| All Hands on Deck to Support Principals | 23663 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 | <p>“Replace isolation with collaboration.” That was the theme of a recent <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n012s3KPDlg&feature=youtu.be">webinar</a>, which featured findings from a <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/states-as-leaders,-followers-and-partners-essa-luniversity-principal-prep.aspx">report</a> by Paul Manna, director of public policy and the Hyman Distinguished University Professor of Government at William & Mary. <br>
<br>The report draws from two Wallace-supported initiatives aimed at developing and supporting principals. The ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC) brought together 11 state teams that included representatives from districts, community groups, state agencies and others to promote effective school leadership. The University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) focused on improving pre-service school leadership training by assembling universities, school districts, and state agencies to redesign university-based preparation programs.<br>
<br>Manna shared the common lessons highlighted in his report:</p><p></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">State standards are a powerful cross-cutting policy lever to help shape specific decisions about training, developing, and supporting principals.</div><p></p><p></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">When states foster networks that connect districts, universities and other partners, creative problem-solving emerges and programs are likely to succeed. </div><p></p><p></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">States, districts, universities, and other partners each have a role to play in supporting principals. </div><p></p><p>You can find Manna’s full presentation <a href="/News-and-Media/Videos-and-Presentations/Documents/ecosystems-of-policy-and-practice-develop-support-principals.pdf">here</a> and view the webinar <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n012s3KPDlg&feature=youtu.be">here</a>.<br>
<br>
A panel followed the presentation and, while the central theme was collaboration, panelists representing districts, state, and universities did not shy away from the challenges. </p><p>For Ebony Love, director of continuous improvement at the Texas Education Agency, building trust was something that took time but was critical to true collaboration. She said her team worked on listening and demonstrating that their goal was not compliance but partnership. She noted that when organizations and partners started to see the state education agency as an advocate, their conversations moved in a more positive direction. </p><p class="wf-Element-Callout">“Are we willing to lay down our righteousness and do what’s best for kids?” Smith-Anderson said.<br></p><p>Sheila Smith-Anderson, district leadership consultant at St. Louis Public Schools, similarly shared that every collaborator comes to the table with their own agenda. It’s important to remember, she said, that at the end of the day, their agendas are about helping our nation’s children.</p><p>“Are we willing to lay down our righteousness and do what’s best for kids?” Smith-Anderson said.</p><p>Moderator Carol Johnson Dean, a former school superintendent, acknowledged that doing more together takes time and effort. “It will require a different mindset about what has to happen,” she said.</p><p>“I can attest to the fact that it’s worth it,” said Richard Gonzales, an associate professor at the Neag School of Education at UConn.</p><p>Gonzales highlighted one successful approach to the <a href="/news-and-media/blog/pages/it-takes-a-village-to-train-an-effective-principal.aspx">collaborative efforts he led as part of UPPI</a>: expanding the definition of expertise to be more inclusive. He pointed out that while universities are often seen as the experts, states, districts, communities, families and students all bring their own expertise to the table. All of their voices should be part of building effective preparation programs, he said.<br></p><p class="wf-Element-Callout">“Start somewhere,” Manna said. “Get some wins and feel the momentum, feel the energy, build around that, and eventually you’ll start to add up these small wins.”<br></p><p>All panelists agreed that there is no one-size-fits all approach to supporting principals.<br> <br>
“Start somewhere,” Manna said. “Get some wins and feel the momentum, feel the energy, build around that, and eventually you’ll start to add up these small wins.”</p><p>Watch the full webinar <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n012s3KPDlg&feature=youtu.be">here</a>. </p> | Andrea Ruggirello | 114 | | 2023-02-09T05:00:00Z | Your source for research and ideas to expand high quality learning and enrichment opportunities. Supporting: School Leadership, After School, Summer and Extended Learning Time, Arts Education and Building Audiences for the Arts. | | 2/9/2023 7:02:01 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / All Hands on Deck to Support Principals State, district, and university leaders discuss systems and tools to better equip | 1144 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Focusing on Principal Wellness: 6 Questions for School Leaders | 23767 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 |
<p>For many, this year has been the start of a return to normalcy. But the overwhelming challenges facing schools, students and principals continue to evolve. According to
<a href="https://survey.nassp.org/2022/?__hstc=180157371.bac77909d6215da4a21e8c328eb24c35.1664827493701.1665580618882.1665602121992.5&__hssc=180157371.4.1665602121992&__hsfp=3339776304#leaders" target="_blank">NASSP’s 2022 Survey of America’s School Leaders and High School Students</a>, one out of two school leaders say their stress level is so high, they are considering a career change or retirement, and three-quarters of school leaders report they needed help with their mental or emotional health last year. </p><p>That’s why the focus of this year’s
<a href="https://www.principalsmonth.org/celebrate-your-principal/" target="_blank">National Principals Month</a> is on principal wellness. Celebrated every October, National Principals Month is an opportunity to honor school principals for their leadership and tireless dedication to their students and schools.</p><p>We spoke with four principals—who, together, have more than 30 years of experience as school leaders—about what inspired them to become principals, how they deal with burnout and the impact of the pandemic, among other topics. Their responses have been edited for length and clarity.</p><p>
<img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/focusing-on-principal-wellness-6-questions-for-school-leaders/Kimberly_Greer_Photo.jpg" alt="Kimberly_Greer_Photo.jpg" class="wf-Image-Right" style="margin:5px;width:189px;height:252px;" /><em>Kimberly Greer started her fifth year as principal at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia, this year.</em></p><p>
<em> </em></p><p>
<strong>What inspired you to become a principal?</strong></p><div>
<em></em>I have been inspired by the need to ensure success for all students. While it is easy to focus on the majority, we must make sure all students are seen, respected and their needs properly addressed. I feel it is my calling to ensure each student is valued and feels a part of their school community.</div><div>
<strong><br></strong></div><div>
<strong>Reflecting on the past two years, what are some of the biggest impacts that the pandemic has had on your job?</strong><br></div><div>
<strong><br></strong></div><p>Being a principal has never been easy. However, since the pandemic, school leaders have had to work on supporting the emotional needs of stakeholders. In addition to meeting the needs of students, we’ve had to address the emotional wellness of staff members. Mental health challenges faced by students are greater. The biggest impact of the pandemic is it has provided opportunities to have conversations regarding mental health. We’ve used the pandemic as a chance to normalize these conversations and to remove the stigma associated with the topic. </p><p>
<strong>There have been many articles circulating about principal burnout. Have you experienced this and if so, how have you dealt with it? </strong></p><p>I haven’t experienced burnout, but weariness has been felt at varying times over the past two years. I approach each day as a new opportunity. This has helped me to avoid burnout. Educational leadership isn’t easy. What keeps me going is the recognition that I have thousands of students and their families depending on me, as well as hundreds of staff members. I must provide support to all stakeholders so we are able to remain focused on students and their success.</p><p>
<strong>What do principals need in order to feel supported?</strong></p><p>We need first and foremost for our humanity to be recognized. We are people who carry the weight of our schools, divisions and communities on our shoulders. We need people to check on us and make sure we're okay. Concern for our mental and physical wellness goes a long way. We are strong individuals, but we are human.<br></p><p>
<strong>What advice do you have for aspiring principals?</strong></p><p>Build your network. Realize you can’t do it alone. Have fun. The job is tough, but find joy in the work. Young people are incredible, and we’re blessed to be a part of their journeys.</p><p>
<strong>What is the best part about being a principal? What experience will stay with you long after you’ve retired?</strong></p><p>The best part is seeing your vision realized. It is incredible to consider that our decisions today will continue to impact our students long after they graduate. The experience that will stay with me is hearing seniors at last year’s graduation recite the sign-off I have used during the morning announcements since I became principal in 2018. This gesture meant they were listening and taking to heart the message I work daily to impart to students: be kind-hearted human beings who take care of yourselves and one another.<br><br> </p><p>
<em>
<img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/focusing-on-principal-wellness-6-questions-for-school-leaders/Twainna_Fortner_Calhoun_photo.jpg" alt="Twainna_Fortner_Calhoun_photo.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:195px;height:195px;" />Twainna Calhoun, principal at Good Hope Middle School in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, has been in school administration for 20 years and has been principal at her current school for 17 years. </em></p><p>
<strong>What inspired you to become a principal?</strong></p><p>I think I've always had leadership in me. I have nine siblings, and I was led by awesome principals during my career. Every one of my principals saw something in me that they also thought would make a good leader. The legacy laid out in front of me inspired me to be a principal.</p><p>
<strong>Reflecting on the past two years, what are some of the biggest impacts that the pandemic has had on your job? </strong></p><p>The isolation. The students, teachers and parents had been social distancing. And we’re finally getting back to where we were in March 2020. The isolation had a huge impact on my building and getting everyone motivated again. It seemed like the students post-pandemic lost motivation and had given up, but we just had to make it fun again. For instance, we started having pep rallies and spirit days again. The kids really enjoy that. That’s part of the school experience. The social aspect is important as well as the academics.</p><p>
<strong>There have been many articles circulating about principal burnout. Have you experienced this and if so, how have you dealt with it? </strong></p><p>I have, definitely. As a matter of fact, this time last year I was job searching. I just thought I couldn’t do it anymore because one thing after another was compounding. But my principal colleagues—being a part of NASSP, being a part of the Louisiana Association of Principals—have helped me. Listening to their stories and knowing that I’m not alone helped me realize I can get through this. I’m not trying to be cliché, but the first day of school this year was probably the most excited I’ve been because I just put the spirit back into being a principal. I was born to do this. I came back and remembered my purpose. There are going to be roadblocks. My students, my staff and my own children are what inspired me to keep going. </p><p>
<strong>What do principals need in order to feel supported?</strong></p><p>Districts can show support by attending our sporting events. It is helpful for district personnel to drop in and visit, not simply when there is a crisis. An "atta girl" goes a long way when you are a building leader. </p><p>
<strong>What advice do you have for aspiring principals?</strong></p><p>Be confident. Because you are the building leader. You have to make decisions that are not popular, but you have to be confident in what you do. You have to be intentional, and be a good listener. Listening goes beyond paying attention when other people talk. It’s your response. You have to be a motivator. But I think the most important thing is being confident in what you do. You have to be prepared to be the decision maker. Take the bad and the good. You’re going to get the praise one day, and not so good feedback the next. Be organized. Be balanced, and be a visionary. You have to see beyond tomorrow.</p><p>
