Campus Location

Dallas Campus (Online)

Date of Award

7-2024

ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7555-2148

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Organizational Leadership

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Committee Chair or Primary Advisor

Andrew Lumpe

Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor

Mark Weatherly

Third Committee Member or Committee Reader

Julie McElhany

Abstract

Schools that maintain the same principal for 5 or more years report increased student achievement, increased teacher retention, and a positive school culture. The problem is that over 70% of principals will not remain in the same school for 5 years and the average principal turnover rate in the United States is 22%. The purpose of this quantitative study was to explore

principal turnover in Oklahoma from 2011–2024 by answering the following research questions: What is the average principal turnover rate for principals in Oklahoma? Is there a significant difference in elementary and secondary principal turnover rates? Is there a difference in principal turnover rates before and after the COVID-19 pandemic? Are race, gender, salary, and experience predictors of principal turnover? This quantitative study used a combination of analyses including one-way ANOVA, Tukey posttest, chi-square test, and binary-logistic regression to analyze 13 years of historical data with a sample of over 1,700 school principals throughout Oklahoma. The results contribute to the overall literature on principal turnover in the

following areas: (1) the principal turnover rate between 2011 and 2024 in Oklahoma is 21.6%, (2) there is a statistically significant difference in elementary and secondary principal turnover, (3) the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a significant impact on principal turnover, (4) salary and educational experience are predictors of principal turnover, and (5) race and gender are not accurate predictors of principal turnover. The results encourage district leaders in Oklahoma to

consider exploring situational leadership theory when leading principals as school level, salary, total educational experience, and other contextual factors determine if the principal will remain at the school long enough to make a positive impact on student achievement, teacher retention,

and school culture. Future research could focus on identifying specific reasons for principal

v

turnover, the type of experience, and adding variables such as school size and setting when considering predictive factors of principal turnover.

Keywords: principal turnover, elementary principal, secondary principal, K-12 principal, quantitative, principal stability

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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