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2 What Is Good

Leadership

12 Nothing but Instruction

2 What Is Good

Leadership

12 Nothing but Instruction

2 C A N P R I N C I P A L S D O I T A L L ?

Editor’s note: much of this report is based

on conversations at four meetings in

2001: the EWA 2001 National Seminar,

held April in Phoenix; a December

regional seminar on school leadership in

Charlotte, N.C., and an August LEADERS

Count conference of the Reader’s Digest-

Wallace Funds in Manitou Springs, Colo;

and a conference on Teachers as Owners

in St. Paul, Minn., last September.

In education, few agree aboutremedies to cure ailingschools. But on one point,almost everyone agrees: the

principal is key to any kind ofchange.

But what makes a good schoolleader?

In the 1980s, movies andbooks romanticized the likes ofJoe Clark, the bat-wielding, bad-ass principal of Paterson'sEastside High School in the1980s, larger than life maverickswho did it their way.

But a consensus is growingthat while the heroic principal might dogood – or bad – in the short term, oncehe leaves, all the change vanishes withthe last whiff of his charisma.

The truly effective principal is thefirst among equals, a team builder, aleader of leaders who encourages othersto take responsibility for what happensin the school.

“The definition of power is allwrong,” says Peter Negroni, CollegeBoard vice president and formerSpringfield (Mass.) SchoolsSuperintendent. “It’s not telling peo-ple what to do. The best form of gov-ernance is inclusive. It’s about what isthe goal and how do we work together

to reach the goal. You’re not going tohave the same quality of principal inevery school. So how do you createthe [ethos] where people feel respon-sible for the kids? If you’re alwaystaking the side of the kids, you’llmake a connection. “

Some traits of a good leader that areemerging in the small bits of researchthat exists:

• Delegates leadership• Emphasizes instruction and putting

children first• Encourages continuous staff devel-

opment• Builds coalitions with staff, parents

and the community

• Evaluates data, including testscores, absentee rates, disciplinerecords, to assess strengths andweaknesses in the instructionalprogram and make improve-ments.

University of Chicagoresearchers Penny Sebring andAnthony Bryk released a reportout of the Consortium onChicago School Research thatshowed schools where principalsincluded teachers and parents indecision-making made the mostimprovements.

“Turning a school around is asuch big task – no one can do it

themselves. So we see principals tryingto develop these other centers ofpower,” Sebring says. “It’s teachers whowork directly with students, and par-ents who interact directly with theirchildren, so they in turn will bestronger and more effective.”

In other words, good school leadersdon’t always have to be born. They canbe made.

Thomas Sergiovanni, professor atTrinity University in San Antonio, notesthat a good leader successfully brings aschool through several phases. The“superhero” principal might do the firstand second phases well, but falter on

OVERVIEW: what isGOOD Leadership?

the rest. Sergiovanni’s phases includecommand and control at first, followedby “bartering,” or using incentives andpunishments to get what is needed.Once a school is stable, the leader fol-lows up with training and support andbuilding morale. Finally, the principalshould win the staff over to a set ofideas, especially that all children canlearn, he says. Then they are “morally”involved in their work. He estimates it

takes about four or five years for theturnaround to be complete.

It’s a matter of principles instead ofprincipal.

“The first stage is hooked to theprincipal,” he says. “Then you get peo-ple unhooked from you and hooked toa set of ideas, or principles. People arenow doing things not because of theprincipal, then it perpetuates itself.People get socialized into the ideals ofthe school.”

The definition of what makes a goodprincipal has changed in recent yearswith the growing accountability move-ment. Principals used to be managers.Now they also must be leaders andsome aren’t quite sure how to do it.

During the Phoenix meeting, CherylTibbals, formerly of the Council forChief State School Officers, describedher experience in Kentucky in the hey-day of its reforms and the strugglesprincipals confronted.

“I have had many principals cometo me and say, we advanced the firsttwo years and did better on our assess-ments, but now we’ve hit a glass ceil-ing,” Tibbals said. “And my responseis, no, you haven’t really changed thesystem. You have to really reorganizeeverything you’re doing and the stan-dards are at the core of it, and fromthat develop school leaders.”

In Charlotte, Negroni echoed herwords.

“The bottom line is you teach thekids so they can learn. This is hardwork,” he says. “Principals have neverbeen expected to do this before.”

A Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fundsretreat on leadership explored the chal-lenges surrounding leadership and con-necting it to successful reform. WallaceFunds evaluation director Edward Pauly

summed it up this way: “We’ve got ourwork cut out for us, in particular, all ofour leaders, not just principals andsuperintendents,” he said. “They’realready staggeringly overburdened. Wecan’t ask for Superman....Systems andstructures and conditions have to bereimagined.”

C A N P R I N C I P A L S D O I T A L L ? 3

Advice for reporters assessing principal quality:

• First and foremost, visit the schools you plan to rate.

• Look at test scores and whether there is a slow steady trend upward.

• Ask teachers about the mission of the school. If they give consistent answers, the

school has a coherent goal. If you don’t get consistent answers, that’s a bad sign.

• Talk to teachers, talk to parents, and talk to students.

• Look at the school culture. Is there a clear culture of high expectations, or do you hear

talk of “those kids” and excuses why “those kids” can’t learn.

• Sit in a teachers’ lounge for four or five hours to eavesdrop on conversations. What do

the teachers talk about it? If it’s complaints, something is wrong. If they seriously dis-

cuss ways to improve instruction or teaching methods, something is right.

• Provide context, looking critically at other players, too. For instance, if a state puts a

school on notice to improve but provides little assistance, that is like “a doctor diag-

nosing high cholesterol without telling you what to do about it,” says Kent Peterson,

University of Wisconsin professor and researcher on education leadership.

• Look for an emphasis on professional development for everyone.

• Determine whether the principal and the school have the authority to make decisions,

or whether a principal’s hands are tied by central administration.

Source: Kent Peterson, University of Wisconsin; Jonathan Schnur, New Leaders for New Schools at EWA confer-

ence Nov. 30-Dec. 1, 2001 in Charlotte, N.C.

Lauren Resnick, University of

Pittsburgh Learning and

Research Development

Center’s Checklist:

• Ask the principal to take you

through the building to as many

classes as possible.

