A Case Study of Turnaround Principal Identification and Selection in One Urban School District

Through a case study approach, this qualitative study examined public school district leaders’ perspectives on turnaround principal competencies and actions. Furthermore, this study explored the strategies for identifying and selecting turnaround principals among district leaders in one district and their perceptions of the challenges associated with turnaround principal shortages. Participant responses were compared to existing, research-based turnaround principal competencies and led to direct reflections of the existing competencies. The research findings indicated that participant perspectives of the competencies associated with turnaround principals reflect existing, research-based competencies. The results also indicated that the participants placed more emphasis on certain competencies than others. Based on participant perspectives, two competencies associated with turnaround principals emerged: belief in children and job affinity. Finally, the researcher found that while the use of turnaround leader competencies might serve as strong indicators for identifying potential leaders, participants in this study did not utilize competencies in isolation or consistently in practice during selection and identification processes