Principal as instructors Leader
Principals as Instructional Leaders
At some level, principals always have been instructional leaders—but never before has their role been more prominent.
First, the accountability movement—No Child Left Behind in particular—thrust principals into the spotlight on academic achievement. Then budget cuts peeled away capacity at both the district and school levels, thinning the ranks of assistant superintendents, curriculum specialists and assistant principals, who shouldered some or most of the load.
For Beverly Jarrett, principal at Far West High School in the Oakland (Calif.) Unified School District, that has meant an upward creep from 10 hours per day, five days a week when she started five years ago, to 12 to 14 hours per day and one Saturday a month. “You’re never in this place where you can relax. You’re always thinking about the next thing that needs to be done,” she says, recalling an early evening when she ran into a student on the street who said to Jarrett, “I’ve never seen you outside of school.” Says Jarrett with a wry chuckle, “They think I live there.”
Traditionally, principals have been more engaged in management functions, like making sure every student has a desk, the buses are on time and cafeterias are supervised, says Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. “Often in the larger schools, an assistant principal was clearly designated as an instruction person, or a systemwide curriculum director, or a director of instruction. In the smaller districts, it was the assistant superintendent of instruction.”
But now, he adds, if a school doesn’t make adequate yearly progress under NCLB, the principal is held responsible. “With that focus of accountability directly on the principals, they have to step up and assume that [academic leadership] role,” Domenech says.
“The reality in most schools was that curriculum was what happened when the teacher went into the class and closed the door,” adds Dick
At some level, principals always have been instructional leaders—but never before has their role been more prominent.
First, the accountability movement—No Child Left Behind in particular—thrust principals into the spotlight on academic achievement. Then budget cuts peeled away capacity at both the district and school levels, thinning the ranks of assistant superintendents, curriculum specialists and assistant principals, who shouldered some or most of the load.
For Beverly Jarrett, principal at Far West High School in the Oakland (Calif.) Unified School District, that has meant an upward creep from 10 hours per day, five days a week when she started five years ago, to 12 to 14 hours per day and one Saturday a month. “You’re never in this place where you can relax. You’re always thinking about the next thing that needs to be done,” she says, recalling an early evening when she ran into a student on the street who said to Jarrett, “I’ve never seen you outside of school.” Says Jarrett with a wry chuckle, “They think I live there.”
Traditionally, principals have been more engaged in management functions, like making sure every student has a desk, the buses are on time and cafeterias are supervised, says Dan Domenech, executive director of the American Association of School Administrators. “Often in the larger schools, an assistant principal was clearly designated as an instruction person, or a systemwide curriculum director, or a director of instruction. In the smaller districts, it was the assistant superintendent of instruction.”
But now, he adds, if a school doesn’t make adequate yearly progress under NCLB, the principal is held responsible. “With that focus of accountability directly on the principals, they have to step up and assume that [academic leadership] role,” Domenech says.
“The reality in most schools was that curriculum was what happened when the teacher went into the class and closed the door,” adds Dick