• Note whether the principal steers

you to certain classrooms, or

whether every door is open.

• Observe how the principal interacts

with teachers, students and visitors.

• Can the principal explain what is

going on inside these classrooms?

• Does he or she know how to get that

information?

• Does the principal have something

to say about what that teacher was

like two months ago and now?

• Does the principal know the kids?

Source: Leadership and Student Learning, a

report on the Wallace-Reader’s Digest Funds

Second annual LEADERS Count Conference

"The bottom line is you teach the kids so they can learn.

This is hard work. Principals have never been expected

to do this before."

Peter Negroni, College Board and former Springfield, Mass., schools superintendent

The Wallace Funds is underwritingresearch to study leadership roles ineducation reform and grants to helpdistricts, schools and others to strength-en it. The $150 million initiative, calledLEADERS Count, has three goals: tostrengthen the pool of principal andsuperintendent applicants, to strength-en the ability of superintendents andprincipals to improve learning, and cre-ate conditions so principals and super-intendents can become successful.

The foundation found scant researchconnecting what principals and super-intendents do to what students learn.

Yet, a MetLife survey, TheAmerican Teacher 2001, shows a seri-ous mismatch between students’ per-ceptions of their teachers and theprincipals’ perceptions, especially insecondary schools. Seven out of 10principals think that the academicstandards in their schools are high,while only 38 percent of studentsbelieve the same thing, according tothe survey. Only one-fourth of stu-dents are “very satisfied” with theirrelationship with their principal. And73 percent of principals rate theirteachers high on caring about stu-dents. Only 38 percent of students, onthe other hand, say their schools’ aca-demic standards are high. And onlyone-fourth say teachers have highexpectations for all students.

And according to the survey, teachersand principals in schools with highminority populations are less likely tobe satisfied with their relationships andare less likely to describe the teachers ascommitted to their jobs.

While some traits may be easy todefine, the job overall is not. Someargue that principals need to be goodinstructional leaders. Others arguethat they need political skills to sur-vive – and to bring together con-stituents – from teachers, parentsand the community to the superin-tendent, school board and studentsthemselves.

As Junious Williams, CEO of theUrban Strategies Council, put it duringthe August meeting: “Is the principal apilot? Or do they just get the planes to

fly?” After all, he noted, the CEO ofUnited Airlines is not a pilot.

University of Pittsburgh researcherLauren Resnick argued at the samemeeting that a principal should becomfortable in a classroom and shouldbe able to recognize good instruction.

But the job can be overwhelming.And as consultant Robert Evans notedin August, while everyone favors “corpo-rate-style turnarounds,” no one wants togive superintendents or principals cor-porate -style leverage to do the job.

Trends

As with teachers, districts andschools of education express alarmabout a predicted principal shortage.The average age of a principal hascrept up and surveys indicate thatmany principals – as many as 40 per-cent – intend to retire in the nextdecade. In fact, according to a 1998survey of K-8 principals, the turnoverrate for principals since 1988 was 41percent. New York City, for instance,experiences horrendous shortages.


From The K-8 Principal 1998: a Ten-Year Study

(Seventh in a Series of Research Studies Launched in 1928), James Doud and Edward P.

Keller, National Association of Elementary School Principals. The survey was answered by

1,323 randomly selected principals in the spring of 1997.

• 70 percent reported they had experienced increased involvement in marketing/politics

to generate support for their school and education in general over the last three years.

• 66 percent reported more contact with social service agencies.

• 60 percent reported increased involvement with planning and development of site-

based staff development

• Only 36.6 percent of urban principals have primary responsibility for selecting teachers.

• 58.6 percent have 10 or more years experience as a principal.

• The turnover rate for principals from 1988 to 1998 was nearly 42 percent.

• The average K-8 principal worked 54 hours a week.

• Job security concerns: nothing stood out as a concern. But unsatisfactory student per-

formance came closest, with for 32.4 percent of principals saying it was a major con-

cern. More urban principals rated unsatisfactory student performance as a concern

(38.7 percent).

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey:

1993-94(Principal Questionnaire).

Percentage of public school principals by field of study for bachelor’s

and higher degrees: 1993-94

The New York Times and other papersreported that nearly 163 schoolsopened their doors without a perma-nent leader last year and in fact, morethan a third of New York principalshad less than two years of experience.The National Conference of StateLegislators in January estimated thatColorado would face filling 740 prin-

cipal openings in the next five years.The Education Research Service

(ERS) conducted a survey of superin-tendents for the two principals associa-tions, the National Association ofElementary School Principals and theNational Association of SecondarySchool Principals. It found that super-intendents of half the districts reported

shortages of qualified applicants forprincipal jobs and the shortage ranacross all kinds of schools.

Exacerbating the problem is teachers’unwillingness to leave the classroomand move into administrative ranks.ERS, in the “Principal: Keystone of aHigh-Achieving School,” cites aLouisiana survey of teachers certified tobe administrators that shows only 100of 215 teachers with the proper certifi-cation were even willing to apply for aprincipalship. The teachers cited rea-sons from stressful conditions, to lackof resources to the increased complexityand responsibility of the job.

Harvard University professor RichardElmore also blames the situation on thesystem that has haphazardly evolved.Teachers get a boost to their salaries byearning masters’ degrees. It’s easy toearn one in education administration.Education schools get the tuition. Soschool districts get people who arepaper-qualified, teachers get salary liftsand ed schools get extra income.

A long term survey of K-8 principals,started 50 years ago, shows that whileprincipals are being held more account-able, their authority is still limited in bigschool systems. Pay is the biggest issue.James Doud, chairman of the depart-ment of Educational Leadership at theUniversity of Florida who conductedthe survey, found that based on princi-pals’ estimates of how many hours aweek they work, many (aspiring) prin-cipals take a pay cut when they leaveteaching for administration.

“If that’s true, why would peopledecide to leave the classroom and workmore months and actually take a paycut?” he asks. “In the last 20 years, therehas been considerably more responsi-bility put on principals, and the salarydifferential has gotten smaller...Teachersalaries had been so low, people madeeffort to improve teacher salaries, soover a period of years, it’s been goingup more than principals. Yet a lot moreresponsibility was put on the principal.”

