Hiring principals in districts designated as national models of Professional Learning Communities

Hiring and retaining effective principals is a challenge for many school districts. Finding a principal who has the capacity to lead, to encourage collaboration, and to foster the critical use of data requires a process that takes these requirements into account. Furthermore, finding a principal with the knowledge and skills to lead a professional learning community necessitates a nearly infallible hiring process. However, a dwindling pool of qualified candidates and a high turnover rate in the principalship have hindered this process. There is an urgent need for wise hiring decisions so that schools can improve and maintain high academic performance. The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyze which practices led to the successful hiring of candidates with the knowledge and skills to lead a Professional Learning Community. The hiring processes of the 19 school districts designated as National Models of Professional Learning Communities at Work (NMPLC) was the focus of this study. The primary research question and the three ancillary questions were answered by analyzing the rated responses and the open-ended comments in the 15 returned surveys and the data from one-on-one interviews with two of the respondents. Common themes were inferred from the data using a grounded theory design. The analysis enabled the researcher to develop a plausible theory about the NMPLC hiring practices. NMPLC superintendents utilized the best hiring practices as identified in the literature, systematically studied and improved the hiring process to increase the probability of hiring principals who had student achievement as their primary focus and demonstrated skill in working collaboratively; and consciously sought individuals with the knowledge and skills required to lead a PLC which included deliberate consideration of internal candidates.