Principal Behaviors Responsibilities 1 13

Building a Learning Community That Promotes Student Achievements: 

Building a Learning Community That Promotes Student Achievements Dr. Jeffrey Glanz Wagner College

Principal Behaviors (Responsibilities)that correlate with student achievement: 

Principal Behaviors (Responsibilities) that correlate with student achievement School Leadership That Works by Marzano, Waters & McNulty (2005). ASCD.

Affirmation: 

Affirmation Extent to which principal recognizes & celebrates school accomplishments and acknowledges failures Reflection: Share a unique way you affirm.

Affirmation: 

Affirmation Develop structures that regularly recognize & celebrate accomplishments (students, teachers, parents) Take time in staff meetings to share & celebrate individual & school-wide learning (successes & failures) Communicate student successes to parents/community

Change Agent: 

Change Agent Willingness to challenge the status quo Consciously challenge the status quo Being willing to lead change initiatives with uncertain outcomes Systematically considering news & better ways of doing things Operating at the edge, rather then the center Reflection: Share a way you serve as a change agent.

Communication: 

Communication Principal establishes strong lines of communication with & between teachers & students.

Communication: 

Communication Developing effective means for teachers to communicate with each other Being easily accessible to teachers Maintaining open & effective lines of communication with staff

Culture/Climate: 

Culture/Climate Patterns of learned behavior, shared meanings, & a commitment to shared values Mood prevalent in a school

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate: 

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate Build relationships with students Listen to their ideas & suggestions Solicit their advice & input Spend time supporting them, especially in times of crisis Believe in their capacity to learn Create a culture of supportive discipline Apologize for mistakes you make Treat them with respect Reflection: Share a way you relate to students.

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate: 

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate Build relationships with teachers Listen to their ideas & suggestions Solicit their advice & input Spend time supporting them, especially in times of crisis Protect them from outrageous parents complaints Acknowledge their accomplishments publicly Apologize for mistakes you make Treat them with respect Reflection: How do you demonstrate respect for teachers?

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate: 

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate: 

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate Build Values Forge shared agreements around mission, vision, & purpose of the school Reflection: Describe how you’re forging such agreements.

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate: 

Promoting Positive Organizational Culture & Climate Deal with change, conflict, & renewal

Change: 

Change

Change: 

Change Be open to new ideas Frame realistic goals for change Seek supporters or allies Realize that neither centralization nor decentralization works As change agent, you are a designer, not a crusader Build allies Learn to tolerate chaos and at times to “go with the flow”

Conflict: 

Conflict Accept, even embrace conflict Provide structural organizational policies and cultural practices to encourage constructive controversy Communication Critical friends Training in productive argumentation Improve communication skills

Renewal: 

Renewal Create a democratic learning community Set aside time for yourself Serve as a role model by encouraging collegiality Engage in reflective practice Undertake action research Create a think tank Reflection: How can you create a democratic learning community?

Assessing Your Role as Cultural Leader: 

Assessing Your Role as Cultural Leader As the principal, you realize a positive or healthy school climate is conducive to higher levels of faculty morale and student and parent satisfaction. You also realize the important role you play in enhancing or improving organizational climate. You are in a pivotal position to shape school culture, which in turn affects school and classroom climate and the overall health of your organization.

Involvement in Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment: 

Involvement in Curriculum, Instruction, & Assessment Being directly involved in helping teachers design curricular activities Being directly involved in helping teachers address assessment issues Being directly involved in helping teachers address instructional issues

Glatthorn’s Curriculum Guidelines: 

Glatthorn’s Curriculum Guidelines Structure the curriculum to allow for greater depth and less superficial coverage Structure and deliver the curriculum so that it facilitates the mastery of essential skills and knowledge of the subjects Structure the curriculum so that it is closely coordinated Emphasize both the academic and the practical

Doing Good Supervision: 

Doing Good Supervision What is supervision? Reflection: How does supervision differ from evaluation?

Doing Good Supervision: 

Doing Good Supervision “Supervision in education has long drawn on democratic principles…Teachers and supervisors must recommit themselves to democratic values…Clinical supervision can provide the means of translating democratic values into action, while strengthening teachers’ technical skills, conceptual understanding, and moral commitment.” Edward Pajak, Approaches to Clinical Supervison: Alternatives for Improving Instruction, 200, pp. 292

Doing Good Supervision: 

Doing Good Supervision Clinical Supervision Suggestions: Never use the clinical supervision cycle for evaluative purposes. In other words, don’t place an evaluation letter in a teacher’s mailbox that emerged from an observation conducted after clinical supervision. Role-play the cycle at a faculty or grade conference in order to demonstrate its use. Have an experienced teacher conduct the cycle with you teaching a demonstration lesson. Have it videotaped for viewing at a faculty or grade conference. At every occasion, communicate your confidence in faculty and your commitment to instructional excellence and support of faculty in every way.

