Leadership Needed for School Change to Occur

Prior to becoming a principal of a middle school in 1989, I would not have said the following, but after eleven great years at my school, I have come to the following conclusions about school leadership. I have observed many schools since leaving my position as principal and becoming a supervisor of principals that substantiated what I believed to be true. I am listing several of these learnings below, but you can find Michael Fullan and others stating the same comments, but they researched what they learned, they did not necessarily live what they learned. Both ways of getting to the same conclusion reinforce what I will share.

1. Being the principal of a school is very difficult work. It is full of anxiety and stress. However, when successful in moving toward your vision, it is the most rewarding job in our society.
2. A principal without a strong vision that is based on the existing community and culture of the school is not going to find success in that position at that particular site.
3. If the principal does not bring others, including faculty and community, along with him/her toward the vision, the efforts of school redesign will be short lived.
4. The principal must play of the role of the protector of the school/community vision, and must do whatever it takes to develop a common vision that all in the community can agree is worthwhile. Therefore, the vision is not specifically the principals, but the principal must protect it once it is clearly and universally developed.

Creating a common vision is not easy. I spend a lot of time talking about the need and process when I speak at conferences or meet with administrators and faculty leaders. This topic is very closely tied to the previous blog regarding professional development. The principal needs to protect more than the vision, but also the sense of community that exists between staff of the school. If that sense of community is missing, it needs to be developed. If the sense of community exists, then it needs to be cultivated, so that when the current staff leaders retire or leave, the healthy culture does not leave with them. Young teachers need to be encouraged by a strong leader, the principal, to begin learning about the healthy culture and understanding its importance in making the school a good place for kids and adults.

We can discuss these comments further down the road, but I do feel it is necessary to focus back on how important the role of the principal is when trying to change a culture that is not conducive to student achievement. Without a strong principal in place, schools will flounder and people will continue to do whatever it is that they have been trained to do over the years at this location in this profession. Continuing to act in the same way will only lead to the same results unless pressures are placed on the school as a system to tweak or dramatically change direction.

More to come on this topic.