Principal Pipeline Study

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (ODEW), in collaboration with the Wallace Foundation and Columbus City Schools, is partnering with the Ohio Education Research Center to conduct a statewide study on the school principal workforce. This mixed-methods study aims to examine the characteristics (e.g., prior experiences and persistence) of the current principal workforce in Ohio’s schools. Additionally, the study seeks to learn how the current principal workforce describes the pathways to principalship, the barriers to continuing to serve in administrative roles, and ideas for improving these transitions in the future.

This study uses three primary instruments for data collections and analysis: EMIS staff records from 2010-2023, focus groups with new principals and principal supervisors (e.g., superintendents, assistant superintendents), and a survey of newly licensed principals in Ohio.

Preliminary findings from the analysis of EMIS staff records, first year focus groups, and statewide surveys were presented to ODEW in an interim report in June 2025. A final report will be submitted in the summer of 2026. ODEW will determine how the study findings will be communicated with the field.