More than half of Prince George’s County‘s most disadvantaged middle schools had two or more changes in leadership during the past five years and only a handful were led by principals with any managerial experience prior to assuming their posts, according to a study released this week.
The study, by the Baltimore-based Advocates for Children and Youth, looked at 14 of the county’s 32 middle schools. They were identified because of high poverty and low performance on state assessment exams used to determine Annual Yearly Progress under federal No Child Left Behind regulations.
There were 22 principal changes among the 14 schools studied. Of those, only 3 principals, or 14 percent, had any previous experience leading a school.
High turnover in leadership at a school already facing socio-economic challenges can have drastic effects on student performance on federal No Child Left Behind exams. Just finding someone up to the challenge of leading a troubled school into reform is difficult,said Terrylynn Tyrell, education director at the organization.
“It is cyclical, but the principal is key and the principal is a good place to start,” Tyrell said.
The county’s worst performer was G. James Gholson Middle School, in Largo. The school, which opened for the 2002-03 academic year, has been plagued with the third-lowest scores in the county for eighth graders on state assessments this year, with 62.5 percent of its students failing, according to the report.
Since its opening, Gholson has had five principals leave, including two departures in 2004 and one each in 2005 and 2006.
“If you have a strong principal, they’re the leader,” Tyrell said. “If you want to have strong outcomes, you want to have someone who’s a strong instructional leader.”
Tyrell said the county has received a $12,500 federal grant to provide incentives to principals to improve their schools. How that money has been spent is not clear. Public schools spokesman John White did not return calls seeking comment Friday.
Lewis Robinson, executive director of the county’s teachers’ union, has said Prince George’s proximity to Washington and high-performing districtsincluding Montgomery County makes it difficult to attract and retain high-quality educators. In order to keep up, he has advocated for a cost of living increase of at least 5 percent for educators in the coming fiscal year.
Currently, teachers in Prince George’s County with master’s degrees make an average of $78,687. The average salary for the teachers with bachelor’s degrees is $59,109
