Keys to Retaining Educational Administrators

By Dr. Harry Bloom, Founder and President, Benchmarking for Good, Inc.

Educational administrators are the backbone of day schools. Thus, attracting and retaining high quality administrators is one of the top priorities of Heads of School. Competition is fierce for quality administrators and they are not reticent to change schools when opportunities present themselves. Of the 109 educational administrators working in the 15 denominationally and geographically diverse Jewish day schools we studied over the past year, 2/3 of the administrators had changed their school employer at least once during the course of their careers.

But, despite the importance of keeping the educational administrators happy, the majority of the schools were struggling with this very basic job,

Correlation Analysis: What Drives Job Satisfaction?

Based on comprehensive analysis of both individual responses (n=109) and school-level data (n=15), here are the attributes that correlate most strongly with job satisfaction:

STRONGEST PREDICTORS* of STRONG JOB SATISFACTION AMONG EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS

1. Work Environment (r = 0.874 school-level, r = 0.701 individual-level)

STRONGEST predictor of job satisfaction

• Includes: positive/collegial atmosphere, supportive supervision, respectful interactions

• Schools with excellent work environments have highly satisfied administrators

2. Career Growth Opportunities (r = 0.790 school-level, r = 0.611 individual-level)

SECOND strongest predictor

• Includes: professional development access, advancement possibilities, skill building

• Strong correlation at both individual and organizational levels

MODERATE PREDICTOR

3. Salary Competitiveness (r = 0.648 school-level, r = 0.396 individual-level)

• Moderately important but not the top factor

• While salary matters, environment and growth opportunities matter MORE

• Individual variation suggests some administrators prioritize other factors

WEAKEST PREDICTOR

4. Work-Life Balance (r = 0.167 school-level, r = 0.411 individual-level)

• Weakest correlation with job satisfaction

• Highly variable across schools and individuals

• Suggests personal preferences vary widely

*Note: In a social science setting “r” values of 0.5 and over are considered significant

KEY TAKEAWAYS FOR SCHOOL LEADERS

If you are intent on increasing Job Satisfaction among your educational administrators to help ensure strong retention and strong hiring, adopt these priorities and measure how well you are achieving them via periodic research!

1. PRIORITY 1: Improve work environment and organizational culture

2. PRIORITY 2: Invest in career growth and professional development programs

3. PRIORITY 3: Address salary competitiveness strategically

   
   

REAL-WORLD EXAMPLES

• High job satisfaction schools consistently have strong work environments (67-70% very satisfied)

• Low job satisfaction schools have poor work environments (0-25% very satisfied)

• Career growth shows similar patterns across high and low performing schools

  
  

BOTTOM LINE: Creating a positive, supportive work environment with growth opportunities is far more predictive of administrator job satisfaction than salary alone. Schools should invest in culture and professional development first, then address compensation competitiveness.

RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS

To explore how your school can conduct the research that ensures highly satisfied educational administrators in the drivers of satisfaction please contact Dr. Harry Bloom at harrybloom@benchmarkingforgood.org and take a few minutes to complete a Grant Interest Form so your school can he considered for one of our NO COST research grants.

#Education #Recruitment #Retention #WorkEnvironment