Management Succession, School Socioeconomic Context, and Basic Skills Achievement

Abstract

This study assessed the effects of a change in principals, called management succession, on school-level basic skills achievement using longitudinal data on 149 schools in the San Francisco Bay Area. The analysis showed that a change in principals at a school did not affect basic skills achievement until the second year of a new principal’s tenure. It was also found that the effects of principal change differed depending on the socioeconomic composition of the school. In schools with low proportions of students who receive Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the effects of succession on achievement were negative, but as the percentage of AFDC students in a school increased beyond 20%, succession effects on achievement turned positive. The findings indicate that changes in school leadership can affect basic skills achievement, but that leadership effects are slow to develop and are conditioned by the socioeconomic context of the school.