Nonetheless, the average principaldoes not express dissatisfaction with hisor her job. But they are reporting morestress, Doud says.


Percent

Percentage of public school principals by sex and sex within school

level: 1987-88; 1990-91, and 1993-1994

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey: 1987-

88(Administrator Questionnaire), 1990-91(Administrator Questionnaire), 1993-94(Principal Questionnaire).

Public school principals’ average years of experience as teachers and

principals: 1993-94

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey:


There’s not just a pending principalshortage, but a shortage of female, blackand Hispanic principals as well.Consider the most recent statistics fromthe National Center for EducationStatistics: in 1994, only 10 percent of allprincipals were African-American. Only4 percent were Hispanic. Women nowoccupy about 42% of the elementary(K-8) principalships, yet compriseabout 85% of the teachers in these sameschools.

Also a telling statistic: one-third ofmale principals came to the principal-ship through athletic coaching, whilethat remained a rare experience forfemale principals.

Now there is growing concernamong educators because the demo-graphics of principals and faculty arebecoming increasingly skewed from

student demographics.In another 30 years,American students willbe majority minority.

While Elmore criti-cizes the present systemof training and the num-bers of “unqualified, cre-dentialed” people, LeslieT. Fenwick, vice presi-dent of the SouthernEducation Foundation,views the large numbersof people who haven’tmade the transition as anuntapped pool.

“We’re overlooking avery capable pool ofpotential leaders,”Fenwick said at theDecember EWA meeting.

“Look at who is not being tapped.Females have been undercultivated. Wemay not even have to look outside edu-cation.”

The problem is the job is not desir-able, she says. “Look at why teacherschoose to stay in the classroom. In theclassroom, you can make a differ-ence,” she says. “To move on or tobecome a principal, they see this as atotally opposite proposition. It meansmoving from influencing lives tobecoming an educrat.”

A problem is researchers reallyhaven’t looked at the problem. Theyhaven’t spent a lot of time looking atwho gets the best principals, althoughthey have looked at teacher quality,Fenwick says.

Another telling statistic from theNCES report: more women and minor-

ity principals went through aspiringprincipal training programs than whitemales before joining the ranks.

Preparation and Training

How principals are trained is becomingalmost as big an issue as how teachersare trained.

And as with teachers, educationadministration programs are almostuniversally deplored. Harvard’s Elmorecalls them “puppy mills.”

“We have a vast array of institutionswho I’ve characterized as puppy mills,who continue to turn out unqualifiedand credentialed people,” he said at thePhoenix meeting. “The content andinstitutional structure of existing train-ing programs are fundamentally unsuit-ed for the jobs we are asking. Theseinclude the university-based programs

and credit accumulation programs out-side the university structure.”

He noted that as many as 80 percentof the credentialed pool come from thelowest quality preparation programs.

It’s something that current princi-pals agree is a problem. Ken Prichard,principal of Woodland High School inBartow County, Ga., is recognized forhis work at Loganville High school,which was singled out by U.S. Newsand World Report for its dramaticgains in student achievement andparental involvement. He finds thatcollege and university professors areso far removed from the world ofprincipals that they have forgottenwhat it means to lead a school.

“A lot of principals don’t knowwhat educational leadership means,”he told an EWA regional seminar on


“We’re overlooking a very capable pool of poten-

tial leaders,” Leslie Fenwick, vice president of the

Southern Education Foundation, said. “Look at

who is not being tapped. Females have been

undercultivated. We may not even have to look

outside education.”

Percentage of public school principals

by race-ethnicity: 1993-94

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education

Statistics, Schools and Staffing Survey:



education leadership in Charlotte.“They’re not familiar with what thatis. They think leadership is schedul-ing, planning, buses, seeing that ithappens short of doing it yourself.”

In response to the poor training,principal academies – usually a collabo-ration of school districts, administratorassociations, and colleges and universi-ties – are sprouting up everywhere.Fenwick notes that they are often col-

laborations between school districts andsecond-tier or third-tier colleges.

Jonathan Schnur, the chief execu-tive officer, is a former adviser to theClinton White House and former VicePresident Al Gore. New Leaders forNew Schools started with five studentsin the Harvard University GraduateSchool of Education and the HarvardBusiness School.

Schnur calls it a “medical-style” resi-

dency program, where aspirants servean internship in a school. Often teach-ers are afraid to become principals, notbecause they don’t want to lead aschool, but for other reasons, he said atthe EWA meeting in Charlotte.

“They’re scared of going into abureaucratic morass,” he says. “They’regoing to be at the mercies of school sys-tems that they don’t trust. They want tobe part of an ongoing effort to changelives...We tried to design programs toaddress these issues.”

Another source of problems in train-ing may be assistant principals. Toooften – especially in high schools andmiddle schools – they are delegated tocertain tasks, such as discipline or cur-

riculum. Principals and the centraloffice often don’t try to groom assistantprincipals for the eventual step up,speakers at the regional conference said.

“Every assistant principal ought tobe a principal in training,” principalPrichard says. He dabbled in centraladministration for a few months beforefleeing back to school management.“They shouldn’t get pigeonholed withdiscipline, or attendance or even cur-riculum.”

Gene Bottoms, senior vice presidentof the Southern Regional EducationBoard, and director of its successfulHigh Schools That Work program thatPrichard is involved in, says districts

Principal Training

A prime example of a principal training program that draws accolades from experts

and researchers is the Delta State University program in Mississippi, which provides

training for future principals in the rural regions of the Mississippi Delta.

Fifteen prospective principals are selected for the program each year. Often they are

nominated by their school districts,

although some scholarships are offered to

teachers who apply on their own. They

serve as interns under mentor principals

for a year, while attending classes.

Mississippi is one of the few states where

students can earn salaries while partici-

pating. These paid sabbaticals require stu-

dents to work in the sponsoring school

district after the program is completed.

Delta State started the program in

1998, calling on the expertise of a national

panel to provide help on developing the

program, says Sue Jolly, the program’s

coordinator.

The program is about to launch a study

to measure its graduates’ success. It will

send out surveys to school administrators,

asking them to rate the students’ skills, as well as surveying graduates themselves. So

far, it has had mentors evaluate students, and has informally surveyed graduates to get

feedback, Jolly says.