<strong>What is the best part about being a principal? What experience will stay with you long after you’ve retired?</strong></p><p>The best part of being a principal is building relationships. I was born and raised here, and I’ve been in my building for 17 years. I’ve built relationships with teachers, and even after they’ve retired, I still communicate with them. One of my students is about to be my dentist now. Another student is now a teacher in our building, and he said I inspired him to become a teacher. I’ve actually had three students come back to teach. So just that experience of them coming back and wanting to be part of the process will stay with me long after I’ve retired.<br><br></p><p>
<em><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/focusing-on-principal-wellness-6-questions-for-school-leaders/Aaron_Huff_Headshot.jpeg" alt="Aaron_Huff_Headshot.jpeg" class="wf-Image-Right" style="margin:5px;width:189px;height:284px;" />Aaron Huff, principal at Benjamin Bosse High School in Evansville, Indiana, spent three years working as an assistant principal and has now been a principal for 11 years. </em></p><p>
<strong>What inspired you to become a principal?</strong></p><p>I started working at the YMCA in youth outreach my senior year of high school and continued that work through college as an afterschool care supervisor while attending Ball State University. Upon graduation, I returned to my school district and started working as a site coordinator. During my time at BSU, my mother had become an assistant principal, and I watched her impact generations of children and families. She became a highly recognizable assistant principal and principal. One who garnered the respect of the whole community. People always spoke about the impact she had on their life. Little did I know that my becoming a principal would lead to me replacing my mother as the principal of Bosse High School. </p><p>
<strong>Reflecting on the past two years, what are some of the biggest impacts that the pandemic has had on your job? </strong></p><p>I would say the biggest impacts the pandemic has had on the principalship relate to the mental health of students and staff. Also, I have seen an increase in student apathy. We are now experiencing the ripple effects of a prolonged pause in education. There are economic impacts and prolonged health impacts. The shortage of teachers and administration is a real challenge for the future of education.</p><p>
<strong>There have been many articles circulating about principal burnout. Have you experienced this and if so, how have you dealt with it? </strong></p><p>I'd be lying if I said I hadn't. I am just fortunate to have a village around me that is extremely supportive and encouraging. I work with great individuals and students that keep me motivated. Burnout is experienced when I have to deal with the outside noise around education that prevents me from doing the things most important to our children and advancing our school. I also try to find the "balance," literally and figuratively. I have taken up hot yoga, and that time on the mat is precious and is the opportunity for me to hit the reset button.</p><p>
<strong>What do principals need in order to feel supported?</strong></p><p>I think principals need to be heard. Their voice then causes decision-makers to reevaluate, reconsider and adjust policy, practice and protocols that negatively impact the principalship. Acknowledge and support the work principals are doing to improve student educational outcomes.</p><p>
<strong>What advice do you have for aspiring principals?</strong></p><p>Anyone can put time and energy into a position. As a principal, pour your heart into it, and keep students at the center. Organizations can't grow without great leaders willing to grow the people around them while they grow. Seek out various perspectives and schools of thought. Don't be consumed by maintaining day-to-day operations. Choose to think outside the box, and give permission to the people you lead to think outside the box. </p><p>
<strong>What is the best part about being a principal? What experience will stay with you long after you’ve retired?</strong></p><p>The students, families, colleagues and friends you interact with daily. They become your family. I love the ability to alter a young person's life for the better.  I value collaborative leadership and learning from others. Giving space for teachers to become leaders within the building. Creating an environment that students, families and community members love and want to be a part of. I cherish the connections with students and former students. Those are great memories. When you run into former students in the community, and they simply say thank you and share what they are doing now is what will stay with me.<br><br></p><p>
<em><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/focusing-on-principal-wellness-6-questions-for-school-leaders/Lawson_Charles_Derrick__Headshot_2022.jpg" alt="Lawson_Charles_Derrick__Headshot_2022.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:159px;height:239px;" />Derrick Lawson has been principal at Indio High School in Indio, California, for seven years and is in his 37th year of working in education.
<strong></strong></em></p><p>
<strong>What inspired you to become a principal?</strong></p><p>During my high school years, I was facing some significant personal life challenges. One of the assistant principals at my high school went the second, third and fourth mile to make a difference in my life and to ensure that the potential he saw in me would come to fruition. He and his wife both invested time and resources to help me stay connected to school and get through the circumstances that could have resulted in my going off in a direction that would have led me to become a very different person from who I am today. I want to do the same for others.</p><p>
<strong>Reflecting on the past two years, what are some of the biggest impacts that the pandemic has had on your job? </strong></p><p>First, recalibrating the way I spend my time in order to address the needs of my staff. We’ve had to find a new balance to their own responses to trauma and new energy levels when they are taxed to the point of exhaustion trying to meet the needs of students in this new post-COVID paradigm. The second biggest impact is leading my school family in the reestablishment of our school culture. So many of our kids came back impacted by anxiety, fear and personal trauma, or they have returned with an exuberance and zeal for being back at school. There really is no middle ground and, in reality, only my seniors were truly a part of the school culture that existed prior to the pandemic. It is as if we are having to begin at “ground zero” once again. I am perpetually reminding everyone that we cannot take for granted that all of our staff and students fully remember, understand or embrace all of the traditions, expectations and experiences that make us who we are as a school.</p><p>
<strong>There have been many articles circulating about principal burnout. Have you experienced this and if so, how have you dealt with it? </strong></p><p>While burnout has not been something I’ve experienced, I will say yes, I have experienced some exhausting times of stress and have had to take some specific actions to make sure that burnout does not become a potential on my horizon. I make it a point daily to take a break and find my point of joy. When I was an elementary school principal, that was visiting a kindergarten class full of kids hanging on my pant leg and wanting to hang all over me as I read a story to them. That was such a gratifying and fulfilling experience. In my high school, it may be shooting a few hoops at PE with some of my kids, going to the band room and having an impromptu performance on the piano during a practice piece or joining a science lab group as one of the students. My kids keep me level.<strong></strong></p><p>
<strong>What do principals need in order to feel supported?</strong></p><p>From parents, principals need patience and grace. We care about their kids, too! But when we are juggling so many things at once, some days it is like drinking water from a firehose. I tell my parents, your issue or concern is not lost or ignored, we just may need time to be able to address it appropriately. From peers, we need one another’s empathy on those challenging days. Brilliance and expertise on days when we need to tap the skill set of others so that we can learn. Being the leader at the top can be a solitary place at times. From the district, we need flexibility in mandates and deadlines. Every day is different as we strive to uplift our staff and students and as we try to address the demands and pressures to provide a “return to normalcy” while also entertaining the changes of a whole new education paradigm. From students, we need their commitment to: experience school—get involved in activities, clubs, sports and career tech pathways; Explore—new learning, stretch yourself, grow; and Exhibit—good character, acceptance of others, making good choices and being a member of our school family.</p><p>
<strong>What advice do you have for aspiring principals?</strong></p><p>I feel strongly that as school site administrators, we have the potential to have the greatest impact on shaping the next generation. I recommend my own version of the ‘three R’s’: relationships, reflection and renewal. It is important that we take the time to first build relationships with fellow site administrators and to provide mutual support and inspiration. Second, it is important to end each and every day with a moment of reflection. What would you do differently? Give yourself some kudos and reflect on something you did well or on how you made an impact, and let that be the last thing you think about when you go home for the evening. Make certain that it is not the challenges, but the successes that you bring home with you. Finally, take time for renewal. Refill your emotional bucket with some self-care. Refill your professional bucket by learning something new. And then include time for physical renewal with exercise, meditation, or something else that recharges your battery.</p><p>
<strong>What is the best part about being a principal? What experience will stay with you long after you’ve retired?</strong></p><p>The best part about being a principal is the relationships that we build as we seek to guide and develop better talents for the futures of students and staff. I have a folder that I call my “blue folder”. Here I save every card, every story, every email—the smiles, the memories and the treasured moments where I was able to make a difference. While I may not be rich in dollars, I am one of the wealthiest people you will ever meet when it comes to memories and connections. I am blessed daily to cross paths with people who, over my years as a principal, stop to share a smile, a hug, a thank you or a treasured memory. That is pure gold.</p> | Jenna Doleh | 91 | | 2022-10-26T04:00:00Z | Four principals reflect on their experiences and share how we can support them during National Principals Month—and throughout the year. | | 10/26/2022 6:23:06 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Focusing on Principal Wellness: 6 Questions for School Leaders Four principals reflect on their experiences and share how | 3985 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| How Principals have Survived (and Thrived!) During the Pandemic | 42465 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 |
<p>Another school year is well under way, and we can’t imagine getting through the trials and tribulations of the last twenty months without our principals. School leaders have always been incredibly committed to ensuring that our students grow, learn and play in a safe, nurturing space—not to mention their support of the entire staff, faculty, parents and larger school community. While they deserve recognition every day for their commitment and hard work, we are delighted to join in the celebration of <a href="https://www.principalsmonth.org/about/" target="_blank">National Principals Month</a> this October.</p><p>To get a clearer picture of principals’ challenges and successes right now, as well as insights into how they can best be supported, we spoke with Beverly Hutton, chief programs officer of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP,) along with Gracie Branch, associate executive director, professional learning, and Danny Carlson, associate executive director, policy and advocacy, both of the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).</p><p>
