Existing education research literature addresses problems and solutions concerning Black women teacher retention; however, few studies examine the issue of Black women administrator retention, specifically the retention of Black women principals. Using qualitative semi-structured interviews, this phenomenological study of 22 current and former…

Purpose: In the HBO comedy series, "Vice Principals," two white men vice principals respond to the hiring of a Black woman high school principal with physical, emotional, and workplace violence. The purpose of this study was to explore (1) white men educational leaders' perceptions of a Black woman educational leader, and (2) their…

This study seeks to identify the specific challenges that female high school principals in Mississippi State face in their leadership roles. It will use four main domains: organizational challenges, physical challenges, social challenges, and personal challenges to unearth the problem. The primary research question, "What are the barriers and…

The high school principalship today requires a complex skill set steeped in relationship building, strategic oversight, and systemic approaches. Female principals of color not only have to develop this skill set, but also deal with the societal structures that inherently contain professional and personal obstacles that inhibit their abilities to…

The purpose of this qualitative transcendental phenomenological study was to examine the lived experiences of female elementary school principals as they navigate workplace stress and personal well-being. Work intensification and subsequent stressors for school principals are not a recent phenomenon; however, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on…

Background/Context: Progressive human resources thinking has suggested the importance of employee experiences for workforce engagement, inclusion, and retention, but the intentional design of positive employee experiences requires a deep understanding of workers' lived experiences in order to respond to their differentiated needs. Although the…

It is well established that principal turnover is of grave concern in the U.S. (Goldring & Taie, 2018; Levin et al., 2020) and may have been exacerbated due to the pandemic (Steiner et al., 2022). This transcendental phenomenological study explored the experience of women principals at P-12 schools in the U.S. who voluntarily left their roles…

Principal turnover is a national problem with costly side effects. There is a growing interest in this problem of practice. Although more studies are emerging, there is limited qualitative research into understanding why principals are leaving their positions. This is a basic qualitative study examining the experiences of three former North…

Roles such as principal and superintendent are politically positioned to affect policy and are seen as a steppingstone to the school district administration. In the United States of America, Black women are few in leadership positions. In the 2019-2020 school year there were approximately 1,662 public high school principals in the State of Texas…

African-American women face substantial career barriers when seeking ascension to educational leadership. Numerous factors contribute to career advancement barriers, such as systemic, institutional challenges, organizational factors, personality, and individual contributors. Various systemic and managerial aspects, directly and indirectly, were…

There continues to be a discrepancy between women, who comprise 77% of the public school institution, yet make up only 31% of the superintendency and only 34% of high school principalships. This study sought to examine those very personalized, professional, and intimate connections of women who serve as a high school principal or superintendent in…

Guided by family/work border theory, this phenomenological study explored the effects of stress while attempting to balance work and home through the lens of six high school female principals from the Central and Northern parts of California. This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to examine the effects stress had on the physical…

African-American women experience challenges in principal positions. This study explains how African-American women in leadership positions in Texas public schools overcome these challenges. This population of African-American woman principals has increased yet there are still challenges in the public schools for these leaders. This study explored…

Although the number of female teachers in schools is higher, this is not evident when looking at leadership levels. Various studies have examined this situation. In this study, the perspectives of female teachers working in private schools who are gradually raising their educational levels are discussed in depth about female head teachers. For…

Recent academic research highlights the role of leadership identity when thinking about the improvement of the educational field. Based on this research, this article aims to identify and analyze the elements that affect the development of leadership identity in female school principals within the Chilean context. This is achieved by working from…