“The real divide is between theory and practice,” says Joseph Murphy, director of the

Ohio Principal Leadership Academy, and expert on school leadership. “Professors have

an inability to bring the real world into the classroom, and practitioners are unable to

interpret theory,” he says. “There is a lack of connection to practice.”

One organization is approaching the training of principals along the lines of the

group Teach for America, trying to recruit top-notch candidates to go through a year-

long residency at urban schools with mentor principals. New Leaders for New Schools

was founded two years ago and started preparing its first crop of principals in New York

and Chicago last summer. Near the end of the internship, New Leaders plans to find

openings for its recruits in school districts and charter schools that allow principals

autonomy over budgets and hiring. And for the next two years, the graduates will

receive support from the program. NLNS plans to expand the program in the two cities

over the summer and add another city to the roster.


don’t put thought into succession.Another issue is whether leaders

should be groomed within the system –as with the Delta State program (seeSidebar) – or people should be encour-aged to pursue management as some-thing they are interested in. Bottomsnoted that the Houston IndependentSchool District encourages self-selec-tion to try to dry up the old-boy net-

work that is too prevalent in otherschool systems.

Turning around a school culture

Here’s a quandary. A good schoolleader is easily identifiable and somesuccessfully turn around failing schools.But some schools are so bad, even themost effective school principal mightfind them difficult to steer in the right

direction. Experts like Charles Payne ofDuke University and Kent Peterson ofthe University of Wisconsin call them“toxic school cultures.”

Such a school has low morale.Everyone is angry. Teachers talk pasteach other and they splinter into factiongroups, pitting older teachers againstyounger ones, or primary grade teach-ers against intermediate grade faculty.The atmosphere can have a strongracial component to it, as well, Paynepoints out. Teachers might pretend toget along, but interview them in sepa-rate black and white groups, and thewhite teachers will tell you the blackteachers are too authoritarian and theblack teachers will see the white teach-ers as too lax, he says. Programs quicklyget described as a “black” program or a“white” program.

“The principals aren’t strong instruc-tional leaders – they say with great truththat they are overwhelmed,” Payne says.“But give them the time to be (leaders)and they won’t do it.”

Just getting teachers to talk to eachother frankly would be a sign ofprogress, he told an EWA conference.

These schools are so fractured, theycannot even follow through on the sim-plest of reforms that everyone supports.

From Public Agenda report, “Trying to Stay Ahead of the Game:

Superintendents and Principals Talk about School Leadership,”

released November 2001

• 46 percent of principals say talented colleagues who leave the field are most likely

to leave because they are frustrated by politics and bureaucracy. Another 34 percent

say they leave because of unreasonable demands brought about by higher standards

and accountability.

• 70 percent say that managing harsh public criticism and political heat has become

routine part of their job

• 48 percent of principals say you can usually get things done the way you want, but

you must work around the system.

• 32 percent of principals say they have enough freedom and autonomy to remove

ineffective teachers from the classroom and an equal percentage say they have the

capacity to reward outstanding teachers and staff.

• 54 percent of principals in urban districts say they need a lot more autonomy to

remove ineffective teachers.

• 71 percent of principals say they have enough freedom and autonomy to hire

teachers and other staff.

• 48 percent of principals say they think it’s a bad idea to hold principals accountable

for student standardized test scores at the building level.

• 69 percent say that making it easier to remove bad teachers would be a “very

effective way” of improving leadership in the nation’s schools. Another 65 percent

ranked improving pay and prestige of administrators as very effective; and 54

percent found improving the quality of professional development for administrators

as a very effective approach.

• 69 percent of principals say that the typical leadership programs in graduate schools

of education are out of touch with the realities of what it takes to run today’s school

district. 66 percent also say too much of administrative professional development is

impractical and focuses on the wrong things.

Five Common Strategies for

Successful Schools

From Just for the Kids “Promising

Practices Study of High-Performing

Schools”

1. Take initiative: Make no excuses and

strive for success

2. Develop and execute a clear strategy

for improvement

3. Continuously assess progress and

intervene immediately when students

or teachers are struggling.

4. Make high-quality teaching and

research-based instructional practice

the top priority.

5. Collaborate, both inside and outside

the school.

"A lot of principals don't know what educational leadership

means. They're not familiar with what that is. They think

leadership is scheduling, planning, buses, seeing that it

happens short of doing yourself."

Ken Prichard, Principal Woodland High School, Barstow, Ga.


For instance, such a school might haveunanimous agreement to implement aschool uniform policy, yet two or threeyears later, it still is not in place, Paynenotes.

Peterson tells stories of a schoolwhere dedicated teachers described itlike Sarajevo. He estimates it will takethree to five years to turn around such aschool. If you don’t have a unifyingforce, a school is more like a “hotel forteachers,” he says.

But experts – including Payne – saythat in those bottom of the barrelinstances, a big stick might be a goodthing to wield. “Coercion has a place inthis,” Payne says. “You cannot do thesedemoralized schools without coercion.”

But while coercion may be necessaryto jumpstart the worst schools, they areunlikly to experience deep change withdevelopment of their human and socialcapital, Payne adds. Michael Fullan ofthe University of Toronto suggests thatreconstitution may be the only solutionin cases like these. For a long time,researchers and experts focused on theschool level leadership. In cases likethese, the district or state must step for-ward, he says.

“Site-based management assumedeverything has to be solved at theschool and community level, but nowwe’ve seen that some schools will notdevelop on their own,” he says.

So effective principals shape theirstaff by hook or by crook, getting rid ofthe deadwood or even the teacherswhose views may clash. “It’s importantto do this because they can poison therest of the staff,” says Payne.

Data

A new trend – and one that mightseem glaringly obvious to outsiders – isthe use of data to improve instruction,attendance, and other elements ofschool.

Schools and school districts collectenormous amounts of data for stateand federal officials. They generate dataon the number of students in poverty –as defined by the federally subsidizedmeal programs. They must report onattendance to receive state funding. Test

scores are a must – from district teststo state-sanctioned ones.

Yet, as Ted Creighton, a formerschools superintendent and professorat Sam Houston State University, putsit, “We put it in a pile somewhere andthought we were done.”

