School Administration & Supervision

In Leverage Leadership, Paul Bambrick-Santoyo presents seven principles or levers that great principles and other school leaders take to effectively transform their schools into greatness. These seven principles, or levers, enables continuous, about-face, and duplicable growth for schools and their leaders. More than half of a principle time is spent on things that does not transfer into student achievement and/or success. However, with purposeful emphasis on these seven levers, the exact time investment leverages more learning. School leaders plus the seven levers equal more student achieve, thus setting the school on the path for greatness.

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).

Michael Fullan begins The Principal – Three Keys to Maximizing Impact with some sobering statistics about the drop in morale among principals:

They must be aware of the current state of the school, be imaginative in launching new and relevant initiatives in a way that can get the whole school behind the idea, be diligent in keeping track of these initiatives and their progress.

The importance of effective leadership and its impact on improving student achievement are evident in today’s schools (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson, and Wahlstrom, 2004). While the school principal is traditionally thought to be the school leader, Glickman (1989) proposes that “the principal of successful schools is not the instructional leader but the educational leader who mobilizes the expertise, talent, and care of others” (p. 8). Lumpkin, Claxton, and Wilson (2014) contend that helping “each school fulfill its mission and energize and expand the professionalism and professional contributions of teachers, the expertise of all teachers, especially teacher leaders, is needed” (p. 59). Teachers directly impact student learning, and

If I were principal, my plan to improve school community relations would begin with a whole school concerted to effort to learn about the new cultural groups in the community and provide opportunities for school community members to come together to build relationships with the new families. Secondly, I would make sure to introduce myself to the new community members and use my people skills to build relationships with new businesses and community

As an administrator, the mission is to use skill and dedication to build an education system, for my school, that will produce positive academic success for all students and manage a complex urban system with efficiency and effectiveness. With reason and prioritized urgency the administrator makes decisions that benefit the school, students, their parents, and surrounding community. Finally, such a mission includes the support from a staff that recognizes the importance of these elements.

We must have a principal who is professional and who knows what he or she is doing. Being professional is one of the best and most important qualities an individual can have if he or she holds a prominent position. Not only is professionalism itself an excellent attribute, but other important ones can and

On that note, it is the responsibility of the principals and all school administrators to advance educational systems and provide positive changes for their students.

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

In terms of becoming a mediator and consensus builder the authors detailed the need for principals to possess relational leadership skills in order to be able to both facilitate groups and coach others on staff in the ability to facilitate their own groups, and stressed that the key to this is the ability to effectively participate in conflict resolution (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009). The authors suggested that conflict is part and parcel of school reform and that in addition to being able to deal effectively with conflict the successful principal needs to develop the ability for bringing about consensus within the group, noting that interpersonal and intrapersonal skills were as much or more important than knowledge (Donaldson, Marnik, Mackenzie, & Ackerman, 2009).

I’ve had quite the learning experience over the last few weeks. I had a chance to obtain valuable information and support from my principal. I learned so much about the administration role and how difficult it can be. When I began my interview, I felt overwhelmed and excited at the same time. My principal is also my mentor; she has been very supportive of me pursuing my dreams to be in administrator. As I conducted my interview I learned so much about the principal’s role. I asked my principal a series of questions. The questions were based on the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium Standards (ISLLC). My first question was based on educational programs. The educational programs at any school need balance. While we live in a test results world, there needs to be a balance of focus. I look at the type of student I want my school to produce and I surround myself with a faculty and other staffs that not only share in the mission, but also will help every student succeed. In addition, as an administrator, I need to provide my faculty and staff with the tools and resources necessary to make everyone feel successful.

The principal’s role in developing positive community relations sets the tone for communication patterns, partnership formation and/or alienation (Fiore, 2013). There are many tasks that the principal has that is important to school and community relations. Some of those are being a good listener, diplomatic and tactful and all situations. They also have to promote the open door policy to be free to communicate with students, parents, and their staff. They also have to inform the superintendent and community about good and bad things that are

The principal must have knowledge and understanding of effective communication strategies when collaborating with staff, educators, and students (O 'Connor & Jackson, 2017). The teacher’s morale is ultimately impacted by the principal 's open-line of communication; therefore, the school environment affects how the principal is perceived by the teachers and staff morale can influence student learning. However, the principal should focus on developing a collaborative relationship among the teachers, which foster new ways of exchanging view points and ideas (Whyte & Karabon, 2016). The principal plays a major role in how effective the vision or goals are followed by subordinates. In other words, how the perception of the principal ethical and values are aligned with the teachers. Hence, collaboration in schools is, the result of teachers and principals working together for the end results, which are student’s high achievement in learning. When the skillful principals and the sagacious educators “walk the talk” effective leadership and the strategic guidance is a must in the collaborative community of succeed.

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