Campus Location
Dallas Campus (Online)
Date of Award
10-2026
ORCID
Your ORCID iD: 0009-0001-4833-3993
Your ORCID record is https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4833-3993
Document Type
Dissertation
Department
Organizational Leadership
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Douglas DeWitt
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
B.J. McMichael
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Casey Reason
Abstract
Principal turnover remains a challenge in high-poverty secondary schools, where leadership stability is critical to school improvement and student success. Although factors associated with principal attrition have been studied, less is known about how district-level systems and support structures shape principals’ experiences of connection, belonging, and professional isolation. This qualitative multiple-case study was conducted within a program evaluation context to examine how district policies, processes, and support structures functioned as job demands and job resources influencing principals’ experiences and retention decisions within a large urban school district. Guided by the job demands–resources (JD-R) framework, the study included four secondary principals serving Title I campuses identified for federal school improvement. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and campus observations and analyzed using thematic and cross-case analysis. Results indicated that district accountability pressures, staffing challenges, competing priorities, and reduced professional agency functioned as significant job demands, whereas trust-based relationships with supervisors and peers served as important job resources. While peer relationships fostered belonging and reduced isolation, perceptions of trust, recognition, and organizational value were more influential in retention decisions. Findings suggested that retention efforts should extend beyond workload reduction and formal support structures to include practices that communicate trust, recognition, partnership, and professional value.
Keywords: principal retention, principal belonging, principal isolation, professional value, job demands–resources framework, educational leadership
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Perry, Meredith L., "Organizational Systems, Support Structures, and Principal Retention in Urban Secondary Schools: A Job Demands and Resources Analysis of Belonging and Isolation" (2026). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1056.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/1056
Included in
Adult and Continuing Education and Teaching Commons, Educational Administration and Supervision Commons, Educational Leadership Commons