Yet schools could use data toimprove not just instruction, but atten-dance and discipline. As Creightonpoints out, 94 percent might sound likea great attendance rate, but if you lookat the whole picture, kids are still miss-ing on average, approximately twoweeks of school (6% of 180 days). It all

goes back – once more – to training.Principals and teachers are not trainedto use data, he says.

Among those pushing the move-ment toward data-based decision-mak-ing is the nonprofit, Texas-basedorganization, Just for the Kids, which ispromoting the use of data not justamong educators, but parents and poli-cy-makers as well.

For Holly Fisackerly, the revelationof just how data could help camethrough a workshop her school districtconducted with the help of Just for theKids. The former Worsham Elementary

Teachers as Leaders

What if a school had no principal? A concept is now floating that would take even

more radical steps and abolish the principal all together. It is starting in the same state

where the charter school movement came into being - at one of the earliest charter

schools in the state, formed in 1994.

Minnesota New Country School in rural Henderson breaks several molds. It is a

small school serving 117 students in grades seven to 12. It has no classrooms, no sepa-

rate subjects. Instead, students design projects with the assistance of their teachers,

known as advisors, that

incorporate Minnesota

standards. The teachers

work as a cooperative

with no principal in

charge.

The group devotes 60

percent of the budget to

salaries - which is much

lower than the salary

heavy budgets of aver-

age school districts.

Raises are awarded based on performance, with a grid judged by peers, as well as stu-

dent and parent evaluations. Yet the teachers typically receive higher than average

salaries. In addition, teachers are given supplements for taking on additional duties.

“You wouldn’t keep a lawyer at a law firm if he didn’t pull his weight,” says Dee

Thomas, a co-founder of the school and a teacher there. “Value doesn’t mean you’re a

star if you have a master’s degree.”

Thomas also uses another analogy to describe the difference between employment

and ownership. “Your attitude is different when you work for a hardware store or own a

hardware store,” she said.

The school saves money on other expenses, such as custodians, meaning “you

have to be willing to scrub toilets with our kids,” as Thomas puts it. About one-fifth of

the money is put into savings.

The teachers can be more responsive to parent and student concerns, the teachers

pointed out. “If tonight we decide something needs to change, it changes tomorrow,”

Thomas said.

"Leadership is being used as a

synonym for administration. We have

always been sloppy in our talk about

leadership and management."

Adam Urbanski, president of the Rochester Teachers

Association and co-founder of the Teachers Union Reform

Network (TURN)

School principal in Aldine, Texas couldhave been excused if she alreadythought her school was successful. Ithad one of the highest passing rates forthe Texas state tests.

Now the school’s students, mostlypoor, a majority non-English speakers,don’t just pass the test, but reach theproficient levels on the test. AndFisackerly joined the Just for the Kidsstaff last year to promote data-baseddecision making.

“It has become second nature for myteachers to use data,” Fisackerly says.“We looked at all of our kids as if theywere gifted and taught them that way.”

DO SCHOOLS NEED PRINCIPALS?

A nascent movement argues thatschools may not need principals at all.In the beginnings of the Americanschool system, principal was short forprincipal teacher, after all.

And some would argue that leader-ship in a school doesn’t need to startwith principals – it can start withteachers. To Adam Urbanski, presi-dent of the Rochester TeachersAssociation and co-founder of theTeachers Union Reform Network(TURN), too many people equateschool leadership with school admin-istration or management.

“Leadership is being used as a syn-onym for administration,” he says. “Wehave always been sloppy in our talkabout leadership and management.”

Urbanski has called for teachers totake a strong leadership role ininstruction and to get the chance forpromotions without leaving teaching,such as master teachers who teachpart-time and mentor the rest.

Ted Kolderie of the Center forPolicy Studies in St. Paul and EdDirkswager, a retired businessmanconsulting for the center, explored theidea of teachers forming professionalpartnerships and cutting out the mid-dle man – the principal. The partner-ships can range from cooperatives toeven professional firms, along the linesof law or architecture firms or medicalpractices. A book looking at the con-cept titled “Teachers as Owners – a key

to revitalizing public education” willbe released in June 7 throughScarecrow Press. A draft version cameout in September, along with a meet-ing in St. Paul at Hamline University.

The book and the conference usesthe EdVisions Cooperative, whichlaunched at the New Country Schooland now has nine charters in the stateunder its umbrella and 120 teachermembers, as an example.

The teachers at the schools pay intothe cooperative to take care of payrolland benefits, as well as other adminis-trative matters. The cooperative alsohas received grants from the GatesFoundation to spread its instructionalmodel – project-based learning.

Teachers have found there are advan-tages and disadvantages – for instance,sacrificing the perk of accumulating sig-nificant numbers of sick days.

Another form of the model isdeveloping in Milwaukee at theIDEAL charter school. The teachersrunning the school are still employeesof the Milwaukee school system, butthe school operates free of other con-straints. For instance, the school canselect the staff and the district willassign them.

Cooperatives may be somethingunique to Minnesota’s history as afarming state. As someone at theHamline conference pointed out,cooperatives have a vaguely sinisterconnotation in other parts of thecountry. Hence, other angles on theconcept have to be developed.

David Ferrero, an education officerfrom the Bill and Melinda GatesFoundation, suggested during the con-ference that pitching the idea to rankand file probably will end up with notmuch interest.

“You need to take a missionaryapproach,” he said. “Find young peo-ple, found a new church, it has to be agrass roots model.”

Another question posed by EricHirsch of the National Conference ofState Legislators: with all the negativeattitudes in the public about teachers,how do you overcome doubts aboutthe teaching profession?

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C A N P R I N C I P A L S D O I T A L L ? 1 1

Challenges still face the concept ofcooperative power. For instance, liabili-ty is a growing issue among school dis-tricts, and could well be a financialburden for such partnerships, as well asunemployment and other such mun-dane issues. Some teachers, as pointedout during the conference, have troublegrasping the concept of ownershipinstead of employment, and that canmean some teachers do more of thework and suffer burnout.

Still, “We want students to haveownership of their learning, so theyneed to see us owning our teaching,”said David Greenberg, a teacher at ElColegio Charter School inMinneapolis. “It’s a subtle thing.”