<strong>Principals Need Support, Inclusion and Encouragement</strong></p><p>“To address principals’ various needs, they need support from a myriad of sources in a myriad of ways,” says Carlson. He points to research from the just-released report, <em><a href="https://www.naesp.org/leaders-we-need-now/" target="_blank">Leaders We Need Now</a></em>, which indicates that the pandemic has changed the profession.</p><p>“Principals have become mail deliverers, bus drivers, contract tracers and more,” Hutton says. “Things are changing every single day. They need some grace and real support.”</p><p>One such support noted in the report is long-term funding, including funding to support in-school mental and physical health for students. While incoming American Rescue Plan funding is crucial in the short-term, many of the issues principals are facing are here for the long-term. Investing in the principal and teacher workforce infrastructure can help principals confront any underlying systemic challenges. Additionally, educator shortages due to low morale and early retirements continue to be a problem.</p><p>Hutton noted that principals also need to be included in important conversations about American Rescue Plan funding, as they will need to strategically manage those funds when they come in.</p><p>“Principals know their schools better than anyone,” Carlson says. “They have unique insight into what will be the most beneficial resources for their school communities.”</p><p>
<strong>The Role of Principal Supervisors</strong></p><p>Principal supervisors
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/changing-the-principal-supervisor-role-to-better-support-principals.aspx">play an important role</a> in providing the support that many principals need,so Hutton urges them to be present with their principals. “Be on the front lines with them to see what they really need,” she says.</p><p>Branch, too, encourages principal supervisors to make it clear to their principals that their physical and mental well-being is being prioritized. Supervisors must remember that principals can’t do everything, she notes. As new initiatives emerge or are passed down from the state level, responsibilities must be delegated.</p><p>“The job cannot be bigger than the person asked to do the job,” she says.</p><p>Principals need access to preparation and professional learning, and that learning must be up to date. Moreover as their role shifts and they are forced to confront a neverending parade of new challenges, principals can only step up to the plate if they are equipped and empowered to do so. Because principals often feel tied to their school buildings, they need encouragement from their supervisors to not only find opportunities for ongoing learning but also to engage with those opportunities.</p><p>
<strong>Principals are Leading Communities into the Future</strong></p><p>All three people we spoke to said that principals have used the challenges of the last 20 months as opportunities to innovate. Many principals have secured access to digital hardware and broadband internet for their students. They've also encouraged creative approaches to teaching in the classroom and online to transform students’ learning experiences.</p><p>“We’re blazing trails that will make school much more inclusive, equitable and relevant moving forward,” says Hutton.</p><p>Principals are building out their communities as well. According to Branch, they are eager to connect with their peers and learn from each other, using social media platforms, book groups and other venues to understand how others are coping with the fallout from the pandemic.</p><p>Branch also points to new roles that principals are creating within their school community that may have never existed before. They include attendance liaisons, wellness coaches for adults and students, instructional coaches, SEL coaches and more.</p><p>“Principals know they need extra supports,” says Branch. “They currently have the funding to put people resources in place. However, principals also fear these critical positions will go away when their funding goes away.”</p><p>
<a href="/knowledge-center/school-leadership/pages/default.aspx">Research</a> can help support a school’s or district’s advocacy for additional funds. It can also help amplify best practices and provide exemplars of infrastructure and programs that effectively support principals, so they, in turn, can be more effective at their jobs. Just as importantly, these findings can also help districts and schools improve principal retention.</p><p>“The
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/how-principals-affect-students-and-schools-a-systematic-synthesis-of-two-decades-of-research.aspx">research is clear</a> about the impact of school leaders on the school environment,” says Hutton. “Any investment should be considered a highly cost-effective approach to school improvement.”</p><p>
<strong>Principals Matter</strong></p><p>While it’s only October, Branch told us that principals are reporting feeling as exhausted as they usually do in March during a typical school year. That’s why pausing to acknowledge and appreciate their work now—and on a regular basis—is important.</p><p>“Principals are on the front lines,” Branch says. “They are the ‘boots on the ground’ for their school, and many are at the lowest points in their careers [right now]…people stay where they are cared about and appreciated.”</p><p>Hutton vehemently agrees, stating that celebrating principals could help with the burnout she is seeing in the profession across the country: “We have to recognize that school leaders, along with hospital workers and educators, have taken us through this pandemic on their shoulders. Buildings closed but schooling continued. That alone is a reason to celebrate principals this year in particular.”</p><p>Branch hopes that through all they’ve weathered, principals will remain hopeful.</p><p>“They are part of the most amazing profession,” she says. “And the country desperately needs their expertise, their courage, their resilience and their compassion.” Principals, too, do not need to go through their journey alone, she says, reminding them that national associations like NAESP and state organizations are here to help.</p><p>Hutton adds that NASSP is also here for principals, to help provide safe spaces for school leaders to connect with each other regularly. “Get the emotional support that you can, so you can get through this,” she urges all principals. “And hang in there.”<br></p><p>
<em>Photo by Claire Holt. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2018.</em><br></p> | Andrea Ruggirello | 114 | | 2021-10-26T04:00:00Z | Recognizing our school leaders’ as essential workers during National Principals Month—and every month of the year | | 10/27/2021 7:30:40 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / How Principals have Survived (and Thrived!) During the Pandemic Recognizing our school leaders’ as essential workers during | 1402 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Think States Play No Role in Shaping Effective Principals? Think Again. | 42579 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 |
<p>States often tread lightly when it comes to assuming a full role in improving principal quality. They are concerned, among other things, about overreach into an area—public education—where local authority is prized. But that doesn’t mean states have to be bystanders as interest in cultivating effective school leadership grows. Indeed, according to a RAND report published by Wallace last fall, states have seven key policy levers to consider pulling:<br></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Setting principal standards<br></div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Recruiting promising candidates into the profession</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Licensing new and veteran principals<br></div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Approving and overseeing principal preparation programs</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Supporting principals’ growth with professional development</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Evaluating principals</div><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Supporting “leader tracking systems,” online systems to collect and analyze data on aspiring and established school leaders.</div><p>The report,<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/using-state-level-policy-levers-to-promote-principal-quality.aspx"><em>Using State-level Policy Levers to Promote Principal Quality</em></a>, examines how seven states have pulled these levers, or not, as well as what helps and hinders effective use of the levers.  A <a href="/knowledge-center/Documents/Infographic-Policies-Seven-States-Enacted-to-Promote-the-Quality-of-Principal-Preparation.pdf">new infographic</a> also details what pulling the levers can entail as well as the degree to which the seven states have used each one. The states—California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia—are part of Wallace’s <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/launching-redesign-university-principal-preparation-programs.aspx">University Principal Preparation Initiative</a>, an effort bringing together university-based preservice school leadership programs, school districts and states to improve principal training.  </p><p>We spoke via email with Susan Gates, a senior researcher at RAND and the lead author of the report, to find out more about using state policy levers for better school leadership. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.</p><p><strong>What’s the main lesson of your study for states that may be eyeing the principalship and considering what steps to take to improve it?</strong></p><p>When setting policy priorities related to the principalship, states need to consider the mix of policy levers they are currently using compared with the full range of options we outline in the report. What are you doing that is working well? What is not working so well? Think about how your successes could be leveraged to improve upon the gap areas. For example, all of the University Principal Preparation Initiative states have leader standards and are using them to promote principal quality to some degree, but not consistently across all levers. Extending the use of leader standards to levers where they are not currently used—such as evaluation—to create coherence across the entire pathway is a good option for states to consider.</p><p>Another key insight is that the pathway to the principalship is more complicated than most people think, and it differs state to state. The seven levers our report highlights typically target specific stages of the pathway. The best levers for one state to focus on may be different from those for another because the two states may have dissimilar pathways.    </p><p><strong>What else did you find out about the varying routes to becoming a principal among the states you examined?  </strong></p><p>When people think about the pathway to the principalship, they often have something simple in mind. A teacher attends a graduate program, gets a license and becomes a principal. We found that the pathway to the principalship is much more complex than that. It is common for there to be multiple stages in the licensure process. In addition, some states have alternative pathways that allow candidates to bypass state-approved preparation programs. This was true in three of the seven initiative states—California, Kentucky and Virginia. These alternative pathways are really interesting. If used with restraint, they can allow states to increase the stringency of program regulation and oversight without unduly burdening specific districts—because there is a work-around districts can pursue when they want to hire a compelling candidate who did not attend a state-approved program. But if used excessively, these alternative pathways can render state-approved programs irrelevant. These alternative pathways have potentially important implications for the use of other levers, and states should gather and examine data about the prevalence and implications of their use.</p><p><strong>You emphasize that a change in one area of state principal policy can trigger changes in others. Why does that matter?</strong></p><p>Our study highlights that the seven policy levers are highly interconnected. By reinforcing the ties between and among levers, states can amplify their effectiveness. We saw numerous examples of this. For example, program approval requirements in most states include that programs engage in effective candidate recruitment practices such as getting input from districts. Another example is that principal licensure, as I suggested earlier, typically requires completion of a state-approved principal preparation program. As a result, licensure requirements drive aspiring principals into programs that are in turn shaped by state policy. This interconnectedness means that when new policies are implemented that target one lever, they can have downstream or upstream implications for other levers. For example, when states change the assessment they use for state licensure, state-approved principal preparation programs modify their programs to support the success of their students on these assessments—even when the state’s program approval requirements do not explicitly change.  </p><p><strong>Of the various key levers states can pull to improve school leadership, one stands out for having received nearly universal agreement in the seven states that it was effective in promoting principal quality: leader standards. Why are standards so powerful?</strong></p><p>Leader standards are important because they provide a way of communicating priorities and objectives about the principalship that is relevant to all stakeholder groups (aspiring and current leaders, principal preparation programs and districts) and across all stages of the pathway to the principalship. Standards help states reinforce the ties between and among levers. For example, stakeholders we interviewed reported that program approval and licensure requirements were viewed as more effective when clearly aligned with standards.<br>
