Arkansas school districts have spent the past three years absorbing some of the largest changes to public education the state has seen in a generation.

The 2023 LEARNS Act raised the minimum teacher salary, rewrote parts of the accountability system, and set new performance expectations for district leaders. Schools in the Texarkana area and across southwest Arkansas are now working to keep classrooms staffed and student achievement moving; researchers are also focusing on the quality of the people running these educational endeavours.

The evidence on that point has grown harder to dismiss. 

A 2021 review by the Wallace Foundation, which examined 219 separate studies of school leadership, found that replacing a principal in the bottom quarter of effectiveness with one in the top quarter added about three months of additional learning per year for the average student in reading and math. 

Because a principal shapes an entire school rather than a single classroom, that gain reaches every student in the building at once. The report described the effect as both larger and broader than earlier research had suggested.

The influence of educational leaders

Most of a principal’s influence is indirect. School leaders don’t focus on directly teaching the students. Rather, they decide which teachers are assigned to which classrooms, protect instructional time, and set the working conditions that influence teacher performance. The Wallace researchers found that effective principals also reduce teacher turnover, an effect that was strongest in high-poverty schools where staff churn tends to be highest.

Arkansas has recent evidence of how sensitive retention is to the conditions leaders help create. After the LEARNS Act raised the minimum teacher salary from $36,000 to $50,000, researchers at the University of Arkansas tracked whether the increases kept teachers in their jobs. Their analysis found that retention improved, with the largest gains among teachers who received the biggest raises. The average raise was $4,246, and one in four teachers received more than $5,940. The researchers cautioned that the improvement was strongest in the first year and could fade if salaries did not continue to rise. Their broader finding, that teachers stay when they feel supported and see the job as sustainable, applies to leadership as much as to pay.

Educational leaders themselves are also harder to keep than many districts realize. A review of the research by the Learning Policy Institute and the National Association of Secondary School Principals found that about 18 percent of principals leave their positions each year, and that figure climbs to 21 percent in high-poverty schools. When a principal leaves, the disruption tends to spread. 

The same research links principal turnover to higher teacher turnover, and to slower gains in student achievement, with the effect most pronounced in the low-income, lower-performing schools that can least absorb it. That is part of why states and districts have begun paying closer attention to how they identify and prepare the next group of leaders, rather than simply filling openings as they occur.

What effective school leaders do

The Wallace synthesis identified several practices common to strong principals. They work directly with teachers on instruction, build a positive school climate, organize meaningful collaboration among staff, and manage people and budgets with a clear plan. 

Principal-preparation experts tend to group the required skills into a few categories;

Instructional leadership is often cited first. A principal does not need to be the strongest classroom teacher in the building, but must be able to observe a lesson, identify what is limiting student learning, and give feedback that a teacher can act on. 

That ability is invariably different from teaching itself, and generally has to be developed through training and practice.

Communication and collaboration are also pivotal. Principals spend much of the day explaining district decisions to teachers, addressing concerns from parents, and keeping staff focused during difficult periods. Leaders who do this consistently build the trust that helps a school hold together through budget pressures or disappointing test results. 

Strategic thinking and the use of data complete the holy trinity. Arkansas schools now collect extensive information, including the early literacy screenings required under the state’s Science of Reading initiative. Leaders who are relatively comfortable with data are obviously better positioned to address problems before they grow. 

Community engagement also carries particular weight in smaller Arkansas districts, where the school system is often among the largest local employers. Principals and superintendents who keep families informed and treat them as partners tend to maintain steadier enrollment and stronger public support, which can be crucial when funding questions reach local voters.

Preparing for the next step

Research consistently shows that school leaders are made, not born. 

The Wallace Foundation found that principals who completed high-quality preparation programs felt better prepared, retained more of their teachers, and produced stronger student outcomes. For educators considering a move into administration, this points toward building experience and credentials well before a position opens.

Teachers interested in an assistant principal or principal role often begin by leading a department, serving on a school leadership team, or mentoring newer colleagues. Instructional coaches and curriculum specialists typically deepen their expertise in content and coaching. District administrators need broader preparation in school finance, policy, and operations. Experienced educators can prepare for these roles through continued professional development, including Rockhurst University Ed.D. programs, which are designed to help professionals strengthen their leadership capabilities and drive meaningful change in educational settings.

The state has also created incentives aimed at retaining and developing its strongest educators. The LEARNS Act established a Merit Teacher Incentive Fund that pays qualifying teachers up to $10,000 a year, and more than 4,200 teachers took part during the 2024-25 school year, according to state data. Many of those educators represent the pool from which the region’s future principals and superintendents will be drawn.

The gap is widest where staffing is already thin. According to the education department’s distribution data, the southwest corner of Arkansas, which includes the Texarkana area, ranked among the regions with the highest shares of teachers earning merit pay in 2024-25 as districts worked to keep their experienced staff. In smaller districts, those same teachers are often the ones who eventually move into assistant principal and principal roles.