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With principal preparation programs offered at five centers in different geographic regions of the state, three of which are in or very near major urban areas, faculty members regularly ask students if they have aspirations to actually become a principal once they complete the program. Those discussions typically include issues like resumes, letters of interest, where to find position openings, how to learn more about a particular position, preparing for interviews, and recruitment processes used by school employers. One additional subject students sometimes ask about, and faculty members always bring up if students do not, is whether after earning their principal license, PLCs (the acronym used by faculty and used in this paper for Principal License Completers) plan to consider and apply for a principal position (includes the position of assistant principal) in a low-performing school. In most regions of our state and in many parts of the nation, low-performing schools are often found in urban and very rural areas (Smith&Piele, 2006). Since all but one of our full-time faculty members and a large majority of our adjunct faculty have experience as building principals, and all supervise principal interns in buildings all over the state, we regularly see evidence of and have discussions with school employers about the need to attract and retain quality principals for low-performing buildings. Recruiting quality principal candidates for these buildings is a major goal and a major challenge.
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