<br>
<strong>On the other hand, few of the people you interviewed for the report thought the recruitment lever was being used effectively. What do you think might be keeping states from pressing this lever more forcefully?</strong></p><p>Recruitment is a particularly complex one for states because using it effectively involves influencing the behavior of all three groups of policy targets: aspiring leaders, programs and districts. Aspiring leaders must be encouraged to enroll in a state-approved principal preparation program, programs must be encouraged to accept high-potential candidates and districts must encourage those with potential to pursue the pathway to the principalship. The decision to enroll in a particular program requires the aspiring leader to make a financial commitment to the principal pathway in general and to a particular program. That can be a dealbreaker even in situations where all three groups agree that a particular candidate would be a good leader and that a particular institution is a good fit for that candidate.</p><p>All of the states in our study establish pre-requisites for admission to state-approved principal preparation programs and most encourage these programs to collaborate with districts in the candidate admission process. But only one of the states has a state-funded effort that provides financial resources to promising candidates to attend designated preparation programs. I think this approach is not used more widely because of the costs associated with it and the political difficulty associated with allocating state funds to support an aspiring principal’s pre-service preparation at some but not all state-approved programs.    </p><p><strong>The report describes a number of ways to encourage change—coupling mandates with support, for example, or engaging early on with the variety of people and institutions that have a stake in the policy at hand. But you note that “among the most significant” policy changes you saw were those that emerged from efforts that had piggybacked on earlier K-12 education reforms. What’s an example? Why does this approach work?</strong></p><p>There’s a lot going on at the state level when it comes to education policy, and the principalship is often what is called a “low agenda status” topic in this space. It’s just not on the radar of a lot of people. This can make it difficult for principal quality to bubble up to the top of the priority list for policy change. One way to get principal quality initiatives on the agenda and successfully implemented is to link them clearly to a broader state education priority. Even better is to craft principal quality initiatives that piggyback on prior initiatives targeting teachers. For example, if the state revamps the teacher evaluation system or assessment for aspiring teachers, it can leverage that work and advance related efforts to revise principal evaluation systems or assessments for aspiring leaders. By leveraging the prior efforts, the costs of developing the system or assessment itself may be lower and some of the political legwork needed to achieve buy-in will have already been done. <br>
<br>
<strong>State policymakers—like their counterparts on the federal, local and school-district level—find themselves in an unprecedented moment. They are facing not only the pandemic’s dire effects on education but also the nation’s long overdue reckoning with racial justice. Is there a way in which state school leadership policy can help provide a beneficial response to these developments?</strong></p><p>The challenges facing our nation’s schools and school districts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and reckoning with racial justice pose deep questions for state policymakers that go well beyond school leadership policy. Within the school leadership space, the base of evidence about how to effectively address these challenges is relatively thin. Our study found that policy lever use is perceived as effective when it is grounded in evidenced-based, rigorous requirements. We also found that stakeholder engagement allows states to leverage expertise from across the state and expand and or supplement state capacity in order to push forward on a change agenda.</p><p>So as a first step, states could support knowledge-building about equity-centered and crisis-oriented school leadership, tapping a wide range of stakeholders to inform next steps.  This could take the form of support for learning communities, or the development of templates for districts or preparation programs to use as they engage with community groups on these complex issues.</p><p>Another idea would be for states to orient their support for principal professional development toward these issues. Our study found that PD was being <em>used </em>by all states, but stakeholders in only three states felt that it was being  <em>used effectively</em> to promote principal quality. Professional development was a real focus of new state activity during the study time frame, with most states launching efforts to expand PD support. Orienting these efforts toward these pressing concerns is something states could consider.<br><br></p> | Wallace editorial team | 79 | | 2021-07-22T04:00:00Z | Researcher discusses seven policy levers states can pull to improve school leadership | | 7/22/2021 5:00:29 AM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Think States Play No Role in Shaping Effective Principals Researcher discusses seven policy levers states can pull to | 1056 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Districts That Succeed: What Are They Doing Right? | 23751 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 | <p>“You can fix schools all you want; if the districts within which they reside are dysfunctional, the schools will not stay fixed,” writes Karin Chenoweth, writer-in-residence at The Education Trust, at the start of her latest book, <a href="https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/districts-that-succeed"><em>Districts That Succeed: Breaking the Correlation Between Race, Poverty, and Achievement</em></a>, which was supported by The Wallace Foundation<em>. </em>After visiting dozens of high performing and rapidly improving schools around the country, Chenoweth came to this conclusion when she saw some of these schools fall apart after getting a new principal who upended the systems that were previously working. Districts are the ones that hire the principals, Chenoweth points out, and dysfunctional districts are more likely to hire the wrong person or fail to support a weak principal. </p><img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/Districts-That-Succeed-What-Are-They-Doing-Right/Chenoweth_cover_final.jpg" alt="Chenoweth_cover_final.jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;color:#555555;font-size:14px;width:144px;" /><span style="color:#555555;font-size:14px;"><span></span></span><div>We sat down with the author to talk more about what she learned as she researched successful school districts and what she hopes readers will take away from the book. </div><div><strong><br></strong></div><div><strong>Why did you want to look at districts? What role do they play in student achievement?</strong></div><p>For years I have written about schools that serve children of color and children from low-income backgrounds and that are high performing or rapidly improving. Ultimately each is a powerful testament to the power of school leaders to be able to marshal the full power of schools to help students. </p><p>But by the time I wrote my last book, <a href="https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/schools-that-succeed"><em>Schools that Succeed: How Educators Marshal the Power of Systems for Improvement</em></a>, I realized that even when principals lead huge improvement, if the districts they live in are dysfunctional, the schools won’t stay fixed. Principals take other jobs, get promoted, or retire, and if district leaders don’t understand the kind of leadership schools need, they are liable to replace them with principals who don’t understand how to continue the improvement process and the school tragically falls apart. So, I wanted to explore what it looks like when district leaders do understand the key role of school leaders.</p><p>In addition, as I talk with highly effective principals, I have heard many stories of how they have to shield their schools from district initiatives and directives because district leaders far too often undermine school improvement rather than support it.  </p><p>I wanted to dig into that more in this book by examining what successful and improving districts look like and how they function.  </p><p><strong>How does this book build on the lessons in your earlier book, <em>Schools that Succeed</em>?</strong> <br>
<em>Schools that Succeed</em> laid out some of the very basic, sometimes prosaic, systems that effective school leaders use to ensure that teachers and staff are able to continually improve their knowledge and practice—systems of managing time, looking at data, making decisions, and so forth.  </p><p>In <em>Districts that Succeed</em>, what I found was that effective superintendents and district leaders establish the systems and structures that allow principals to be successful. The scale is different, but the basic pattern is the same.  </p><p><strong>How do districts affect the success of principals?</strong> <br>
The most powerful question in education is: “Your kids are doing better than mine. What are you doing?” This is a question that can be asked at the classroom level, the school level, the district level and the state level, and it is the start of improvement. But in order for educators to be able to ask that question, several things need to be in place:  </p><ul><li>publicly available common data that can be compared;  </li><li>the time and space to be able to look at that data and think about it; and </li><li>a culture of trust, where asking that question is seen as a sign of professional strength and judgment, not a confession of failure. </li></ul><p>Superintendents and district leaders play a key role in establishing the time and space for school leaders to be able to come together to expose and share expertise. They also provide the key pieces of understandable data that can inform them—formative and summative assessment data, school climate and culture data, all kinds of data—and the research that can help inform possible solutions to the problems faced. They also establish a culture in which it is safe for educators to betray their weaknesses. </p><p>So, for example, when principals get together they should be able to see that some schools have much more family participation in curriculum nights than others and be able to ask their colleagues: “You are engaging a lot more families than my school is. What are you doing?” That question exposes expertise that can be shared and learned from. Similarly, the fact that one school has much better third-grade reading scores than others can lead to much deeper understanding of what goes into early reading instruction. </p><p>In other words, districts can play a powerful role in building the knowledge and expertise of school leaders. This is different from the traditional role districts have played, which is largely treating principals as middle managers who exist to carry out district directives and deflect the anger of parents away from the superintendent. </p><p><strong>Can you share a highlight of your district visits?</strong> <br>
I identify schools and districts to visit through a bunch of numbers—test scores, demographics, suspension rates, graduation rates, whatever data is available. I am looking for high performance and improvement. And what never fails to amaze and delight me is that when I go to see what lies beneath those numbers, I find smart, dedicated, hardworking educators who understand that they are doing important work and are eager to share what they are doing with the rest of the field.  </p><p>So, for example, I initially identified Lane, Oklahoma, through the district analysis of Sean Reardon, professor of poverty and inequality in education at Stanford University. Lane’s students “grow” six academic years in the five calendar years from third through eighth grade. When I called to find out what they were doing, I talked with assistant superintendent Sharon Holcomb, who herself attended Lane as a child and has spent her entire career teaching and leading at Lane. She invited me to visit and I was able to meet students, teachers and parents. I met one parent who drove her children from another district because her son, who has epilepsy, had not been taught how to read and had been bullied and mistreated by teachers in another district. At Lane, she said, he has learned to read and is thriving. And Holcomb told me that that was what kept her and her colleagues working so hard: “Seeing kids that have been thrown out and discarded and seeing them improve—seeing them come from other schools just beat down and seeing them succeed here.” </p><p>By the time she finished her sentence, we were both tearing up. </p><p><strong>What are the biggest barriers to districts learning from each other?</strong> <br>
