The Impact of Principal Movement and School Achievement on Principal Salaries

This study examines whether principals’ movements and school achievement are associated with their salaries. Predictors of principal salaries were examined using three years of panel data. Results from a fixed-effects regression analysis suggest that principals who moved to school leadership positions in other districts leveraged higher salaries (b = 3,187.42, p = 03), but those who moved to other schools within their district did not. School reading performance was found to be positively associated with higher salaries, but there is an increased likelihood this finding was a result of chance (b = 58.10, p =.08). We also conducted sub-analyses to provide further depth to our results.