Keys to being an effective principal

Mike Miles

July 2009

1) Put philosophy first

2) Expand leadership at all levels

There is a difference between leadership and decisionmaking.

Leadership is neither situational nor based on position.

3) Keep the quality of instruction the “main thing”

4) Put practices over programs

Professional Learning Comm.

Increase Student Achievement

Use of dataClose the Minority Achievement Gap

Community Awareness

Recruit and Retain Quality Staff

Maintain safe buildings

Assessment data

Progress monitoring

Curriculum alignment

Instructional strategies

Technology

District image

Ensure student learning

Collaboration

Focus on results

Strategic planning

Focus on instruction

Staff development

Performance indicators

Differentiation of instruction

Leadership developmentLiteracyPositive behavior supports

Professional Learning Comm.

Use of data

Close the Minority Achievement Gap

Recruit and Retain Quality Staff

Progress monitoring

Curriculum alignment

Focus on results

Focus on instruction

Performance indicators

Student-teacher engagement

Leadership development

Feedback

5) Develop a culture of instructional feedback

Replace “what gets measured, gets done,” with “what gets feedback, gets done better.”

Key principles of the principalship

6) Plan and work systemically

7) Build the capacity for change

8) Develop, train, remediate, or remove

9) Change the recruitment paradigm

10) Describe in detail what “great” looks like