0.1 Kladifko, r., li, j., and dunlap, j. (october 2011). the school  (Page 3/5)

Prior studies have identified several other factors or barriers that inhibit eligible individuals from becoming school leaders, including stress of the job, long hours required at work, low pay or insufficient compensation, accountability mandates, disrespect from students, and difficulties with parents and other facets of society (e.g., DiPaola&Tschannen-Moran, 2003; ERS, 2000). In addition, Harris, Arnold, Lowery and Crocker (2000) found that increased paperwork and threats of litigation were also significant barriers.

Highly qualified teachers with an array of classroom and out-of-classroom experiences are the foundation for developing successful principals. To examine the interest of highly qualified teachers in becoming school principals, Hancock, Black and Bird (2006) used exploratory factor analysis and identified three underlying constructs or factors among 17 potential inhibitors that kept teachers from becoming school administrators: “(a) Insufficient Gain and /or Personal Benefits; (b) Personal Needs/Issues; and (c) Increased Risk” (p. 94). The specific inhibitors related to the first factor insufficient gain and/or personal benefit include the “salary differential too small, no tenure and lack of security, increased commitments, paperwork/bureaucracy” and “lack of autonomy”; the inhibitors related to the second factor personal needs/ issues include the “desire to relocate, concern for personal safety” and being “discouraged by family and friends”; the third factor increased risk includes inhibitors such as the “pressures from standardized tests, potential litigation, longer year, isolation/alienation from staff” and “discipline problems” (Hancock et al., 2006, p. 95).

The degree of school administrator shortage is varied depending on the locations and characteristics of schools. Rural schools, compared to urban ones, have smaller pools of principal applicants (Pijanowski, Hewitt&Brady, 2009). However, urban and academically low-performing schools are more likely to be lead by principals who have fewer years of leadership experience and who graduated from less competitive undergraduate colleges. Similar findings have been revealed in a more recent study of the distribution of principals across schools by Loeb, Kalogridge and Horng (2010). The authors concluded that “schools serving many low-income, non-White, and low achieving students have principals who have less experience and less education and who attended less selective colleges” (Loeb et al., 2010, p. 205).

Method

Participants

In all, 243 graduating students from one of the largest university Administrative Services Credential Programs in California participated in this study. All participants were finishing their last semester of the program. Seventy percent of them were female; 69 percent were sub-administrators; and 61 percent were nonwhite. The majority of the participants (71%) were between 26 and 41 years of age, and the mean of years of teaching experience was 10.

Measures and statistical analyses

All participants completed a survey developed by the authors, which was based on the one used by Adams (1999), to measure participants’ perceived barriers to pursuing school administrative positions. (see Appendix for a brief description and sample items). Participants were asked to indicate the reasons if they were not planning to apply for an administrative position after graduating from the program. They were also asked to provide their demographic information on the survey, such as race/ethnicity and years of teaching experience.