Middle Grades Principal Credentialing: A Vanishing Requirement

Limited research explores how school administrators learn the leadership skills, knowledge, and dispositions that will support young adolescents, particularly how administrators are prepared and credentialed to lead middle grades schools. The purpose of this research was to examine which states offered and/or required administrator credentials specific to middle grades and why states do or do not offer or require such credentialing. Analysis of the data indicates that states are moving away from specific credentialing for middle grades school administrators, with only one state still offering such a credential. Although state credentialing officers indicated the value of a specific middle grades principal credential, the need for flexibility for districts and credential candidates was the overarching reason for eliminating or not having a middle grades administrative credential. Moving away from specific middle grades credentialing has a number of implications for students, schools, preparations programs, and advocates of middle grades education.