School Leadership Research

School Leadership Research is a research partnership between the Institute for Research on Education Policy and Practice (IREPP) and the LEADS Network (Leadership for Equity and Accountability in Districts and Schools) of school districts throughout the nation that examines the career paths of principals and teachers, district policies that affect the distribution of human resources across schools, and the impact of educator characteristics and mobility patterns on student outcomes. The research is funded by organizations interested in evaluating existing education policies in order to identify ways to improve those policies or develop new policies as needed. The research covers a broad range of issues in school leadership, including school leadership labor markets, school leadership preparation, how school leaders are distributed across schools, and school leadership retention, particularly in urban, low-performing schools. The Principal Pipeline Project is a multi-year study of principals and other school leaders to investigate these issues.