And as another New Countryteacher, Dean Lind put it: “We haven’tgot it down quite right with the coop-erative – we’re not perfect, but we havethe structure in place.”

Teachers, like nationally-acclaimedbiology instructor Cindy Moss, whorecently won a Milken FamilyFoundation National Educator Award,find the idea appealing. Moss reviewedthe EdVisions ideas for EWA’sDecember meeting. She said later shethought schools could invest muchmore money directly into instruction ifmiddle management were eliminated.She noted that at her 2,200-studentschool in Charlotte, the principalmakes more than $100,000 and it alsohas eight administrators making atleast $70,000, to say nothing of thesecurity specialists escorting students tothe restroom or off campus. That’s

money that could be plowed back intosmaller classes and more teachers, shesays.

“It seems to me that “real” shareddecision making is a great way to cutthe costs of administration and stilltake care of necessary administration,”she says.

Teacher Union Reform Networkfounder Urbanski also is intrigued bythe idea, but predicts another decade ortwo will pass before it can take off. He

sees a move toward a school-centeredform of governance instead of schooldistricts. When that happens, then suchefforts can blossom, he predicts.

“Then we’ll see teachers acting asentrepreneurs and forming partner-ships,” Urbanski says.

Author Dirkswager hopes that it willat least get people to think beyond theusual school hierarchy – beyondadministrators as leaders and teachersas employees.

Conclusion

So much is up in the air with schoolleadership, including its definition. Andthe system seems slow to move awayfrom its typical inertia, experts observe.

“That grinding sound you hear outthere is a system waking up to the factthat it is now responsible for the learn-ing of children. It’s metal on metal. It’snot very well lubricated,” Elmore says.“As these systems begin to reorientthemselves to a more performance-based view of their work...then we canhave a system in which schools and dis-tricts and colleges of education and

universities have very strong incentivesfor working on these instructionalproblems because they’ll get credit forproducing performance.”

But what should reporters do toconfront this issue? Everyone fromresearchers to principals themselveshave varying degrees of advice. But oneway reporters can really grasp the roleof the principal is by following one.

“I would give you one simple rec-ommendation here when you’re writ-

ing about education: when was the lasttime that you actually went through ahigh school day?” asks Beverly Hurley,Los Fresnos High School principal,2001 MetLife/NASSP National HighSchool Principal of the Year and the2000 Arizona Principal of the Year.

That was the advice of participantsin the LEADERS Count meeting whenEWA held an impromptu session.

Ellen Guiney, executive director ofThe Boston Plan for Excellence, notedthat coverage of principals tends toportray them as heroes. That’s wrong,she says.

And Marla Ucelli, an official of theAnnenberg Institute for SchoolReform, warned that everyone lookingat education reform and ways to fixproblems should keep one thing inmind:

“You can’t fix anything by trying tofix everything.”

“That grinding sound you hear out there is a system waking up to the fact that it is now

responsible for the learning of children. It’s metal on metal. It’s not very well lubricated,”

Harvard University professor Richard Elmore says. “As these systems begin to reorient

themselves to a more performance-based view of their work...then we can have a system in

which schools and districts and colleges of education and universities have very strong

incentives for working on these instructional problems because they’ll get credit for pro-

ducing performance.”

1 2 C A N P R I N C I P A L S D O I T A L L ?

BALTIMORE – Irma Johnsonkeeps a pair of black high-heeled shoes behind her desk.But most of the time she wears

walking slippers – with good reason.As principal of Dallas F. Nicholas

Elementary School in the BaltimoreCity school system, Johnson is perpetu-ally in motion, moving from room toroom in the three-story building toobserve teachers, make notes and talk tostudents, occasionally dressing downnoisy ones in the hallways.

Built in the 1970s as an open-class-room school with no walls, DallasNicholas presents a special managementchallenge. Though walls were addedrecently, there are gaps at the ceilingthat allow noise to build and travel –hence Johnson’s stern reaction to bois-terous chatter in hallways and cafeteriarooms.

The 400-plus student body at DallasNicholas is typical of inner-city schools:All are low- income, being eligible forfree- and reduced-price lunches; all areminority, mainly African Americanwith a sprinkling of Asians andHispanics.

However, the school’s achievementlevel is a standout. On both theMaryland State PerformanceAssessment Program (MSPAP) andthe norm-referenced ComprehensiveTest of Basic Skills, Dallas Nicholasscores are among the highest in thecity school system. On some subjects,they are just below or just above thestate average. The principal attributesmuch of the school’s increasing suc-cess on a reduction in class sizes –classes used to have 25 to 30 students;now they have about 18.

Johnson calls her students my chil-dren with fierce possessiveness. She hasserved as principal for four years andassistant principal for three atNicholas. After following Johnson forthe day, it’s clear why the school is onthe upswing: instruction is the centralfocus and everything else is builtaround that. In fact, the theme ofDallas Nicholas is “instruction andnothing but instruction.”

And one element is periodic meet-ings between Johnson and individualteachers to review instructional plans.This morning, Johnson is meetingwith Cynthia Kess-Wilson, a third-grade teacher who will be focusing oneconomics.

“What do you want them to know?”Johnson asks. When Kess-Wilson hesi-tates, Johnson gently prompts her:“Why don’t you think out loud? MaybeI can help you.”

Kess-Wilson lists some of the termsthey should know: opportunity cost,the impact of economic specializationon the growth of communities, capital.

“Not all at the same time?” asksJohnson.

Kess-Wilson says her students couldeasily understand that limited resourceslead to economic problems, but shefeels that the learning outcome of thelesson should be more challenging than

that. Johnson encourages her to thinkharder about the outcomes; they alsodiscuss methods Kess-Wilson will beusing to get her lessons across.

Then they turn to the students them-selves. One little girl is having trouble inboth behaving and learning. She liveswith her grandmother on weekdays andher mother on weekends. Her mother isbelligerent, the teacher and principalagree, coming in to curse at the faculty,although she calmed down once Kess-

INSTRUCTION and nothing but instruction

motivates SCHOOL AND PRINCIPAL

Irma Johnson, principal of Dallas Nicholas Elementary School in Baltimore.


