Giving Compass' Take:

• In this Education Dive post, Barbara Sargent, superintendent of Parsippany-Troy Hills School District in New Jersey, outlines a five-step process for choosing principals who are the right fit for a school.

• What can funders or other stakeholders in the educations space do to support this process? It emphasizes the importance of feedback to help build stronger leadership.

• Here's why principals are a vital part of special education success, in particular.

Involving an entire school community — teachers, parents, curriculum supervisors, fellow principals, school board members and students — in the selection of a new principal is critical, according to a five-step hiring tip sheet from Parsippany-Troy Hills School District (N.J.) Superintendent Barbara Sargent, published by District Administration.

Administrators first use a paper screen to evaluate resumes on a rubric, then conduct a screening interview that includes the outgoing principal and other top administrators. The third step is the interview panel made up of teachers, parents, other principals, students and board members who ask questions of the top six, or so, candidates. In a debrief, the panel members can reflect on who they’d eliminate from the candidates, and and finally the welcome, in which a selection is made and announced in a press release.

The new principal is also invited on campus to meet the community. While Sargent made clear that the entire school should be involved in the selection of a principal, she also emphasized that the superintendent is “front and center” during the process, and must ultimately communicate his or her  vision for leadership.

Read the full article about how principal selection improves when whole community is involved by Allie Gross at Education Dive.