An Examination of the Benefits, Limitations, and Challenges of Conducting Randomized Experiments with Principals

Eric M. Camburn, Ellen Goldring, James Sebastian, Henry May, Jason Huff
December 21, 2015

The past decade has seen considerable debate about how to best evaluate the efficacy of educational improvement initiatives, and members of the educational leadership research community have entered the debate with great energy. Throughout this debate, the use of randomized experiments has been a particularly contentious subject. This study examines the potential benefits, limitations, and challenges involved in using experiments to evaluate professional development for principals.

Keywords: Leadership, principals, professional development, experiment, leadership practice

Eric M. Camburn, Ellen Goldring, James Sebastian, Henry May, Jason Huff

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