Years ago, we had no publicly available data that district leaders could look at, but we now have achievement, graduation, suspension and expulsion, and often school climate data. It is all publicly reported, so there is no real structural barrier to district leaders identifying districts that are doing better than they are and asking what they are doing. I worry about the effect that pandemic schooling will have on the availability of data, but we still have relatively recent data, from 2019. </p><p>But what the field of education doesn’t have is a culture of learning from others. There is a tradition in the field that every classroom, every school, every district is so different from each other that there are no lessons to be learned. District leaders who serve few African American students might think they have little to learn from districts that are primarily Black and brown. I was once dismayed and amazed when I heard of a principal who said that the examples of high-performing high-poverty schools held no lessons for her because she only had a few students who lived in poverty.  </p><p>But learning can be generalized—kids are kids, schools are schools, districts are districts. They vary in all kinds of external ways, but at the heart all kids can learn and educators need to share information and expertise in order to help them learn.  </p><p><strong>What do you hope readers walk away from this book knowing or believing?</strong> <br>
The expertise to help all children learn exists, but it doesn’t reside in any one person, and the answers don’t lie in one particular program, policy or practice. The expertise comes from the pooled understanding of professionals informed by experience, data and research and armed with curiosity and a willingness to learn. Only by marshaling them all together can we hope to help all kids learn to high standards. But we can do this.  </p> | Andrea Ruggirello | 114 | | 2021-06-08T04:00:00Z | Your source for research and ideas to expand high quality learning and enrichment opportunities. Supporting: School Leadership, After School, Summer and Extended Learning Time, Arts Education and Building Audiences for the Arts. | | 6/8/2021 2:15:07 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Districts That Succeed: What Are They Doing Right Author of new book based on lessons from high-performing schools implores | 4354 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Shining the Spotlight on Assistant Principals | 42547 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 |
<p>They are second in command in a school, and yet assistant principals often are not given opportunities to strengthen leadership skills that are vital to their effectiveness in the role as well as in the principal post many will assume one day. That is one of the main takeaways of
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-role-of-assistant-principals-evidence-insights-for-advancing-school-leadership.aspx">
<em>The Role of Assistant Principals: Evidence and Insights for Advancing School Leadership</em></a>, a major new research review that synthesizes the findings of 79 studies about APs published since 2000 and includes fresh analyses of national and state data. The review found that the number of APs has grown markedly in the last 25 years and that the role has become a more common stop on the path to the principalship. At the same time, the researchers found disparities in the composition of the leadership workforce. Educators of color are less likely to become principals and more likely to become APs than white educators. Women are less likely than men to become either APs or principals.</p><p>Recently, the Wallace Blog spoke with the report’s authors, Ellen Goldring and Mollie Rubin of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, and Mariesa Herrmann of Mathematica, about their findings and the implications for district policies and practices. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.<br></p><p>
<strong>The number of APs has grown six times faster than the number of principals in the last 25 years. Why do you think that is?</strong>
</p><p>
<strong>Herrmann</strong>: We looked into whether it was due to an increased number of students in elementary schools and found that explained some but not all of the increase. You’re still seeing an increase in the assistant principal-student ratio in elementary schools over this time period.</p><p>
<strong>Goldring:</strong> That’s important, because at least officially, districts might have a funding formula that says if a school is of a particular size, it gets an AP position. But we also surmise that local districts can certainly fund positions differently. They might combine a coaching position with a teacher-leader position and turn that into an AP position. We have no idea why [the increase] is happening, the implications vis-à-vis other staffing decisions and what the rationale might be for a district or principal to think that the AP position is a better role to help fulfill the needs of a school as compared to other positions.</p><p>
<strong>The synthesis found uneven opportunities for advancement for educators of color and women in the leadership pipeline. Does the research suggest reasons why? What measures could be taken to promote equitable opportunities?</strong></p><p>
<strong>Herrmann:</strong> For educators of color, the research mentions things like differences in access to mentoring, particularly for Black women. It also suggests hiring discrimination, such as people of color not being considered for suburban schools or schools with predominately white student populations. One African American female educator in a study had a nice quote about this; she was not hired and informed that she wasn’t the right “fit.” She said, “Most of the [African American female administrators in our district]…are placed in high-poverty schools. Perhaps this is where we fit?” There’s also some evidence of differences in assigned leadership tasks by race, which could prevent people’s advancement. For women, there are a bunch of explanations—differences in access to mentorship, differences in assigned tasks, family responsibilities and the time commitments of being an assistant principal or a principal, differences in aspirations or confidence, and also discrimination.</p><p>
<strong>Goldring:</strong> The point about not being a “good fit” is something to emphasize. There’s probably a lot of both explicit and implicit bias about where leaders of color want to be placed, should be placed and the implications for their career trajectories. We suggest using equity audits and leader tracking systems [which compile data on the backgrounds and careers of potential and sitting school leaders] to bring patterns to light and show how they play out in different types of schools. It’s an important first step but beyond that, districts need to create spaces for people to have really honest and open conversations about the patterns. That is key to addressing them.</p><p>
<strong>Hermann:</strong> Besides just understanding the patterns, I think addressing this requires mentoring people of color and women. Someone who is already a principal can help them understand how to be a leader in that particular district. Maybe to the extent that they share similar backgrounds or experiences, they can relate to that person.</p><p>
<strong>Rubin:</strong> It’s also about making space to hear the experiences of people who are facing differential outcomes and how they’re experiencing the roles that they’re in. We often assume that we know what we’re trying to fix, but we don’t necessarily understand it at a deep level. </p><p>
<img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/Shining-the-Spotlight-on-Assistant-Principals/FIGURE-7-2-Emerging-Framework-Connecting-Equity-in-Principal-Leadership-to-Equitable-Outcomes-ch.jpg" alt="FIGURE-7-2-Emerging-Framework-Connecting-Equity-in-Principal-Leadership-to-Equitable-Outcomes-ch.jpg" style="margin:5px;" />
<br>
</p><p>
<strong>Principals today are more likely to have served as assistant principals than in the past. Many say that the experience was pivotal to their leadership preparation. What makes a strong principal-assistant principal mentoring relationship? </strong></p><p>
<strong>Herrmann:</strong> One study mentioned areas where assistant principals found advice and mentoring useful. One was skills development, such as building strong relationships, honing decision-making skills, having strong communications skills. This suggests that principals need to have strong leadership skills themselves, so that they can model them for the assistant principal.</p><p>
<strong>Goldring:</strong> We noted in our report that there are no studies on how principals think about or conceptualize the role of assistant principals. We don’t know why an assistant principal might spend more time on task A or task B, or what principals consider when they hire assistant principals. There are gaps in terms of the research as well.  </p><p>Your question brings out the important notion of the relationship between the assistant principal role and their evaluation, and the extent to which there is systematic, competency-based formative feedback that’s built into both the role of and the relationship between the assistant principal and the principal. In most cases, principals and assistant principals are evaluated on the same rubric. The few studies that talk about the assistant principal experience with evaluation note a lot of ambiguity. In one study, the assistant principals did not even know if they were formally evaluated or how. Another study mentioned the complexity of using the same rubric: If I’m an assistant principal and evaluated on the same rubric as the principal, does that mean I can never be exemplary because that’s only for principals? What does this mean for the types of tasks and leadership opportunities that an assistant principal has?  </p><p>
<strong>Rubin:</strong> A principal might assign tasks to their assistant principal to fill in for their own weaknesses. Together they make one really powerful team, but when it comes to the assistant principal’s evaluation, what does it say? They may not have the opportunities to do or learn certain things.</p><p>
<strong>The pandemic has upended education and created unprecedented challenges for school leaders this year. Has it heightened awareness of the role of assistant principals? Could it lead to lasting change to the job and if so, how? </strong></p><p>
<strong>Goldring:</strong> During National Assistant Principals Week, I facilitated a webinar with a panel of four assistant principals about their role during COVID. The most important point they wanted to bring home was that they are school leaders in their own right and that this year highlighted their overall importance as part of the leadership team. They are not assistants to their principals. It was a nice link to the importance of assistant principals having opportunities to really be school leaders and not necessarily be the assistant principal of X—of student affairs, of curriculum and instruction, of a particular grade level. COVID put the focus on the complexity of school leadership and the need for partners in that work. You really need more than one leader.</p><p>
<strong>Rubin: </strong>I worry that in some ways, assistant principals may once again slip through the cracks. I keep hearing that assistant principals have become COVID contact tracers. That says a lot about how nebulous the job is. “<em>Who’s going to do contact tracing? Oh, the AP can!”</em> Principals who have lost their assistant principals, perhaps in the last recession, will be the first to tell you how important they are. But at the same time, there seems to be a lack of recognition and attention paid to the role. Perhaps it needs to be more deliberate.</p><p>
<strong>Your report found that assistant principals have been seriously under-studied. If money and time were no object, what would you study about the role? </strong></p><p>
<strong>Rubin:</strong> I would love to watch the changes that happen when districts decide to invest in the assistant principal position—how they define the role to align with their vision and goals, and how it plays out in schools in terms of interpersonal dynamics, such as the relationships between assistant principals and principals, assistant principals and teacher leaders.</p><p>There’s also a study I want Mariesa to do because I don’t do this kind of work. We don’t know a whole lot about the effects of assistant principals or the effects of serving as an assistant principal on leader performance. I hypothesize that’s because the role is so nebulous. My question is, what are the leadership tasks that lead to the outcomes we’d like to see, both in terms of evaluation performance as an assistant principal and later as a principal, as well as outcomes for students, school and staff. If you could really figure out what matters most, then you could create a model of an assistant principalship that’s constant at a district level.</p><p>
