Principal Of School Is An Awesome Leader

As with the importance of selecting a highly qualified principal to help raise test scores and closing achievement gaps, the selection and support of staff is also critical. Gregory F. Branch, Eric A. Hanushek, and Steven G. Rivkin’s 2013 study “School Leaders Matter” examined the effectiveness of many principles’ leadership and the effect they had on student achievement ratings. “A primary channel through which principals can be expected to improve the quality of education is by raising the quality of teachers, either by improving the instruction provided by existing teachers or through teacher transitions that improve the caliber of the school’s workforce” (Branch, pg.4). A principal must be able to continually seek out professional development, to research best practices and new educational theories to support their staff and students. If principals are to close the achievement gap, they must be willing to inform and instruct their staff on new teaching strategies. Mr. Canada, from his TED talk, “Our failing schools. Enough is enough!”, states: “You go into a place that has failed kids for fifty years and say: ‘so what’s the plan?’ And they say: ‘Well, we are going to do what we did last year, this year’. What kind of business model is that?” (TED, 2013). The principal willing to venture into new, uncharted waters may succeed or fail, but at least they

The ever-changing landscape of education and school accountability has given rise to a renewed focus on shared leadership. In the past, the principal was viewed as the primary decision maker within a school. However, Glickman (1989) points out that it is impossible for school principals to effectively complete all the necessary instructional and managerial tasks within schools. He contends that some teachers have more leadership abilities than the actual administrators and that “in successful schools, principals aren’t threatened by the wisdom of others, instead, they cherish it by distributing leadership” (Glickman, 1989, p. 8).

As principal, I would avoid conflict polarization by being an inclusive leader. I would promote dialogue and constructive engagement to initiate a cooperative community. Ideas and opinions from all sides would be welcomed. Teachers would be encouraged to express themselves openly and freely. I would communicate in an effective manner to ensure everyone knows my position on the issue. I would also set high expectations for the school. In addition, I would operate in a manner that is fair, ethical and consistent with my vision and mission for the school. We will always make decisions that are in the best interest of students and not ourselves. The goal would be to promote student success.

In this chapter, Fullan begins by maintaining that principals who are effective lead learners are necessarily also good managers, because they understand that having clear routines is essential for school improvement.” (57) He quotes from Viviane Robinson’s Student-Centered Leadership to both underscore the previous point and emphasize that successful principals take an active learning stance: “The principal who makes the biggest impact on learning is the one who attends to other matters as well, but, most important, ‘participates as a learner’ with teachers in helping move the school forward.” (58) Fullan also borrows from Helen Timperley’s work in responding to the question, Who is in a principal’s class? The principal’s class consists of “team leaders who in turn can leverage the learning of other teachers in their group”

Yes, we are required to supervise by law; but, it is more important that school personnel value the benefits of a safe, well supervised school. Helping my staff to understand and believe this basic premise is the key to successful implementation of a supervision philosophy. Teachers are professionals. As such they should be involved in the design and implementation of a supervision plan. The role of the administrative staff is to guide and support them. Although the principal is the leader of the team, it is important that school staff see him as a leader who needs and values his staff. Working together, a principal and staff can provide appropriate supervision for a safe and productive educational experience for

The second quality of an effective leader is to have a vision. The vision should also include the schools missions, purpose and goals. The principal should be progressive and constantly looking for ways to keep the staff and students motivated to work towards a common goal. As an effective leader you must continuously promote the vision. This could be done with a school created slogan that fits the community. Most people want to belong and feel a part of something successful or on the path to greatness. It is a wonderful feeling to be a member of a successful school community where people really

I would like to start this paper by defining the responsibilities of a principal. I would include, but not limit those tasks to: scheduling class, discipline, community relations, employee relations, hiring and employee discipline, working with peers and administrators, dealing with students and parents, working with vendors, protecting the assets of the district, keeping a watchful eye on spending, and many other items.

The school principal performs the role of CEO and is ultimately responsible for the management of the school. The relationship between the Chairman and Principal is extremely important, as the school can actually be a very lonely place for the Principal. They are often unable to discuss strategy, contentious issues or confidential information such as financials, succession planning or HR issues with others, as to do so would be unethical and the Principal should try to maintain a professional distance from the teachers. This is where a good working relationship with the Chairman can be extremely valuable.

The Principal and the governing body are accountable for the effective performance of the school and lead the development of staff to enable them to carry out their work. The Senior Leadership Team is made up of the Principal, Deputy Principal, three senior teachers and the School Business Manager. Together they have the responsibility of setting the strategic direction of the school and lead the school in managing this, as well as setting goals. There are three team leaders, each responsible for the teaching assistants, midday supervisors and estates team.

The principal should be the keeper of the schools good will and represent the school vision, so that the staff believes they are all in this together. The

According to the authors of this article (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009), principals need to concentrate on the development of skills and behaviors in order to be successful in motivating, leading, and changing the direction of a school. The successful principal understands that there exists a fine balance of caring for others and the need to accomplish specific tasks (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).

As the leader of a 21st century school one must embody the qualities that best reflect the ever-changing face of education. Traditionally, the leader of a school focused a large portion of time and energy on typical managerial functions within the school. These tasks, although important, will not propel a school to achieve excellence. Today’s school leaders must be visionaries who create a sense of purpose driven unity. As a transformational leader, one must also be the beacon of learning in establishing and effectively cultivating professional learning communities. One must recognize and further develop the leadership skills of those within the school in order to ensure the vision and mission of the school is achieved. Keeping in

In order for the principal to develop positive relationships within the community the school needs to demonstrate, and promote the contributions provided. The school needs to adopt an “our children” attitude with the community to share in the benefits for students (Epstein, 2009).

Everyone is responsible for developing positive relationships with parent and the community. This would include the administrators, certified teachers, teaching aides, secretaries, custodians, maintenance, and bus drivers. As in the video the principal talked about how it is important to make sure that all the staff felt like they were part of the team and was aware of what was happening in the school. The community sees any employee of the school district to be a trusted individual that should be able to explain and talk about what the school is doing. It is important for an administrator to have an open relationship with all staff where they feel like they can have input on decisions about school issues. No matter what their job title is they should feel like they are an integral part of the team. This in turn will allow all school employees to feel comfortable developing that positive relationships with the parents and community.

Effective school leadership today must combine the traditional school leadership duties such as teacher evaluation, budgeting, scheduling, and facilities maintenance with a deep involvement with specific aspects of teaching and learning. Effective instructional leaders are intensely involved in curricular and instructional issues that directly affect student achievement (Cotton, 2003). The writer of this paper acknowledges that school principals should play the role of instructional leaders, not just a school manager. The reality is that are many demands on a principals time and management skills making it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, when performing teacher evaluation. Principals often make sure that teachers