Selection & Deployment

School Management - Policy Lever

Essence

This policy lever measures whether the right candidates are being selected to become principals. These questions probe whether the recruitment process is set up to ensure that the most qualified individuals get the positions. The indicator is based on whether: 1) there is a standard approach for selecting principals, 2) that approach relies on professional/academic requirements, and 3) those requirements are common in practice.

Indicator

A score ranging from 1 to 5, calculated based on 4 policy questions. Responses are scored according to a rubric that considers the best practices for selection and deployment. Two scores are reported: one for de jure policy existence and one for de facto policy implementation.

Background

As mentioned earlier, being a principal requires specific skills. The principal must go beyond the tasks of a teacher and show the vision and leadership necessary for the inputs, infrastructure, teachers, and the students to come together and create an effective learning system. Aside from attracting strong candidates, the system must select the right ones as principals. This requires the process to be meritocratic and designed to select the candidates that will best fulfill the role of school leader, with all that the position entails.

Policy Survey
School Survey

Instrument Used for Measurement

  • Survey of Public Officials
  • Existing Data Source
  • Policy Survey
  • School Survey

Measurement Approach

The four questions (two de jure and two de facto) that make up this indicator are part of the School Management module of the School Survey and the Policy Survey. Together, they give a sense of whether there is a meritocratic recruitment process that considers professional background when hiring/promoting principals. The questions include:

(de jure) Is there a systematic approach/rubric for the selection of principals?

(de jure) How are principals selected?

(de facto) In this district, what factors are considered when selecting a principal?

(de facto) Which one of the previously mentioned do you think is the most important?

Instrument Sources

Newly developed, but inspired by Mulkeen 2007

Systems Approach for Better Education Outcomes – Service Delivery (SABER-SD)