<strong>Herrmann:</strong> Mollie did a really good job there! Assistant principal roles vary considerably and I think we need to better understand what aspects are most important for improving student learning and well-being. Are there ways the role can be better leveraged to improve outcomes for students? I don’t know if the role actually has to be constant across a district. I think you could investigate how it should be different, based on the local context, and what to take into account when developing the role.<br>
<br>
<strong>Rubin:</strong> I wish I could fund you, Mariesa. </p><p>
<strong>Goldring:</strong> One of our big problems is that we have very blunt measuring instruments. We say that assistant principals’ tasks vary, but the way in which that has been measured is very unsatisfactory and leading to misunderstanding and misreporting. Researchers typically ask assistant principals how they spend their time, but no two studies ask that question similarly. In some studies, time is reported for a typical week, sometimes it’s not even clear what the timeframe is. We also need to rethink categories of tasks. Why is student disciplinary work not considered instructionally focused? If you’re working with a student to be more focused in class, isn’t that core instruction work? This is deep conceptual work that could greatly enhance the field.</p><p>The second thing that has emerged for me is trying to understand how and why some assistant principals choose to make the role a stepping-stone to the principalship while others choose to stay in the role and make it their own leadership position in its own right, alongside the principal. Is it an individual preference, a district preference, something in the school context and the way that leaders are developing teams? If we understood this, we would be better able to counsel and speak about the options to teachers who are coming up through the ranks. </p> | Jennifer Gill | 83 | | 2021-05-18T04:00:00Z | As an increasing presence in schools, APs merit more attention and study, report authors say | | 5/18/2021 6:00:12 AM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Shining the Spotlight on Assistant Principals As an increasing presence in schools, APs merit more attention and study | 1283 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Assistant Principals, Overlooked No More | 23687 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 | <p>They go by many titles—assistant principal, vice principal, associate principal—and their ranks are growing. The number of assistant principals has increased nearly six times faster than the number of principals in the last 25 years, surging 83 percent to more than 80,000. Roughly half of U.S. public schools today have at least one AP, up from one-third in 1990. As it proliferates, the AP role has the potential to promote racial and gender equity in school leadership and contribute to better outcomes for students.</p><p>That is a key finding of <a href="/knowledge-center/pages/the-role-of-assistant-principals-evidence-insights-for-advancing-school-leadership.aspx"><em>The Role of Assistant Principals: Evidence and Insights for Advancing School Leadership</em></a>, a major new research review that synthesizes the findings of 79 studies about APs published since 2000 and includes fresh analyses of national and state data. The report was written by researchers Ellen Goldring and Mollie Rubin of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development, and Mariesa Herrmann of Mathematica. They presented their findings at a recent <a href="https://zoom.us/rec/play/h1I-3eOj2LMRaJ7JTzQ10qvI_3i3ATzPY65aWDcYZuRoeQ4KXPuQBlelMcWkHByRGGBDlnolsM-KcWXU.AKzSK_iq6zUg3gsa">webinar</a> that also featured a panel discussion among education experts moderated by Nicholas Pelzer, a senior program officer in education leadership at Wallace.</p><p>Principals are more likely than ever to spend at least some time in their career as an AP, making the role an important “stepping stone” to leading a school, the authors found. The job varies considerably, with most APs engaging in a mix of instructional leadership, management and student discipline tasks. “APs wear many hats,” said panelist Debra Paradowski, an associate principal of 22 years who was named Assistant Principal of the Year in 2020 by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP). </p><p>Yet despite being one chair away from the principal’s seat, APs are often overlooked for opportunities that would develop and strengthen essential skills needed to lead a school. “In short, assistant principals are not given systematic, sequential or comprehensive leadership-building opportunities or ongoing evaluative feedback in preparation for the principalship,” said Rubin. </p><p>School districts must think of APs as “principals-in-training” and encourage principals to assign challenging, hands-on leadership work that will best prepare them, said panelist Beverly Hutton, chief programs officer at NASSP. The shift to remote learning during the pandemic—and the many new leadership challenges and responsibilities it presented—underscored the fact that the job of running a school effectively is often simply too big and complex for one person. “Distributing leadership and allowing others to stretch, grow and contribute is the formula for success for everybody,” Hutton said. “It’s the key to succession, preparation, equity and even longevity in the [principal] role—you just can’t do it alone anymore.”</p><p>The research synthesis also found uneven opportunities for advancement in the school leadership pipeline. Across six states examined by the authors, 24 percent of APs were people of color compared with 19 percent of principals and 34 percent of students. Women accounted for 77 percent of teachers but only 52 percent of both principals and APs. Some research suggests that hiring discrimination and less access to mentoring may contribute to racial and gender disparities in advancement. Many educators are “tapped” for administrative jobs by school and district leaders, noted Hutton, and that could result in inequitable outcomes. “You don’t tap people that you can’t see,” she said. </p><p>A lack of mentors is common among APs working in urban schools, said panelist Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, which represents larger urban school districts. A survey of APs by the organization a few years ago “found that there was very little coaching and mentoring for assistant principals, little professional development for principals on how to mentor assistant principals,” he noted. Hutton pointed out that the Professional Standards for Education Leaders (PSEL), which outline job expectations, clearly state that principals have a responsibility to develop staff members, including APs. Principals need to fulfill that mentoring role, she said, and APs must advocate for it. </p><p>The report’s authors suggested several ways to design the AP role as a stop along the way to the principalship, including developing job standards specifically for the position. Rather than creating separate standards, Hutton suggested that districts gather input from practitioners and further define PSEL to address the nuances of being an AP. “We need the voices of APs to help define their rightful place in the educational ecosystem,” she said. </p><p>There’s also the need for more research on APs to inform policy and practice. The authors cited numerous areas for deeper study, including how APs are assigned to schools, how well preservice programs prepare them, and which AP roles are most related to improved student and school outcomes. Paradowski said she hopes the new report brings heightened attention to the integral role that she and her peers play in schools. “We’re not the principal’s assistant but rather an assistant principal to help lead, guide and serve the community.”</p> | Jennifer Gill | 83 | | 2021-04-20T04:00:00Z | Lively panel discussion follows release of new findings on APs and how to make the most of the role | | 4/20/2021 2:01:56 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Assistant Principals, Overlooked No More Lively panel discussion follows release of new findings on APs and how to make the | 1535 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Why should school districts invest in principals? | 42610 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 | <p>They are items on every school district’s to-do list: Reduce chronic absenteeism. Improve teacher satisfaction and retention. Bolster student learning. Now a major new research review points to the person who can have a positive impact on all of these priorities—the school principal. The groundbreaking study,
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/how-principals-affect-students-and-schools-a-systematic-synthesis-of-two-decades-of-research.aspx">
<em>How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research</em></a>, finds that replacing a below-average principal at the 25th percentile of effectiveness with an above-average principal at the 75th percentile increases the average student’s learning by nearly three months in math and reading annually. Schools led by strong principals also have higher student attendance and greater teacher retention and satisfaction, according to the report. </p><p>Recently, the Wallace Blog caught up with the report’s authors, Jason A. Grissom, the Patricia and Rodes Hart professor at Vanderbilt University; Anna J. Egalite, associate professor at North Carolina State University; and Constance A. Lindsay, assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to discuss their findings and implications for the field. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. </p><p>
<strong>After the release of the report, some people were asking on social media if a great principal is more important than a great teacher and you had a great response. Can you share it with us? </strong></p><p>
<strong>Grissom:</strong> You can’t directly compare the effects of teachers and principals because the effects of a principal are largely through their work to expose kids to great teachers. It’s helpful to think about it from different points of view. From the student’s point of view, the teacher is clearly the most important person because he or she has the most direct effect on what I learn and my other outcomes. For the life of a school, the principal is certainly among the most important people, maybe the most important person, in part because principals are the ones who hire great teachers, ensure that great teachers stay in the building, and set the conditions for teachers to be able to teach to their full potential. </p><p>The report tries to emphasize how large the impacts of principals are and also what the scope of those effects are. Even if you just focus on student test scores, the report uses this size-plus-scope-of-effect to argue that we really should be investing in principal leadership. We’d go so far as to say that if you could only invest in one adult in the school building, then that person should pretty clearly be the principal. </p><p>
<strong>Given the research evidence showing the positive effects that a principal can have on student learning and other important outcomes, how can the field help less-effective principals improve? </strong></p><p>
<strong>Egalite:</strong> That’s the question we tried to answer in the second part of the report, which identifies the four leadership behaviors of great principals: engaging in instructionally-focused interactions with teachers, building a productive school climate, facilitating collaboration and professional learning communities, and managing personnel and resources strategically. If you were designing professional development for below-average principals, these are the four areas you could lean on that the evidence shows are associated with better outcomes in the long run. </p><p>
<strong>Which instructionally-focused activities appear particularly effective—and which ones not so much?</strong></p><p>
<strong>Egalite:</strong> One effective activity is the use of data. Principals can encourage teacher buy-in by using data to monitor student progress and demonstrate changes in student achievement. Another is teacher evaluations, which have become more sophisticated in recent years. They no longer just analyze student test scores to say if someone is a good teacher or a bad teacher, but marry that information with other data points collected through classroom observations and other measures. </p><p>
<strong>Grissom:</strong> We tried to highlight engagement with instruction as separate from a more general, and maybe ill-defined notion, of what it means to be an instructional leader. Some principals have internalized the message that instructional leadership means being in classrooms. But simply being present is not associated with greater student growth. It may even have negative effects because having the principal in the classroom is distracting for both the students and the teacher. Maybe that distraction is worth it if the principal follows up with support for the teacher’s work and uses data from the observations to help drive the instructional program. But on its own, it’s not enough to move the needle.
