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A primary goal of school districts’ investments in professional development for principals is to enhance their effectiveness. This study examines the connection between administrator professional development and performance in a national sample of schools. We show that not all types of administrator professional development participation correlate positively with teachers’ ratings of principal performance. In particular, we find evidence that principals who invest in university course work as professional development are rated lower. In contrast, participation in formal mentoring programs is associated with higher ratings. Employing instrumental variables to account for selection on unobserved factors into different professional development types, we uncover further evidence of a negative impact of university course taking on principal performance.
Grissom et al. (Tue,) studied this question.