Wilson showed her the daughter’sgrades. “The mother is not the primarycaregiver,” points out Johnson, suggest-ing they invite the girl’s grandmotherand aunt to observe the child in theclassroom.

The conference done, Johnson goeson patrol. Children run up to her forhugs or to show off their work. Othertimes, she gives impromptu lectures tomisbehavers. One boy with a chiseledface gets a talk-to about his violence –he hit another boy in the face. Johnsonbelieves he has severe emotional prob-lems and needs help. Later in the day,he shyly hands a paper to Johnson topraise. It reads, “I wish I had a hundreddollars because then Michael Jacksonwould be my friend.” This being the100th day of school, lessons revolvearound the concept of 100.

More formal professional develop-ment also is a priority at DallasNicholas. Teachers meet in teams for 45minutes a day while their children

attend art, physical education or libraryclasses. On one particular day, thekindergarten and pre-kindergartenteachers review the findings of a con-sultant from the school’s reading pro-gram, Open Court, with the assistantprincipal, Regina Patterson. There isgood news on most fronts, she tellsthem. The consultant especially praisedone teacher’s exercise where studentshunched up to illustrate a short ‘I’ andstretched out to illustrate a long one.But the teachers say they are strugglingto get the concepts of short and longvowels across to the children. Pattersonhands out some activities and rhymingstrategies.

Johnson sits back and listens duringmost of the meeting. Near the end shebrings up an issue raised by the inter-mediate-grade teachers: Students arecoming to them with weak compre-hension skills.“We’ve done a wonder-ful job on phonics and decoding,” shesays. “Now we need to work on com-prehension.”

The teachers discuss some strate-gies they can use to make sure kidsunderstand what they’re reading —for instance, using “wondering,” orasking students to anticipate where astory is going.

Then the talk turns to students. Theytalk about a one-armed child and howthe teacher is assisting her with writingexercises. Johnson brings up other chil-dren’s names and asks how they aredoing. She asks teachers to bring uptheir own concerns.

After the meeting ends, Johnsonbegins her patrol again. She stops in tocheck with her Americorps volunteerand with her special education screen-ing coordinator. They talk about the lit-tle boy with the violence problems. Heis receiving counseling through anarrangement with Johns HopkinsUniversity, which sends a mental healthexpert to work with students at theschool.

The program illustrates the strongcommunity involvement in the school.A local church tutors second-graders.Students from Loyola University work

with Dallas Nicholas kids on a book-reading competition and tutor childrenone on one. Johns Hopkins providesmental health counseling and, as part ofresearch on the impact of volunteeringon the lives of senior citizens, arrangesfor senior citizens to work at the school.

Johnson then stops in a teacher’sclassroom, pulling out an observationchecklist from her clip board. All teach-ers are supposed to list their objectivesfor the day, the week or the month onthe chalkboard until their childrenachieve them. This day, the preschoolteacher is working on the letter O.While the objective is posted, theMaryland standards are not. Johnsonmakes a note to remind her to post thestandards. Otherwise, she’s satisfiedwith the progress of the lesson.

Another pre-school teacher is work-ing with her students on J. The teacherasks them for words beginning with J. “Igot one! I got one!” an eager boy callsout, opening the flood gates. “Jelly!”Jellybean!”“Jack in the box!” Jell-O!”“Jackie!” Jake!” Joker!”“Jasmine,” says amischievous- faced boy, eyeing his class-mate Jasmine slyly. A Korean boy, newto the country, suggests “yellow.” Thenas the teacher gently prompts him, heswitches to his own name, Jian.

As Johnson traverses the class-rooms, she stops to tie a tiny girl’sshoelaces, while two others hover inthe background. She talks to a fathervisiting his daughter’s classroom. Heis trying to gain custody of his son,who is attending another school, inhopes of transferring him to DallasNicholas. “I like the work he wasdoing here,” he tells her.

She moves on to another room,where she sees kids squirming. Theteacher is trying to call up folktales onthe Internet. When Johnson arrives, hemoves the first-graders to storytelling.The objective of the lesson is not post-ed, and Johnson is clearly unhappy. Shepulls out her clipboard and starts takingcopious notes. The teacher reads kids aChinese tale that resembles “Little RedRiding Hood.” At first the children lis-ten attentively, but then start to squirm.

From “Standards for What

Principals Should Know and Be

Able to Do” National

Association of Elementary

School Principals, 2001

• Lead schools in a way that places stu-

dent and adult learning at the center.

• Set high expectations and standards

for the academic and social develop-

ment of all students and the perform-

ance of adults.

• Demand content and instruction that

ensure student achievement of agreed

upon academic standards.

• Create a culture of continuous learn-

ing for adults tied to student learning

and other goals.

• Use multiple sources of data as diag-

nostic tools to assess, identify and

apply instructional improvement.

• Actively engage the community to cre-

ate shared responsibility for student

and school success.

1 4 C A N P R I N C I P A L S D O I T A L L ?

They glance back at Johnson. So doesthe teacher. It’s not obvious to an out-side observer what the point of the les-son is. After the children leave, Johnsonsays, “I’m not pleased.” She asks to meetwith the teacher the next day about hislesson planning.

Most of the time, Johnson uses herobservations to give teachers construc-tive criticism. Every once in a while, sheuses it to take teachers to task. ButJohnson believes she has built a solidteam. The school’s staff is stable — nineof 17 faculty members have 10 or moreyears of experience – a high proportionat any school. She weeded out most ofthe bad teachers when she was assistantprincipal, she says.

It’s now almost 1 p.m. and Johnsonfinally takes a lunch break. She tutors a12-year-old fourth- grader while sip-ping chicken noodle soup and munch-ing half a bagel with grape jelly. The girlis one of about 100 students who trans-ferred this school year from a nearbypublic school that was closed; Johnsoncan’t understand why she hasn’t beenscreened for reading disabilities. Thegirl doesn’t even recognize the word“moon.” She is reading only at a first-grade level. Johnson has her practicereading aloud mostly common words.

“She tries so hard,” Johnson says,noting the girl participates in an after-school program. “She has nobody athome to help her in the evening.We’re doing whole-word workbecause she hasn’t learned any ofthese decoding skills.”

