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The Effective Principal PDF
The Effective Principal PDF
5 PIVOTAL
PRACTICES
THAT SHAPE
INSTRUCTIONAL
LEADERSHIP
THE
EFFECTIVE PRINCIPAL
W
By Pamela Mendels the challenges of turning around failing schools and work
to live up to the ideals embodied in a more contemporary
hen most people hear the term, instructional leader. Todays best principals, Hens-
word principal, they think ley says, know what good and effective instruction looks
of the noun meaning the like so they can provide feedback to guide teachers.
chief, the top executive, the This view of the principalship that it should cen-
head of all others, the person ter on instruction, not building management or other ad-
who controls the levers. Not ministrative matters is one that has gained currency
so Dewey Hensley, himself a in recent years. So has the idea that if instruction is the
former principal and today an assistant commissioner in heart of their job, principals have a vital role to play in
Kentuckys Department of Education. Hensley likes to re- school improvement. Consider a 2010 survey of school
mind people that when it was first used in connection with and district administrators, policy advisers, and others in
school leadership in the 1800s, the word principal was an the education world. They named principal leadership
adjective in front of another word, teacher (Pierce, 1935, as second only to teacher quality when they were asked
p. 11). The principal teacher, he says, was a kind of first to rank in importance 21 education issues, ranging from
among equals, an instructor who assumed some adminis- special education and English language learning to school
trative tasks as schools began to grow beyond the one-room violence and reducing the dropout rate (Simkin, Charner,
buildings of yore. The original principal, Hensley stresses, & Suss, 2010, pp. 9-10).
was, like the other teachers in the school, concerned with A major reason for the attention being paid to prin-
instruction above all. cipals is the emergence of research that has found an
Principals in the 21st century, he says, could do worse empirical link between school leadership and student
than keep this 19th-century definition in mind as they face achievement. A seminal 2004 study, How Leadership In-
istrative staff, made improvement of the work culture a central Principals spend time in classrooms to evaluate instruction
target of their efforts to lead a learning improvement agenda, or, especially in the case of secondary schools where they cant
the researchers found. Some had arrived at their job feeling reasonably be expected to be experts in all academic disciplines,
that they needed to change a toxic culture at the school to do they ensure that someone who is qualified does so. They make
what they needed to do. Other spoke of building a culture, close observations of whats working and what isnt. And they
moving toward a culture, or leading a culture of change. make sure to discuss what they have found with teachers.
The University of Washington researchers went on to list The Minnesota/Toronto study contrasted its high-scoring
the key elements of a climate hospitable to learning: a sense of principals with their low-scoring counterparts.
student and staff safety; respect for all members of the school The first group made frequent, short, and often spontaneous
community, without regard to the professional status or po- classroom visits, which they quickly followed up with feedback
sition; an upbeat, welcoming, solution-oriented, no-blame, to the teacher.
professional environment; an effort to invite and involve staff Visits by the second group tended to be scheduled and
in various schoolwide functions; and a parallel outreach to stu- not for instructional observation, but most damaging, the
dents that engaged and involved them in a variety of activities researchers write, is that the low-scoring principals failed to
(Portin et al., 2009, p. 59). provide their teachers with feedback.
In the cause of improving instruction, effective principals
CULTIVATING LEADERSHIP IN OTHERS take advantage of the collaborative culture they work to cre-
Effective principals know they cannot go it alone. ate in their schools, the University of Washington researchers
3 They are not the lonely-at-the-top, hero-principal who
has become a fixture of popular culture. Instead, they
found, noting that the school leaders they observed consis-
tently expressed the desire to see teachers working, teach-
make good use of all the skills and knowledge on the ing, and helping one another. To create opportunities for
faculty and among others, encouraging the many capable adults teacher collaboration and learning, supervisory leaders across
who make up a school community to step into leadership roles school sites turned to the school schedule to create the time
and responsibilities. and endorsement for this kind of work to occur, the research-
The more open a principal is to spreading leadership ers found. Some principals moved to a block schedule, others
around, the better it is for student learning, the Minnesota/ gave up administrative meeting time to create more planning
Toronto researchers found. Indeed, a particularly notable find- time for teachers, while others used the master schedule as a tool
ing of their study is that effective leadership from a variety of to create opportunities and accommodate for various teacher
sources principals, teachers, staff teams and others is as- professional development activities, such as lab sites, peer ob-
sociated with better student performance on math and reading servations, grade-level meetings, and professional development
tests. Compared with lower-achieving schools, higher-achiev- sessions (Portin et al., 2009, p. 59).
ing schools provided all stakeholders with greater influence on
decisions, the report says. It then goes on to explore why, sug- MANAGING PEOPLE, DATA, AND PROCESSES
gesting that when it comes to leadership, the adage about two Effective leaders hire well and know how to retain
(or more) heads being better than one applies. The higher per-
formance of these schools might be explained as a consequence
5 the high performers. They also know how to give their
teachers the backing they need to thrive. Indeed,
of the greater access they have to collective knowledge and wis- writes Stanford University education policy analyst
dom embedded within their communities, the researchers say Linda Darling-Hammond, the number one reason for teach-
(Louis et al., 2010, p. 35). ers decisions about whether to stay in a school is the quality of
Whats more, leadership appears not to be a zero sum game. administrative support and it is the leader who must develop
The researchers found that principals do not lose influence as this organization (Darling-Hammond, 2007, p. 17).