<br> </p><p>
<strong>The report found that principals can have an important impact on marginalized populations, including students from low-income households and students of color. How does an equity-focused principal exhibit the four leadership behaviors?</strong></p><p>
<strong>Lindsay:</strong> They infuse all the activities they usually do with an equity focus. With regard to instruction, it would mean working with teachers to adopt a more culturally responsive pedagogy. It means making sure that teachers are engaging in practices that are relevant to all students in the school. In building a productive school climate, it means working with families and thinking about the community context. </p><p>
<strong>Grissom:</strong> Thinking about how equity can be infused into these domains of behavior is clearly an area we need to know more about. The report offers lots of examples from the research base that exists, but the evidence is still developing.<br></p><p>
<img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/Why-should-school-districts-invest-in-principals/FIGURE-7-2-Emerging-Framework-Connecting-Equity-in-Principal-Leadership-to-Equitable-Outcomes-ch.jpg" alt="FIGURE-7-2-Emerging-Framework-Connecting-Equity-in-Principal-Leadership-to-Equitable-Outcomes-ch.jpg" style="margin:5px;" />
<br>
</p><p>
<strong>You also found widening racial and ethnic gaps between principals and the students they serve. What are some tactics that districts can use to diversify the principal workforce? </strong></p><p>
<strong>Lindsay:</strong> The key is diversifying the teacher workforce, because principals start as teachers. In terms of district actions, there are strategies like “grow your own” programs where districts identify and develop individuals in-house who are well-suited to meeting the needs of their community. Districts can also examine different stages of the educator human capital pipeline to identify places where people of color drop out and then work to shore up those stages. </p><p>
<strong>Grissom:</strong> We’ve had concerns for a long time that access to the principalship in a lot of areas is driven by who you know within a district. That likely disadvantages people who are not in power. In response, districts are increasingly formalizing leadership programs with predefined selection criteria, ensuring that people are getting into the principal pipeline on the basis of their capacity for leadership. And at the end of the pipeline, there has to be an equitable hiring and selection process. Diversifying the pipeline is an area we have to learn more about—where is it happening successfully and how, so that those practices can be taken to other places to ensure greater principal diversity. </p><p>
<strong>Based on your report’s findings, what aspect of school leadership would you study right now if money and time were no object?</strong></p><p>
<strong>Lindsay:</strong> A lot of the research on equity that we drew from is very localized and context specific. I would study equity in a more systematic way. Just as we have rubrics for other things, I think it would be nice to have one about culturally responsive pedagogy that’s been tested and validated at a wide scale. </p><p>
<strong>Egalite:</strong> I’d like to know more, from a measurement perspective, about defining effective principals. I went through a Catholic teacher training program and for a brief moment considered its leadership training program. Their approach to leadership training is very much centered on building the school culture. Test scores are a much later part of the conversation. Private Catholic schools are obviously a different context than public schools, but how a principal sets the tone in a school and gets everyone rowing in the same direction is still relevant. How do you measure that? We rely on test scores to gauge principal effectiveness because they are easily collected by states, but it’s really just one piece of the pie. A more multidimensional view of principal effectiveness would be helpful.</p><p>
<strong>Grissom:</strong> I’m interested in how to measure capacity for the skills and behaviors we discuss in the report, so that we can do a better job identifying future leaders, developing their capacities and ensuring they are ready to lead when they enter the principalship. Historically, we have not done a great job of assessing people’s future potential. Maybe this is because we didn’t have the opportunities to develop the tools that measure those capacities. The same tools could also be used once a person is in leadership to identify areas for growth and target professional learning. They could also help us identify excellent leaders so we can draw on their excellence to help other people behind them in the principal pipeline. There are a lot of opportunities to think about how we identify, measure and assess both potential and strength at all phases of the pipeline. </p><p>
<strong>Your report is the first of three research syntheses to be released by Wallace this year. A second will examine the role of the assistant principal and a third will look at the characteristics and outcomes of effective principal preparation programs and on-the-job development. How does it feel to be first out of the gate?</strong></p><p>
<strong>Grissom:</strong> We’ve done a few presentations about our report and people have asked how our findings apply to assistant principals and the implications for pre-service preparation and in-service professional learning. </p><p>It will be very interesting to see the conversations following the release of the other two reports and how they build on the conversation we’ve been having with the release of ours. Stay tuned. </p> | Jennifer Gill | 83 | | 2021-03-23T04:00:00Z | Your source for research and ideas to expand high quality learning and enrichment opportunities. Supporting: School Leadership, After School, Summer and Extended Learning Time, Arts Education and Building Audiences for the Arts. | | 4/5/2021 8:19:43 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Why should school districts invest in principals Authors of major new research review on school leadership discuss the | 1040 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Yes, Principals Are That Important | 42615 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61 | <p>Effective principals have an even greater impact than previously thought, benefiting not only student learning and attendance but also teacher satisfaction and retention, according to a major new research review.
<em>
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/how-principals-affect-students-and-schools-a-systematic-synthesis-of-two-decades-of-research.aspx">How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research</a> </em>draws on 219 high-quality research studies of K-12 school leadership conducted since 2000 and updates the landmark 2004 literature review by Kenneth Leithwood, et al., that concluded that principals are second only to classroom instruction among school-related factors affecting student achievement. </p><p>The authors of the new synthesis—Jason A. Grissom, the Patricia and Rodes Hart professor at Vanderbilt University, Anna J. Egalite, associate professor at North Carolina State University, and Constance A. Lindsay, assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—presented their findings at a recent
<a href="https://youtu.be/CKrXjvwqxpU" target="_blank">webinar</a> hosted by Wallace President Will Miller and attended by more than 1,450 people. The event also featured a panel of education experts who shared their reactions to the report, which set out to answer three main questions: How much do principals contribute to student achievement and other school outcomes? Which behaviors are critical to that work? Who are principals today and how have they changed over time?  </p>To get at the first question, the researchers dug into six rigorous studies that together followed more than 22,000 principals and the schools they led over time, allowing the authors to assess the impact of the same principal at different schools and the same school under different principals. Principal effects are large, they found. Further, they translated the effect size into months of learning, finding that replacing a below-average principal—one at the 25th percentile in terms of raising student achievement—with an above-average principal at the 75th percentile resulted in nearly three more months of learning a year for students, almost as much as the four months of increased learning generated by a teacher at the 75th percentile. Principal effects are broader in scope than those of a teacher because they are felt across an entire school rather than a single classroom. Still, the effects stem in large part from a leader’s work with teachers, including how principals hire and coach staff members and create a school environment conducive to learning. The report’s authors also found that great principals yield benefits for outcomes beyond achievement, such as student attendance, exclusionary discipline (i.e., suspension), teacher satisfaction and teacher retention.<p></p><p>The new report identifies four observable behaviors of school leaders that the best-available research suggests produce positive school outcomes:
</p><p></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Focusing on high-leverage engagement in instruction, such as through teacher evaluations and coaching</div><p></p><p></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Establishing a productive school climate</div><p></p><p></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Facilitating collaboration and professional learning communities</div><p></p><p></p><div class="wf-Element-BlueBullet">Managing personnel and resources strategically </div><p></p><p>As schools gradually reopen for in-person learning, nurturing a positive school climate and helping students reconnect must be a priority for leaders, noted panelist Hal Smith, senior vice president at the National Urban League. During the pandemic, “we’ve seen students report that the loss of relationships has been particularly unsettling…they don’t know where to look for support,” he said. Having a principal who’s attuned to the social-emotional needs of students and staff and thinking about how to “reknit” the school community will be critical in the months ahead, he added. </p><p>State education agencies have a vital role to play in helping current principals strengthen the skills that manifest themselves in these four inter-related behaviors, in addition to ensuring a strong pool of future principals, said Carissa Moffat Miller, chief executive officer of the Council of Chief State School Officers, which represents top-ranking state education officials. Below-average principals can become above-average ones if they have access to the right in-service learning opportunities. The new synthesis provides a “map” of where states might consider directing their investments and their work with partners to support school leaders, she noted. “Sometimes we just think of the [principal] pipeline in terms of recruitment, but it’s also about retention and skill-building,” she said. Panelist Michael Casserly noted that more needs to be learned about improving the skills of current principals. He is executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools, which represents larger, urban school districts. “How is that we can move principals from being less effective to more effective?” he asked. “The research is not very clear on that but would be enormously important.” </p><p>The report also calls on principals to embed equity in their leadership practices, given the growing number of marginalized students, such as students from low-income families and English learners. The authors examine emerging research on how equity-focused principals exhibit the four behaviors linked to positive school outcomes. For example, equity-oriented leaders promote a productive school climate by implementing alternative strategies to student expulsions. They use data to identify children who are falling behind and work with teachers to create a plan to get them back on track. They engage families in the life of the school and coach teachers on culturally-responsive instructional practices to better serve marginalized students. Noting that some teachers “simply want to be excused” from tough discussions about equity because they find them uncomfortable, Casserly said it is imperative for principals to push forward with the work and encourage teachers to adopt an equity mindset. </p><p>Principals of color appear especially likely to have positive impacts on students and teachers of color, according to the report, yet the racial and ethnic gaps between school leaders and the students they serve are stark. Nearly 80 percent of principals today are white while the student body is only 53 percent white. Diversifying the principal workforce will require taking a closer look at how emerging leaders of color are identified, noted panelist Mónica Byrne-Jiménez, executive director of the University Council for Educational Administration, a consortium of higher education institutions committed to advancing the preparation and practice of principals and other school leaders. “If you want to diversify the leadership pipeline, we have to diversify the teacher pipeline,” she said. Future leaders of color may begin their studies at community college or start as teacher assistants, she added. Schools and districts need to identify these rising stars early on, give them opportunities to cultivate their budding leadership skills, and provide a viable career path to the principalship. </p><p>Whether they’re aspiring to the role—or already on the job—investing in principals makes sound financial sense given the magnitude and scope of their effects on a broad range of school outcomes. “Principals
