catalyst-chicago.org

A seismic generational shift is taking place among school leaders in Chicago Public Schools. Following a wave of retirements in the past few years, almost two-thirds of principals are new to the job and have five years of experience or less, according to the Consortium on Chicago School Research’s  biennial survey of principals. And now, almost 20 percent of principals is younger than 40, compared to less than 2 percent back in 1999.

This shift shows no signs of slowing down. The district will have to fill about 100 principal slots at the end of this year. The district’s pension...

Seventy percent of candidates have failed a more rigorous principal eligibility process adopted last year in a move to upgrade the quality of school leadership throughout the district.

In comparison, more than half of candidates passed the old screening process on the first try.

The low pass rate raises a red flag for the district, which will need a steady stream of new principals to replace retirees, as well as the substantial number of principals who don’t plan to stay on the job long-term.

But by late March, only 208 principal candidates were in the eligibility...

Only in his late 20s, Adam Parrott-Sheffer is on the verge of completing his principal internship and getting ready to take the helm of his own school. Young, and willing to do things out of the box, like wear fatigues to school for a day, he has a lot in common with many of the new principals in CPS.

For one, he is adept at using technology and skillful with data. These traits are common among new principals, says Jane Mentzinger, the executive director of Communities in Schools of Chicago, which works in dozens of schools across the city. “It’s been more emphasized in their...