
Tennessee Education Research Alliance, Nashville, TN, December 2017). Poverty is measured as percentage of
students in a school enrolled in free or reduced lunch program.
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