What Great Principals Do Differently.
It's about People, Not Programs!
Cut and paste the web address below into your browser. This will bring you to a site where you can read Chapter 2 of this book (6 pages). Please blog your response. If you like this chapter, I recommend you purchase this book as a reference. It is a quick and easy read....full of practical ideas and concepts. Enjoy! (I am going to work on my Ning)
http://www.eyeoneducation.com/prodinfo.asp?number=647-0
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I found this chapter to be an easy and vindicating read, as I am sure most people in the cohort probably felt. At different times in our program, discussions veered toward the importance of finding, developing, and keeping effective staff members--that this, above all else, is the key to a successful school. There was always a lot of energy in our cohort about this, and this chapter underscores these points convincingly. "Programs don't make schools, people make schools." We have known this from a very young age. Our own like or dislike of elementary school was determined almost solely by whether or not we liked our teacher. As a parent, my evaluation of my children's pre-school is based almost entirely about how I feel about the teachers and adminstrators working in the program, above all curricular considerations.
ReplyDeleteIn light of this, educational leaders should focus energy and resources on getting good people, making them better, and not letting them go. As with many issues in education, this is much easier said than done. One very strong force precluding administrators from focusing fully on this is RTI. While objective assessment and close progress monitoring are important components of a school program, the emphasis of RTI is primarily on programs and assessment, not teachers. In fact, most empirically supported educational programs endorsed by the RTI approach pride themselves on being "user friendly" and "easy to administer." In light of what we're talking about (the importance of good teachers), it seems silly that we must embrace programs that take the creativity and individual assets of the teacher out of the equation.
I know I am exaggerating a bit, but I'm sure you get my point. RTI is a very positive approach to education in many ways, but I think it does challenge the notion that "people make the school, not the programs." Standardized administration of empirically supported academic interventions do not seem to tap into the heart, passion, and talent of good teachers, and may actually compromise them. I think it is a major challenge in educational leadership today to conceptualize and find a healthy balance in this regard.
I agree totally with Johnny. No matter how "idiot" proof they try to make RTI programs, they are destined to fail without exceptional teachers to make them work. In my years of teaching (and being a student) I have seen so many programs come and go in every subject area. That is one of the major drawbacks for any new program for experienced teachers. Experienced teachers, unless they can see immediate results, will just drag their feet and wait for this program to go away just like all the others have (how about all the right-brain, left-brain stuff). The use of elementary science "box kits" is a great example. Teachers get a box with all the stuff needed to teach a unit on motion. The success of the unit relies totally on the teachers ability to connect with the students, transmit information in a way that allows all students to grasp it and to be flexible when things come up.
ReplyDeletePrograms that have "legs" are those that utilize the strengths of the teachers. Especially with the technology advances today, many of these programs can be "self-teaching", but again without the physical connection which is so important for achievement, success is minimal.
I do not think, with what we know about learning styles today, that anybody will be able to come up with a "one size fits all" educational program.
The main point that the author made was that the best principals implement programs that bring out the best in teachers, just like the best teachers use classroom management that bring out the best in their students. Success as a school leader comes down to how well do you work with the faculty, not how well you can put your fingers on the best program.
ReplyDeleteThe author noted that it is important for principals to adopt programs that make their teachers better. The truth of the matter is that the best teachers will make these programs great, but the average teachers will highlight why the program is not working. I've noticed in my internship that the most important quality a school leader can have is people skills. One administrator that I'm working with has it, and the other one lacks it. Guess which one the faculty feel (and parents I've conversed with) is the better administrator? It's not that the principal who lacks people skills is a horrible administrator. She works very hard and is putting forth her best effort to make the school great, but when she isn't relating to people well, they don't see her value of hard work.
I agree with Johnny and Tom that it's all about finding the best programs that utilize the teachers' strengths. Of course, we've heard it enough times... the great principals will collaborate with faculty to find the best programs. I'm signing off where we all started. Lindsay's collaboration.
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