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The Headmaster Ritual: The Importance of Management for School Outcomes

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  • Anders Böhlmark
  • Erik Grönqvist
  • Jonas Vlachos

Abstract

The role of school principals largely resembles that of corporate managers and the leadership they provide is often viewed as a crucial component for educational success. We estimate the impact of individual principals on various schooling outcomes, by constructing a principal-school panel data set that allows us to track individual principals as they move between schools. We find that individual principals have a substantive impact on school policies, working conditions and student outcomes. Particularly, students who attend a school with a one standard deviation better principal receive on average 0.12 standard deviations higher test scores. Despite having very rich background information on principals, it is difficult to determine which principal characteristics that form the basis for successful school management. We also find a somewhat mixed picture on what management style characterizes a successful principal. We further show that the scope for principal discretion—for better or for worse—is larger in small schools, in voucher schools and in areas with more school competition.
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Suggested Citation

  • Anders Böhlmark & Erik Grönqvist & Jonas Vlachos, 2016. "The Headmaster Ritual: The Importance of Management for School Outcomes," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(4), pages 912-940, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:118:y:2016:i:4:p:912-940
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/sjoe.2016.118.issue-4
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    1. Nicholas Bloom & John Van Reenen, 2007. "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1351-1408.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sebhatu, Abiel & Wennberg, Karl & Lakomaa, Erik & Brandén, Maria, 2020. "Work Environment and Competition in Swedish Schools, 1999-2011," Ratio Working Papers 330, The Ratio Institute.
    2. Mike Helal & Michael Coelli, 2016. "How Principals Affect Schools," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2016n18, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    3. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    4. Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2020. "The effects of student composition on teacher turnover: Evidence from an admission reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    5. Adriana Di Liberto & Fabiano Schivardi & Giovanni Sulis, 2015. "Managerial practices and student performance," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 30(84), pages 683-728.
    6. Propper, Carol & Janke, Katharina & Sadun, Raffaella, 2019. "The Impact of CEOs in the Public Sector: Evidence from the English NHS," CEPR Discussion Papers 13726, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    7. Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2014. "Job mobility among high-skilled and low-skilled teachers," Working Paper Series 2014:14, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    8. Andreas Bergh, 2014. "Sweden and the Revival of the Capitalist Welfare State," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15717.
    9. Di Liberto, Adriana & Giua, Ludovica & Schivardi, Fabiano & Sideri, Marco & Sulis, Giovanni, 2023. "Managerial Practices and Student Performance: Evidence from Changes in School Principals," IZA Discussion Papers 16203, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Jenifer Ruiz-Valenzuela & Camille Terrier & Clémentine Van Effenterre, 2017. "Effectiveness of CEOs in the public sector: evidence from further education institutions," CVER Briefing Notes 005, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    11. Oana Borcan & James Merewood, 2022. "Positive Disruption? Meritocratic Principal Selection and Student Achievement," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2022-11, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    12. Sebhatu, Abiel & Wennberg, Karl & Lakomaa, Erik & Brandén, Maria, 2021. "More Schools, Less Trouble? Competition and Schools’ Work Environment, Sweden 1999–2011," Working Papers 21/1, Stockholm School of Economics, Center for Educational Leadership and Excellence.

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    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

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