The purpose of the study was to identify the basis of the aspiring principal preparation program (APPP) components Florida school districts provide to their aspiring principals and their relationship, if any, to the state and ISLLC Standards. A total of 50 school districts in Florida participated in this study. The research was guided by the following questions: To what extent do the Florida school districts provide a formal APPP to their current assistant principals? (b) Upon what are the formal APPPs for current assistant principals based: the Florida Principal Competencies (FPCs), the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards, or another source? (c) To what extent do the school district APPPs in the 67 Florida districts have component requirements that include professional development, mentoring, and a performance-based experience? and (d) Are there differences among the APPP components provided by Florida school districts of various sizes? The findings of the study were found through an examination of quantitative and qualitative data that were collected from the Florida Aspiring Principal Program Assessment (FLAPPA) survey and the school districts' APPP brochures located on their websites. This study supported the following conclusions: (a) 75% of the school districts in Florida do provide an APPP for their aspiring principals, (b) the FPCs and the ISLLC Standards are a part of the bases of the components found in APPPs provided by Florida school districts, (c) Florida school districts do provide APPPs that include components of a mentor principal, a performance-based experience, and professional development, (d) very large-sized school districts with a population over 100 thousand students contained the largest percentage of standards-based components in the APPP; small-sized school districts with a population of under 7 thousand students contained the least percentage of standards-based components in the APPP, (e) school districts in Florida recognized the need to modify and were in the process of modifying their APPPs according to the new Florida leadership standards, especially the component of technology, and (f) a lack of funding, time, and assessment were identified as APPP weaknesses and components in need of improvement. Recommendations of this study included: (a) further research on Florida school districts redesign of their APPP components to identify whether or not the components are based upon the new Florida Leadership Standards, especially technology; and the ISLLC educational standards; and (b) further research on Florida school districts providing a mentor principal and support team; professional development, and a performance-based experience to their current assistant principals who participate in an APPP, thus ensuring best practices in the APPP and improving the quality of their future principals.

The purpose of this study was to measure the extent to which school leaders who completed the preparing new principals program in School District A perceived the program's effectiveness in preparing them to demonstrate Florida's principal leadership standards as adopted in November 2011. This study also identified the components of the preparing new principals program that influenced the professional practice of the program completers in their current leadership roles within School District A. This study was conducted at the request of the professional development services designee in School District A and is a companion study to research conducted by Eddie Ruiz and Wesley Trimble. The Preparing New Principals Program Completer Survey was sent to 90 administrators in School District A who completed the preparing new principals program between 2008 and 2011. Follow-up interviews were conducted with six volunteers in order to further clarify responses to the survey and to gather additional input from program completers. Survey results as well as interview data were analyzed in order to give the professional development services designee information for designing a new principal preparation program for School District A.

This study sought to determine to what extend completers of School District A's Preparing New Principals Program (PNPP) are prepared to meet the 2011 Florida Principal Leadership Standards (FPLS). Major questions addressed (a) the perception of principals regarding how well prepared completers of School District A's principal preparation program were to meet the 2011 Florida Principal Leadership Standards, (b) if the perceived importance of the 2011 Florida Leadership Standards varied by leadership level, (c) if the perceived importance of the 2011 Florida Leadership Standards varied by a school's free/reduced lunch percentage, and (d) the 2011 Florida Principal Leadership Standards perceived as the most beneficial to increasing student achievement. This mixed method study employed an online survey. The participants in this study included 46 supervising principals of Preparing New Principals Program completers from an urban school district in central Florida. Findings indicated that principals believed that Preparing New Principals Program completers were prepared to meet the 2011 Florida Principal Leadership Standards. Principals also believed that the following experiences would enhance the program: (a) more meaningful experiences that require participants to solve identified deficiencies, (b) an 18 to 24 month principal internship as opposed to the current eight-week principal internship, and (c) differentiating principal preparation based on participants' experiences and school district needs.

In 2020, the National Association of Secondary School Principals revealed that a staggering 42 percent of principals plan on leaving the profession and that compounds the already alarming rate of teachers leaving the field (National Association of Secondary School Principals, 2020). More locally in Florida, the landscape of educational leadership has changed quickly also adding to this problematic exodus of principals. In order to better understand the principal experience in Florida, particularly with principal preparation, this study seeks to understand how principal preparation, specifically Level II certification preparation, influences efficacy once at the helm of a school. This research uses a modified version of Megan Tschannen-Moran's Principal Sense of Efficacy Scale survey to gauge the perceptions of current principals to inform practice of preparation for leaders of tomorrow. Results reveal that descriptive statistics provided valuable insights into how principals across Florida perceive the impact of their preparation program on their effectiveness. Notably, the utilization of independent-samples t-tests uncovered a significant correlation between gender, particularly female gender, and principal perception. However, when examining the relationship between race and years of service through one-way ANOVA statistics, no significant connections were found, suggesting that these factors did not strongly influence principal perception of their preparation. In a conclusive manner, regression analysis indicated that gender, race, and years of service did not serve as significant influencers on principals' perceptions of their preparation program's efficacy impact. Overall, findings from this study indicate additional research is needed to better understand how efficacy can increase in not just all principals as the result of preparation but also specifically with female principals. Research consistently indicates that principals have the second greatest impact on student outcomes, just behind teachers. When Florida principals express only moderate confidence in their leadership abilities, it raises concerns about their performance in schools. This gap between theoretical knowledge and practical implementation negatively affects students, who deserve better. To address this issue, more attention should be given to developing robust preparation programs that are meaningful and impactful in shaping and sustaining effective principals. By doing so, we can ensure that students receive the best possible educational leadership and support for their academic journey.