New York Schools Under Receivership: Analyzing Leadership and Staffing Challenges Faced by Principals
Abstract
In 2015, the New York State Department of Education created a new section of state education law pertaining to school receivership. Under receivership, priority schools labeled struggling or persistently struggling were required to make demonstrable improvement within one to two years or face the risk of being taken over by an outside agency. Principals of receivership schools faced significant challenges improving the schools in such a short amount of time. This qualitative study focused on the lived experiences of 10 receivership principals as they worked toward school improvement. Eight key findings revealed the daily challenges they faced. Those challenges included the fear of job loss for themselves and for their staff, the inability to retain good teachers, and a loss of their decision-making administrative power. The findings revealed reluctance on the part of receivers to apply the authority given them to make immediate changes, resulting in feelings of helplessness or hopelessness on the part of the receivership principals. The implications for education policy and practice include fostering receivership principals’ autonomy to make decisions and implement the changes they consider appropriate for their schools in order to ensure the best outcomes for students.
Subject Area
School administration
Recommended Citation
Johnson-Waterman, Crystal Ann, "New York Schools Under Receivership: Analyzing Leadership and Staffing Challenges Faced by Principals" (2017). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI10280280.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI10280280
