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The Headmaster Ritual: The Importance of Management for School Outcomes

Author

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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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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Andreas Bergh, 2014. "Sweden and the Revival of the Capitalist Welfare State," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 15717, June.
    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. 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, IZA Network @ LISER.
    8. Karbownik, Krzysztof, 2020. "The effects of student composition on teacher turnover: Evidence from an admission reform," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    9. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    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. Emma Duchini & Victor Lavy & Stephen Machin & Shqiponja Telhaj, 2025. "Personnel policy in public sector organizations: evidence from England's academy schools," CEP Discussion Papers dp2129, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    12. 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..
    13. 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.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

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

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