- Providing safe, supportive learning environments
- Facilitating open communication and decision making
- Integrating diversity into the school culture.
Journey to Principalship
The Principal Pipeline
Icebreaker
Interim Principalship
Year One in the Role of Interim Principal
Effective leaders know what they need to set high expectations for him/herself, the staff, students, families, and community. They then watch people rise to the occasion.
Year One in the Role of Interim Principal
Effective leaders know that getting into classrooms is going where the real work is. Knowing what to do when you are in the classroom pushes the work to a new level.
Challenges
- Similarities to a “substitute teacher position.”
- Same expectations as a permanent Principal; however; unsure of the permanence of your efforts.
- Teachers and parents having to adjust to new leadership styles.
- During transition, it is often difficult to establish relationships, trust, and routines.
The Role of Interim Principal
Benefits
- Opportunity to implement the theory learned during the Accelerated Assistant Principal Program.
- Ability to lead professional support for staff to build their capacity.
- Establishing an high functioning Instructional Leadership Team and School Performance Plan.
- Knowing that the staff, parents, and community wanted a permanent principal who was going to be committed to their students and community.
4 Corners
- Temporary position until a permanent Principal is hired.
- Provides the district an opportunity to search for the “best fit” Principal for a school.
- Has the same expectations of a permanent Principal as it relates to school improvement, family and community engagement, and leading strategically.
Coaching is now Mentoring
1. Read each quote.
2. Determine which quote resonates most with you.
3. Stand next to the quote that most resonates with you.
4. Discuss with your group members why you chose the quote you did.
Accelerated Assistant Principals Leadership Institute
Benefits of Coaching
Year Two
- Hired as the Permanent Principal of my school
- Supports in setting appropriate and achievable objectives and goals and identifying benchmarks to measure progress and success in student achievement and parent involvement.
- On-call availability.
- Helps me to identify and celebrate small successes and to remain focus on the priority “our children”.
Institute Sessions
Leadership Framework
- 12 sessions featuring case studies, book studies, presentations, and intense preparation for Assessment Center
- Topics aligned with District Priorities and the transition to the Common Core
- Work that prepared participants to meet success as measured by indicators on the District’s Leadership Framework
Leading Strategically
- Through monthly meetings and discussions, my mentor was able to determine my level of comfort with being in the role of Interim Principal and provided specific supports for me in addition to the general supports provided to all Principals at monthly professional development opportunities.
- Specific support was received in the identified areas of building my school climate: engaging my families and community in the decision-making process and cultivating talented people.
- Allocating resources where they are most needed and most effectively used
- Creating goals that reflect student needs
- Cultivating collaborative culture.
Selection Process
Supporting Highly Effective Instruction
Engaging Families and Community
- Promoting a clear instructional vision
- Providing formative feedback and guidance
- Modeling the use of data
Cultivating Talented People
- Ensuring staff reflects student diversity
- Using a clear, goal-oriented evaluation process
- Intervening where needed to improve teacher effectiveness.
Effective leaders establish a focus, make a plan, and get it done. They realize that overloading the buffet plate with initiatives and programs just won’t work.
- Serves as assistant principal in District
- Holds Administrator I and II endorsements
- Completes written application with data analysis component
- Submits professional writing sample
- Participates in panel interview
School Diagnosis and Entry Plan
Effective leaders remember to keep the door open. They listen to understand and speak to be heard. They remember that the leader sets the tone for the building and that people want to do the right thing. They commit to telling folks, showing, supporting, and celebrating them.
The School Development Initiative
New principals use school data to create a plan of action that addresses prioritized need in the four areas of the
Leadership Framework.
- Worked in consultation with principal to identify new student achievement initiative aligned with the School Performance Plan (SPP).
- Required to create a team.
- Set measurable goal; determine course of action; monitor and adjust progress; assess and evaluate team.