The Clinical Supervision Cycle: 

The Clinical Supervision Cycle The Directive Informational Approach Key Steps 1. Identify the problem or goal and solicit clarifying information. 2. Offer solutions. Ask for the teacher’s input into the alternatives offered, and request additional ideas. 3. Summarize chosen alternatives, ask for confirmation, and request that the teacher restate final choices. 4. Set a follow-up plan and meeting.

The Clinical Supervision Cycle(continued): 

The Clinical Supervision Cycle (continued) The Collaborative Approach Key Steps 1. Identify the problem from the teacher’s perspective, soliciting as much clarifying information as possible. 2. Reflect back what you’ve heard for accuracy. 3. Begin collaborative brainstorming, asking the teacher for his or her ideas first. 1. Problem-solve through a sharing and discussion of options. 2. Agree on a plan and follow-up meeting.

The Clinical Supervision Cycle(continued): 

The Clinical Supervision Cycle (continued) The Self-Directed Approach Key Steps 1. Listen carefully to the teacher’s initial statement. 2. Reflect back your understanding of the problem. 3. Constantly clarify and reflect until the real problem is identified. 4. Have the teacher problem-solve and explore the consequences of various actions. 5. Have the teacher commit to a decision and firm up a plan. 6. Restate the teacher’s plan and set a follow-up meeting.

What Principals Need to Know about Instructional Improvement: 

What Principals Need to Know about Instructional Improvement Time to practice clinical supervision in triads

PCOWBIRDS: 

P C O W B I R D S PCOWBIRDS lans onferences bservations orkshops ulletins ntervisitations esources emonstration Lessons taff Development

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors “A key difference between highly effective and less effective principals is that the former are actively involved in the curricular and instructional life of their schools.” Kathleen Cotton

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors All these principal behaviors are researched-based and have been found positively related to student achievement (Cotton, 2003).

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors Effective principals: establish a safe and orderly school environment by communicating high expectations for student behavior (you can’t have high student achievement in a chaotic environment in which student misbehavior is tolerated) articulate a vision that includes clear goals for student learning communicate high expectations for student achievement (you also must encourage teachers to demonstrate their belief that all student can achieve)

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors persevere despite setbacks (student achievement doesn’t occur linearly; sometimes, actually most often, students may falter academically until a breakthrough occurs; good principals understand this fact and don’t panic) maintain a high profile (effective principals are always available to support teachers instructionally) support positive school climate by encouraging and nurturing a caring school communicate the importance of instructional excellence

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors attend to the personal and emotional needs of students and teachers outreach to parents and community to assist with both instruction and school governance demonstrate their commitment to instructional excellence through symbolic leadership (e.g., one principal I know vowed to shave his head if student achievement in reading rose more than one grade level school wide. I am not of course recommending you follow suit, but do realize the importance of symbolic actions)

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors encourage participative decision making with teachers and staff regarding instructional issues support a cooperative school wide learning environment actively and continuously engage in instructional matters and decisions actively and continuously engage others in instructional matters and decisions establish a norm of continuous improvement by continually pushing for improvement in student performance

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors engage faculty in instructional and curricular matters at every turn visit classrooms frequently; observe and provide feedback continuously (Downey, Steffy, English, Frase, & Poston, Jr., 2004) respect teacher autonomy and do not excessively intrude support teacher risk taking involving trying out innovative instructional strategies secure ample instructional resources (personnel or otherwise) to implement professional development

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors avoid administrative intrusions such as loudspeaker announcements monitor student academic progress systematically interpret performance data and use it to make instructional improvements acknowledge the accomplishments of faculty in terms of their hard work to improve student performance and to recognize students for their individual achievements

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors “walk the talk;” i.e., they don’t just talk about improving instruction, they take specific actions that demonstrate their commitment to instruction avoid bureaucratic or autocratic practices that stifle teacher autonomy

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors: 

Cotton’s Best Practice Leadership Principal Behaviors Cotton (2003) concludes: Can the importance of the principal’s role in fostering student achievement be overstated? The principal does not affect student performance single-handedly, of course, or even directly. Yet the evidence clearly shows that, . . . principals do have a profound and positive influence on student learning. The converse is also true: High-achieving schools whose principals do not lead in these ways are difficult to find. So difficult, in fact, that veteran researcher Lawrence Lezotte has gone so far as to say, “If you know of an effective school without an effective principal, call me collect.” (p. 74)