David G. Buckman, Ph.D.

Dr. Buckman currently serves as the Associate Dean for Education Partnerships and provides strategic and administrative oversight for the COE's internal and external innovations and initiatives related to strategic partnerships (e.g., school district partnerships, RESA, businesses, etc.) to support growth and innovation within the College of Education. He provides primary administrative direction and support to Georgia's BEST and the Fusion Center partners, including school districts, schools, businesses, full-time faculty, and part-time faculty. 

As a member of the educational leadership faculty, Dr. Buckman researches school human resources issues concerning pay, retention, selection, and succession planning. Because each of these issues influences teacher performance, he feels it is essential to understand how administrative decision-making practices affect teachers and the adverse effect organizational practices have on student achievement.

  • B.S., Physical Education, University of South Carolina, 2008
  • M.Ed., Educational Leadership, University of South Carolina, 2012
  • Ed.S., Educational Leadership, University of South Carolina, 2013
  • Ph.D., Education Administration, University of South Carolina, 2015

Holloway, S., & Buckman, D. G. (2024). Does investing in teachers’ professional development impact teacher retention? Journal of Education Human Resources. (Forthcoming)

Tran, H., Kelley, C., & Buckman, D. G. (2024). Chapter 5: Selection. In Strategic human resources management in schools: Talent-Centered Education Leadership (pp. [111-140]). UCEA/Routledge.

Tran, H., Buckman, D. G., Gause, S., Saul, R., & Bould, R. (2023). Systemic barriers in district principal development and hiring practices for women and people of color in the principalship. Journal of Research on Leadership Education, 0(0), 1-25.

Gause, S., Tran, H., & Buckman, D. G. (2023). Chapter 5: We’re hiring but will they come? The challenges of recruiting racially diverse principal candidates in rural districts. In M. Reichel & C. Rabinowitz (Eds.). Best practices in principal recruitment

Buckman, D. G., & Sloan, B. (2022). Repairing the principal pipeline: Does hiring type slow the leak? International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 17(1), 1-22.

Buckman, D. G., & Tran, H. (2022). Chapter 4 - Scholarship vs. practice: Best succession planning practices from scholarship as compared with practices employed by a large outer-ring suburban school district in the field. In L. Sabina (Ed.). School adminis

Buckman, D. G. (2022). The role of principals in South Carolina’s teacher shortage. In H. Tran & D. Smith (Ed.). How did we get here? The decay of the teaching profession (pp. 227-255). IAP-Information Age Publishing.

Croft, S. J., & Buckman, D. G. (2021). Connecting Title 1 schools and the pre-Brown era: Do contemporary school principals espouse pre-Brown educational beliefs. Voices of Reform, 4(1), 25-42.

Smalls, C. & Buckman, D. G. (2021). Public and private schools: A study of teacher job satisfaction. Educational Leadership Review, 22(1), 54-71.

Buckman, D. G. (2021). The influence of principal retention and principal turnover on teacher turnover. Journal of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, 5, 1-26.

Tran, H., & Buckman D. G. (2021). A descriptive analysis of high need districts’ inequitable access to talent-centered education HR systems. AASA Journal of Scholarship & Practice, 18(3), 21-34.

Buckman, D. G., & Jackson, T. E. (2021). Addressing the gender pay gap: The influence of female and male dominant disciplines on gender pay equity. Journal of Education Finance, 47(1), 71-91.

Buckman, D. G., & Pittman, J. (2021). Student discipline and teacher job satisfaction: A dual district analysis. Georgia Educational Research Journal, 18(2), 1-28.

Buckman, D. G., Hand, N. W. J., & Johnson, A. D. (2021). Improving high school graduation rates through school climate. NASSP Bulletin, 105(1), 5-24.

Tran, H., & Buckman, D. G. (2020). The relationship between districts’ teacher salary schedule structures and the qualifications of their teacher staffing profile. The Journal of School Administration Research and Development, 5(1), 24-34.

Tran, H., & Buckman, D. G., & Johnson, A. D. (2020). Using the hiring process to improve the cultural responsiveness of schools. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 23(2), 70-84

Tran, H., Smith, D., & Buckman, D. G., (Eds.) (2020). Stakeholder engagement: Improving education through multilevel community relations. Lanham, MD: Rowan & Littlefield Publishing Group.

Buckman, D. G., & Tran, H. (2018). Internal and external elementary principal hiring and minimal student achievement: A 5-year cohort model. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 13(1), 1-18.

Jarrett, P., Tran, H., & Buckman, D. G. (2018). Do candidates’ gender and professional experience influence superintendent selection decisions? AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 15(1), 7-21.

Buckman, D. G., Johnson, A. D., & Alexander, D. (2018). Internal versus external promotion: Advancement of teachers to administrators. Journal of Educational Administration, 56(1), 33-49.

Buckman, D. G. (2017). Job satisfaction: A study of the relationship between Right-To-Work policy and public school teachers’ perceptions. Educational Leadership Review, 18(1), 52-63.

Tran, H., & Buckman, D. G. (2017). The impact of principal movement and school achievement on principal pay. Leadership & Policy in Schools, 16(1), 106-129.

Tran, H., & Buckman, D. G. (2016). Pay for progress: The relationship between Florida districts’ teacher salary offerings and their high school dropout rates. Journal of School Public Relations, 37(3), 320-346.

Buckman, D. G., Tran, H., & Young, I. P. (2016). Does collective bargaining influence the pay satisfaction of elementary school teachers? AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 13(1), 37-51.

Geisel, R. T., Bon, S., & Buckman, D. G. (2015). Employee settlement agreements: Effective employment practice or public relations nightmare. Journal of School Public Relations, 36(2), 194-217.

Cox, E. P., Hopkins, M., & Buckman, D. G. (2015). The impact of poverty, school enrollment, and ninth-grade transition programs on promotion. Journal of School Public Relations, 36(1), 111-125.

Buckman, D. G., & Tran, H. (2015). The relationship between school size and high school completion: A Wisconsin study. Journal of Education Policy, Planning and Administration, 5(7), 1-16.

Young, I. P., Cox, E. P., & Buckman, D. G. (2014). A better leveled playing field for assessing satisfactory job performance of superintendent on the basis of high stakes testing outcomes. AASA Journal of Scholarship and Practice, 11(3), 4-15.