Highly Effective Instruction
Strategic Leadership – Staffing
Challenge
- The Data Teams Experience - Compliance vs. Commitment
- Ineffective Teaching Practices (Direct Instruction & Instructional Framework)
Support
- Gaining Teacher Buy-In
- Shadowing – Learning Walks
- Time Management – Getting into Classrooms
Win
- State-of-the-Class Data Meetings
- Data Binders & Data Walls
- Success For All 47% – 72%
Challenge
Support
- 46% Performance Improvement Plan
- PIP Conferences
- 46% Vacancies
Win
- 30% Vacancies – New Teachers
- Eager to Learn, Self Motivated, Coachable
Cultivate Talented People
Challenge
- Very Limited Amount
- Inherited Instructional Leadership Team
Support
- Helped to Identify Potential & Provide Support
- Norming with Identified Teachers
- Learning Walks & Meetings
- Familiarity with Staff
Win
- Empowered Staff
- Educational Associate – Decision Making
- Kindergarten Teacher – Early Childhood Liaison
- Third Grade Teacher – New Teacher Mentor
- Fifth Grade Teacher – Mathematics Representative
- Elev8 Lead – Attendance Committee Chair
Historical Context
What research states:
- Research shows that the failure rate of external candidates at all levels of management is significantly higher than internal candidates.
- Organizations that fill more than 25% of their middle-management positions with external hires have double the turnover of those who rely on internal promotions (Benthal and Willis 2001).
- Senior executive hired from the outside fail at a rate of 34% compared to a failure rate of 22% of internally promoted executive (Kelly-Radford 2001).
The Genesis of the Accelerated Assistant Principal Program
Traditional Pathway Assistant Principals performed poorly:
- The District’s Assessment Center
- Interview with the Chief Academic Officer
Alternative/External Hire:
- Completed the District’s Assessment Center as highly proficient
- Scored Proficient or Advance on interview questions
Effective BCPS Principals are Change Leaders
Change leaders in schools know that we are engaged not only in the work of education but also in a complex enterprise of people, all the human drama that accompanies personal pride and identity. The best change leaders use the primacy of people as a strategy, not an obstacle.
Douglas Reeves, Leading Change in Your School, p. 87
Program Overview
Program Goals
Program Framework
- Prepare strong leaders for the BCPS principalship
- Provide in-depth opportunities for strategic school leadership
- Provide the skills to build effective instructional teams to improve student outcomes
- Provide opportunities for professional reflection and planning
Cultivating Change Leaders: New Principal Preparation and Mentoring
BCPS Leadership Framework
Educational Leadership Policy Standards (ISSLC)
Promote the success of every student by:
Standard 1 Facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by all stakeholders.
Standard 2 Advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
Standard 3 Ensuring management of the organization, operation, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
Standard 4 Collaborating with faculty and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources
Standard 5 Acting with integrity fairness, and in an ethical manner
Standard 6 Understanding, responding to, and influencing the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context
- Support Highly Effective Instruction (Highly Effective Instruction)
- Engage Families and Community (Vision and Engagement)
- Cultivate Talented People (Talented People)
- Lead Strategically (Strategic Leadership)
Effective BCPS Principals are Change Leaders
Leaders do not gain buy-in through inspiration, demands, pleading, or seminars. They gain buy-in through getting results that demonstrate that the effect of the change is in the best interest of all stakeholders.
Douglas Reeves, Leading Change in Your School, p. 86
BCPS Prioritizes for Professional Development
Effective BCPS Principals are Change Leaders
Administrators can walk marathons through the hallways and classrooms of the school and accomplish nothing if they do not begin with a clear and consistent idea of what effective instruction looks like and have the ability to communicate the elements of effective instruction in clear and unmistakable terms.
Douglas Reeves, Leading Change in Your School, p. 119
Dr. Janice Barclay BKL and Associates
Dr. Irma Johnson Executive Director
Baltimore City Public Schools
Ms. Octavia Hopkins Principal
Baltimore City Public Schools
Ms. Tetra Jackson Principal
Baltimore City Public Schools
Ms. Melody Locke Principal
Baltimore City Public Schools
- Increasing the Rigor of Teaching and Learning
- Effectively Engaging Staff in Their Own Development
- Designing Interventions Responsive to Staff Needs
Effective BCPS Principals are Change Leaders
When almost every faculty member has a divergent view of what a prospective change initiative really means, the problem is not with the faculty. Rather the work of effective change implementation requires considerable more clarity and consistency from the leader.
Douglas Reeves, Leading Change in Your School, p. 88