The Well-Being of Secondary School Principals One Year into the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

his Data Note describes findings from a nationally representative sample of secondary school principals about their well-being and job-related stressors one year into the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. 1 Understanding principals' views on these topics at a national level can help education leaders and policymakers identify ways to support principal wellness, reduce job-related stress, and improve job satisfaction, performance, and retention. Effective principals are critical for improving student achievement. They do so by creating an environment that is conducive for learning, improving teachers' working conditions, and hiring, developing, and retaining effective teachers (Burkhauser, 2017;Grissom, Egalite, and Lindsay, 2021;Grissom, Loeb, and Master, 2013). Principals face numerous challenges and pressures in their jobs and play multiple roles as instructional leaders and operational managers (Lashway, 2003;Wells and Klocko, 2015). Principals carry out these varied roles in an increasingly complex environment that involves the pressure of high-stakes accountability policies, multiple reform efforts, changing student demographics, reduced resources, and limited autonomy (Wells