Joseph Painter

ELP 570
Visionary Leadership Platform

The obstacles that educational leaders will face in the coming decades seem

insurmountable. Reduced funding, higher expectations, and a paradigm shift of the purpose and

culture of schools all pose quite daunting challenges. Each of these challenges will be overcome

though; because, as educators, we feel called to make a necessary positive impact on our future by

developing today’s students into tomorrow’s future. Having seen three different principals with

three different visions and ideals for leadership over the last 6 years has led me to realize the

importance of developing and strengthening teacher leadership in a school to ensure both

continuity and growth. A field where the tenure of teachers often outlasts that of principals

emphasizes the importance of leading and guiding an empowered staff, dedicated to the success

of all students, as a necessity for continued educational improvement in a school.

My experience with these leaders has shown me that strong leaders understand and can

harness teacher passion to ensure success for all students. Formulating a mission and vision for

teachers centered on the ideal of success for all has to be

the starting point, though. This vision must guide all

decisions, professional development, teaching,

initiatives, and most importantly, student effort and

expectations. In implementing this work, as a leader, I

must be critical of all that we do. I should continually

look for opportunities to improve and introduce

initiatives to meet the needs of our most at-risk students.

I also need to make sure that teacher, student, and school successes are celebrated and build upon

for further growth.

In extending this school-wide leadership to teacher development, it will be pivotal to build

ownership around teachers’ passions to make a difference for all. This means providing the

opportunity to build and implement teacher created solutions and goals, whose focus is increasing

student achievement through evolving instructional practices. The same inquiry and design that

drive my decisions and initiatives as a leader can then be modeled to help teachers choose and

implement goals that will transform teachers’ instruction. Beyond teacher collaboration in

developing solutions, peer observation must play a critical role in helping teachers gain

perspective and insight around their goals and innovations in instructional improvement. As an

administrator, I will use evaluations to provide necessary interventions to develop and support the

teachers who most need the help. It will also remain my job to continue to remind teachers about

the school’s mission and vision; ensuring that goals and work align to it; and providing the

supports and accountability that push teachers towards further improvement.

Finally, to lead a successful school, I must focus in on the most important piece of the

school, the students. Ensuring the success of all students is a high expectation of staff, but even

higher expectation for students. This means that our students are not allowed to fail. This is very

much a culture piece for a school; and must focus on knowing and meeting our students’ needs.

Our students’ success must be a collaboration of community members, families, teachers, and

students. We must develop a guaranteed curriculum and hold our students accountable for

learning it. We must utilize assessment data to target academic interventions for our students. We

must partner with families and the community to ensure that our students have access to academic

and social supports both inside and outside of school. If we truly believe that today’s students are
tomorrow’s future, we need to ensure that they are receiving the proper training and education

that will ensure their and our future’s success.

 References

Deal, T, Peterson, K. (2009). Shaping School Culture. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass A Wiley

Imprint.

Schmoker, M. (2011). Focus: Elevating the essential to radically improve student achievement.

Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Wagner, T. (2008). The Global Achievement Gap. New York, NY: Basic Books Perseus

Publishing.