others gain influence (Louis et al., 2010, p. 19). At a time when federal and state accountability mandates
have made data analysis a fact of school life, effective principals
IMPROVING INSTRUCTION also know how to make the best use of data, learning to ask
Effective leaders focus laser-like on the quality useful questions of it and taking advantage of it for collabora-
4 of instruction in their schools. As the Wallace Per-
spective notes, They emphasize research-based strat-
tive inquiry among teachers and helpful feedback to students
(Portin et al., 2009).
egies to improve teaching and learning and initiate Strong principals also know how to go about their jobs
discussions about instructional approaches, both in teams and systematically. The Vanderbilt researchers, who have devel-
with individual teachers. They pursue these strategies despite oped a tool known as VAL-ED for assessing principals, have
the preference of many teachers to be left alone (The Wallace pinpointed six key steps that school leaders follow in carrying
Foundation, 2012). out their central responsibilities: planning, implementing, sup-
porting, advocating, communicating, and monitoring (Porter Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How leadership influences student
et al., 2008, p. 15). learning. New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available
at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-
BETTER LEADERSHIP ON THE POLICY AGENDA leadership/key-research/Pages/How-Leadership-Influences-
Knowing what constitutes good school leadership is one Student-Learning.aspx.
thing. Putting it into effect is another. The good news is that Louis, K.S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K., &
a deeper understanding of what strong instructional leader- Anderson, S. (2010). Investigating the links to improved
ship looks like is emerging at the same time that policymak- student learning: Final report of research findings. New
ers are beginning to take leadership seriously. Once an issue at York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.
the margins of school reform, boosting school leadership has wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/
climbed high on the policy to-do list. One need look no farther key-research/Pages/Investigating-the-Links-to-Improved-
for evidence than the most recent in a series of yearly reports on Student-Learning.aspx.
leadership legislative initiatives. It identifies 23 states that, as a Pierce, P.R. (1935). The origin and development of the
group, enacted 42 laws regarding school leadership in the 2010 public school principalship (p. 11). Chicago: The University
legislative session alone. The emphasis on effective school lead- of Chicago Press. Available at www.archive.org/details/
ership continues to inform national and state discussions about origindevelopmen00pier.
educator effectiveness and school turnaround, the report says, Porter, A.C., Murphy, J., Goldring, E., Elliott, S.N.,
noting that, in addition to the state activity, the federal govern- Polikoff, M.S., & May, H. (2008). Vanderbilt assessment
ment has taken a keen interest in leadership through competitive of leadership in education: Technical manual, version 1.0.
grant programs including Race to the Top (Shelton, 2011, p. 2). New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.
To take advantage of this interest, educators and policy- wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/
makers at all levels would do well to remember that the crux of principal-evaluation/Pages/Vanderbilt-Assessment-of-
the principals job today is not, as it was in the recent past, to Leadership-in-Education-Technical-Manual-1.aspx.
sit at the apex and attend to administrative tasks, but to work Portin, B.S., Knapp, M.S., Dareff, S., Feldman, S.,
collaboratively and unleash potential. Russell, F.A., Samuelson, C., et al. (2009). Leadership
Whether forming a vision for a school or encouraging for learning improvement in urban schools. New York: The
teachers to help one another burnish their classroom skills, the Wallace Foundation. Available at www.wallacefoundation.
effective principal is a guide along the path to better instruction. org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/district-policy-and-
An instructional leader is someone who first and foremost real- practice/Pages/Leadership-for-Learning-Improvement-in-
izes that the strategies and instructional practices teachers use Urban-Schools.aspx.
are the primary mover of student achievement, says Hensley, Shelton, S. (2011). Strong leaders strong schools: 2010
who was named to head up a new state school turnaround effort school leadership laws. Denver, CO: National Conference
in Kentucky after his own success as a principal at a once-failing of State Legislatures. Available at www.wallacefoundation.
Louisville elementary school. These leaders guide their teach- org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/state-policy/Pages/
ers to recognize how significant what they do is to academic Strong-Leaders-Strong-Schools-2010-School-Leadership-
performance. Laws-.aspx.
Simkin, L., Charner, I., & Suss, L. (2010). Emerging
REFERENCES education issues: Findings from The Wallace Foundation survey
Darling-Hammond, L. (2007). Excellent teachers (pp. 9-10). New York: The Wallace Foundation.
deserve excellent leaders. In Education leadership: A bridge to The Wallace Foundation. (2012, January). The
school reform (p. 17). New York: The Wallace Foundation. school principal as leader: Guiding schools to better teaching
Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/ and learning. New York: Author. Available at www.
school-leadership/key-research/Pages/Bridge-to-School- wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/
Reform.aspx. effective-principal-leadership/Pages/The-School-Principal-as-
Goldring, E., Porter, A.C., Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., Leader-Guiding-Schools-to-Better-Teaching-and-Learning.
& Cravens, X. (2007). Assessing learning-centered leadership: aspx.
Connections to research, professional standards, and current
practices. New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available Pamela Mendels (pmendels@wallacefoundation.
at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school- org)is senior writer at The Wallace Foundation in New
leadership/principal-evaluation/Pages/Assessing-Learning- York City. Her foundation colleagues Lucas Held, Edward
Centered-Leadership.aspx. Pauly, Jessica Schwartz, and Jody Spiro contributed to this
Leithwood, K., Louis, K.S., Anderson, S., & article.