She worries that if the girl isn’t ableto crack the code, she will end up get-ting pregnant and leaving school. “Wepay now, or we pay later,” for studentslike her, she says.

The transfer students concernJohnson and her staff. The school hasworked so hard to teach students howto read and do math, and the resultsshow – Dallas Nicholas was only a fewchildren away from beating state aver-ages last school year. And now theymust contend with this new subset ofstudents whose school hadn’t made theprogress Dallas Nicholas has.

After lunch, Johnson continues herpatrol of the classrooms. She saves herpaperwork until the school bell rings at2:40 p.m. The bulletin boards stretchingalong the hallways are decorated withstudent work, as are many of the class-rooms. “My point of view about my lit-tle sisters is I don’t like them becauseEVERY time I tell them to do some-thing, they don’t listen,” reads oneplaintive essay.

Teachers seem to love the school.Johnson’s classroom observations canbe nerve-wracking, the newer teacherssay, but her suggestions are helpful. Theprincipal also teaches a Penn LiteracyNetwork class on language strategiesonce a week that 20 of the staff attendand receive credit for from theUniversity of Pennsylvania. The com-munity association for the school’sneighborhood is paying for the teach-ers’ tuition.

Mary Catherine Zervos, who onceworked in private schools and abroad,including Japan, has nothing but praisefor Johnson. She says she struggledwhen she first joined the faculty, andJohnson offered support, sending herto workshops, suggesting techniques,and allowing her to go to other schoolsto watch master teachers in action.

“We are a learning community,”Zervos says, who is staying after schooltoday to help a student who is strug-gling with writing and spelling. Manyteachers stay after school, either work-ing in an after-school program aimedmainly at the transfer students or pro-viding extra help on their own.

On the other end of the experiencespectrum, veterans like CynthiaHebron, who has 30 years under herbelt, 20 at Dallas Nicholas, findsJohnson’s leadership helpful as well.“She is supportive — getting us to seeother schools. She’s real data-oriented,”Hebron says, citing the daily planning

meetings as another example ofencouraging teachers to develop professionally.

Melissa Martin is a young teacherwho came to the school after workingat Sylvan Learning Systems. At first shewas intimidated by some of the rules,such as posting the standards.

“Now I understand why. It seems tome the job is to have the children dothe best possible,” she says. “We’re one

united front. Everybody works togetheras a team. Not for the benefit of theteam – we want to have children read-ing at a first grade level.”

But the staff has to work hard andalthough it is showing signs of success,some areas need improvement. Thestaff does home visits in the eveningswhen they find it necessary – such aswhen parents don’t have phones,Johnson says. She’ll find herself holdingimpromptu parent conferences on thesidewalk when parents walk to theschool to pick up their children. Butshe admits that one of the areas theschool needs to improve is parent par-ticipation. It’s one of the school’s goalsthis year. It did see an increase in PTAparticipation last year – up to 53 par-ents last year. While overall attendanceis good, the school is targeting studentswith 20 or more absences. It also isworking on discipline – it saw a surgein office referrals and suspensions lastyear and wants to reduce the numbersin this one.

Another place where the school islacking, Johnson says, is in technology.It recently received a grant to replace itsancient machines. One is 15 years old.The school secretary, Johnson observesdryly, has become expert at stripping ajunk computer for parts.

Johnson reiterates her take on theschool’s theme: “Teaching and learningmust take place every day, every minuteof the day.”

"We're one united front. Everybody works together as a team.

We want to have children reading at a first grade level."

Melissa Martin, Teacher


Sources

Theodore CreightonSam Houston State UniversityHuntsville, Texas(936) 294-4981, Fax (936) [email protected]

James L. DoudUniversity of FloridaGainesville, FL(352) 392-2391, ext. [email protected]

Brad Duggan, Holly Fisackerly, OmarLopezJust for the KidsAustin, Texas(512) 232-0770 Fax (512) 232-0777

Richard ElmoreHarvard Graduate School of EducationCambridge, Mass.(617) [email protected]

Steve FarkasPublic Agenda6 East 39th St.New York, N.Y.10016-0112(212) 686-6610; Fax (212) [email protected]

Leslie T. FenwickSouthern Education Foundation, Inc.Atlanta, Ga.(404) 523-0001, ext. 118 Fax (404) [email protected].

Michael FullanOntario Institute for Studies in EducationUniversity of Toronto(416)923-6641 ext. 3223(416) [email protected]

Sue JollyDelta State UniversityCleveland, Miss.(662) [email protected]

Dennis Littky Co- Director The Big Picture Company Providence RI (401)456-0600 [email protected]

Peter J. NegroniThe College BoardNew York, NY(212) [email protected]

Ron Newell or Doug ThomasEdVisions CooperativeHenderson, Minn.(507) 248-3738 Fax (507) [email protected]

Kathy O’Neill, Gene BottomsSouthern Regional Education Board592 10th Street, NWAtlanta, GA 30318( 404)875-9211

Marion OrrDepartment of Political ScienceBrown UniversityProvidence, Rhode Island(401) 461-0233 Fax (401) [email protected]

Charles M. PayneDuke UniversityDurham, N.C.(919) 684-5764 Fax (919) 681-7670 [email protected]

Kent PetersonUniversity of Wisconsin1025 W. Johnson St., Educational Sciences1161GMadison, WI 53706 (608) 263-2720 Fax (608) 265-3135 [email protected].

Ken PrichardWoodland High SchoolCartersville, GA 30120(770) 606-2050 Fax (770) 606-2080 [email protected].

Lauren ResnickLearning Research and DevelopmentCenterUniversity of PittsburghPittsburgh, Pa.(412) [email protected]

Jonathan SchnurNew Leaders for New SchoolsNew York, N.Y.(646) 424-0893 Fax (212) 685-9291 [email protected].

Thomas J. SergiovanniTrinity UniversitySan Antonio, Texas (210)[email protected]

Phyllis R. TallentNorth Brook ElementaryVale, NC (704) 276-2479 Fax (704) 276-3378

Lloyd WimberleyMyers Park High SchoolCharlotte, N.C. 28209(704) [email protected]

2122 P St N.W., Suite 201

Washington, D.C. 20037

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