<em>really </em>matter,” conclude the report’s authors. “Indeed, it is difficult to envision an investment in K-12 education with a higher ceiling on its potential return than improving school leadership.”</p> | Jennifer Gill | 83 | | 2021-02-19T05:00:00Z | Education experts weigh in on findings from new groundbreaking review of research on school leadership—and the implications for policy and practice | | 2/19/2021 3:05:39 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Yes, Principals Are That Important Education experts weigh in on findings from new groundbreaking review of research on | 6765 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |
| Today's Focus on Principal Effectiveness Breaks Sharply with the Past | 42584 | GP0|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;L0|#0330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708|School Leadership;GTSet|#a1e8653d-64cb-48e0-8015-b5826f8c5b61;GP0|#02d6f4ae-88a2-4236-b1a9-1f37b2599002;L0|#002d6f4ae-88a2-4236-b1a9-1f37b2599002|District Policy and Practice;GPP|#330c9173-9d0f-423a-b58d-f88b8fb02708;GP0|#8cf34914-7bff-4dc4-95c0-d6e59a295cba;L0|#08cf34914-7bff-4dc4-95c0-d6e59a295cba|Effective Principal Leadership | <p>If you want to know about school principals, consider getting a data dump from Susan Gates. As a senior researcher at the RAND Corp., Gates has been key to numerous studies exploring the principalship, many commissioned by Wallace. The most recent, published in June, is a first-of-its-kind look at the prevalence in large and medium-sized school districts of comprehensive, systemic efforts—known as principal pipelines—to develop a large corps of effective school principals.  </p><p>In a way,
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/taking-stock-of-principal-pipelines.aspx">
<em>Taking Stock of Principal Pipelines: What Public School Districts Report Doing and What They Want to Do to Improve School Leadership</em></a> brings Gates full circle. Close to two decades ago, she was the lead researcher on another Wallace-commissioned report,
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/overview-of-school-administrators-and-their-careers.aspx">
<em>Who is Leading Our Schools: An Overview of School Administrators and Their Careers</em></a>. Published in 2003, that study helped overturn the then-common view that the nation was facing a shortage of people certified to become principals. The report influenced Wallace’s decision to devote the foundation’s education leadership efforts to helping more principals work in a way that could improve schools, a move that eventually led to Wallace’s Principal Pipeline Initiative. With that came a
<a href="/knowledge-center/school-leadership/pages/principal-pipeline-implementation.aspx">groundbreaking 2019 report </a>by Gates and her team finding that pipelines can have significant benefits for student achievement and principal retention.  </p><p>
<img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/Todays-Focus-on-Principal-Effectiveness-Breaks-Sharply-With-the-Concerns-of-20-Years-Ago/gates_9114-(002).jpg" alt="gates_9114-(002).jpg" class="wf-Image-Left" style="margin:5px;width:159px;height:201px;" />We recently caught up with Gates to ask her to reflect on the “then” and “now” in the principal landscape, including what the COVID-19 crisis has meant for school leadership. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.</p><p>
<strong>Since 2003, what changes have you seen in the discussions about school leadership? Are we at a different place from where we were 17 years ago—pandemic notwithstanding?</strong></p><p>I’ve seen a tremendous shift in the public discourse around school leadership in the last two decades.  Twenty years ago, attention was focused on a pending wave of retirements and questions about whether there would be enough people to replace the retirees. Policymakers were also worried about high principal turnover rates—especially in more challenging high-needs schools. But the focus was really on whether there were sufficient numbers of people to fill vacancies. </p><p>Concerns about turnover and filling vacancies remain today, but the discussion is now focused on whether schools have effective principals. It’s not enough to simply put more people through principal preparation programs. There is growing recognition that the principal’s job is exceedingly complex and unpredictable. We’ve learned a lot over the past 20 years about how to prepare people for this important role. Research has identified features of good principal preparation. But we’ve also learned that prep programs can’t do it all. Twenty years ago, there was this notion that a person with two to three years of teaching experience could attend a good preparation program and at the end of it be ready to serve as principal in any environment with minimal support. Today, we understand that school leadership is itself a career with expectations for growth and development. This implies that good school leadership must be a shared responsibility of preparation programs and the school districts that hire and support principals. </p><p>The search for strategies to improve principal quality now focuses on improving preparation programs and the activities of districts. Are they hiring the right candidate for the job? Are they providing that person with the supports they need to be effective? Are they helping them identify their growth areas and supporting them in their professional development? And are they working in partnership with preparation programs to improve preparation?</p><p>
<a href="/knowledge-center/pages/taking-stock-of-principal-pipelines.aspx"><strong><em>Taking Stock of Principal Pipelines</em></strong></a><strong> is the first systematic look at the status of principal pipelines in large and medium size districts across the nation. Should readers be surprised by how much activity in pipelines is under way now—or be surprised about the gaps? How do you and your team see the findings? </strong></p><p>Pipeline activities are those related to the preparation, hiring, evaluation and support of principals. Districts employ principals and so it is natural to expect that all districts would be doing some if not most of these pipeline activities. And that is what we found. Districts of all sizes reported that they are devoting effort to the preparation, hiring, evaluation and support of principals. Not only that, the leaders in nearly all districts reported prioritizing school leadership as a lever for school improvement. There’s a pervasive understanding across the country that school principals matter. At the same time, less than half of districts reported moderate or high satisfaction with their pool of principal candidates. This suggests that districts see pipelines as an area for improvement.</p><p>
<strong>What does the study tell us about differences in pipeline activities between large districts, medium districts and smaller districts?</strong></p><p>Districts of all size reported engaging in pipeline activities and there was substantial interest across districts of all sizes in doing more in each area. Medium districts reported engaging in fewer pipeline activities.  They were less likely to have principal standards and a process to encourage or “tap” individuals to become school leaders. They were also less likely to use performance-based hiring metrics and standards-aligned evaluation and to have a position dedicated to school leadership.  </p><p>These differences between medium and large districts were not terribly surprising. It takes some up-front effort to set up some of these activities—you have to develop standards, hiring processes, evaluation metrics. Smaller districts tend to have fewer schools and hence fewer principals. So the payoff to them from such up-front efforts may be smaller.  </p><p>
<img src="/News-and-Media/Blog/PublishingImages/Pages/Todays-Focus-on-Principal-Effectiveness-Breaks-Sharply-With-the-Concerns-of-20-Years-Ago/Percentage-of-10K-Districts-Reporting-Prevalence-of-Principal-Pipeline-chart.jpg" alt="Percentage-of-10K-Districts-Reporting-Prevalence-of-Principal-Pipeline-chart.jpg" style="margin:5px;width:600px;height:568px;" />
<br>
</p><p>
<strong>The current study found that large numbers of the district officials you interviewed want to upgrade their pipeline activities, everything from pre-service principal preparation to on-the-job support. What do your study and other research suggest will be the easiest and most difficult areas to strengthen?</strong></p><p>Research on the principal pipeline districts suggests that efforts to strengthen principal preparation can be challenging because there is a long lag time before such efforts will result in improvements in principal quality. In contrast, efforts to improve hiring and professional development for current principals can have more immediate impact. Although nearly all districts in our study reported doing something with regard to on the job support, this is also an area where most districts also wanted to do more. What struck me as an important growth area was the use of performance-based hiring approaches. This is a pipeline activity with relatively low prevalence nationwide.  </p><p>
<strong>The COVID-19 crisis has placed huge demands on public school education. What role are school leaders playing in keeping education going during this time, and how should districts be thinking now about their principal pipelines? </strong></p><p>Even prior to the COVID-19 crisis there was a recognition that the principal’s job is exceedingly complex and unpredictable. National school leadership standards outline 10 areas that principals need to master:  mission, ethics, curriculum and instruction, student support, professional capacity of school personnel, professional community of school staff, community engagement, management and school improvement. It’s as if all principals need to have the same toolbox, along with the ability to figure out which tool to use at which time. When a principal first takes over a school, they have to spend time figuring out what prioritize and how. In other words, which tools to use and how best to use them. Then they make adjustments over time. </p><p>The COVID-19 crisis disrupted the landscape for all schools. All principals had to re-think how they were approaching each area. Some may have had to dig deeply into their toolbox to find tools that they hadn’t had to use in a while. </p><p>School principals tend to be highly dedicated to the communities and students they serve, and according to a recent
<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/09/19/why-americans-dont-fully-trust-many-who-hold-positions-of-power-and-responsibility/" target="_blank">Pew survey</a>, they are among the most trusted category of public officials, along with police officers and members of the military. Families and communities are stretched in so many ways, and they are turning to these trusted school principals for help. So while principals are still expected to be the instructional leader of the school (now with a focus on supporting virtual learning options), they are also  in charge of providing meals to families, making connections to social services, developing contract tracing and virus testing plans, and developing options for classroom set-up and bathroom breaks that honor social distancing requirements. And the list goes on. No principal preparation program could have fully prepared a principal for all aspects of this crisis so district support will be critical. Even highly effective veteran principals may need guidance, support or respite in these challenging times. By providing such support this school year, districts might be able to limit burnout and turnover.</p>
<p> <em>Lead photo by Claire Holt</em></p> | Wallace editorial team | 79 | | 2020-09-15T04:00:00Z | Your source for research and ideas to expand high quality learning and enrichment opportunities. Supporting: School Leadership, After School, Summer and Extended Learning Time, Arts Education and Building Audiences for the Arts. | | 9/15/2020 4:44:31 PM | The Wallace Foundation / News and Media / Wallace Blog / Today's Focus on Principal Effectiveness Breaks Sharply with the Past RAND’s Susan Gates reflects on the changed discourse | 1166 | https://www.wallacefoundation.org/News-and-Media/Blog/Pages/Forms/AllItems.aspx | html | False | aspx | |