Learning Leader

As a school superintendent, this is the time of year I have to make tough decisions. In North Carolina principals are able to negotiate contracts. The first contract is usually for two years and then contract periods are four years. Principals are allowed to negotiate the conditions of their contracts, however, most do not take advantage of this situation and usually accept the state salary schedule and what perks the school district is willing to offer. The problem with this situation is that in years prior to contracts, if a principal were in a slight bit of trouble, I would recommend a one-year extension and provide lots of direction and support. Today's situation finds me either taking a chance on four more years are cutting my losses. As superintendent, there is no decision more important than principal selection or retention.

We have been interviewing potential leadership candidates both at the assistant principal, principal, and department level. What are we looking for in a leader? We are looking for a learning leader that can create a learning school/department that is focused on creating learning classrooms/departments! What skills do we believe applicants should have and what would put an applicant at the top of our list? Here are a few suggestions:

In our school system we expect leaders to work with all stakeholders to determine stakeholder expectations for the school or department. This two-way communication leads to the development of a clear purpose/mission for the school or department. The leader is then expected to communicate this purpose/mission consistently and uphold this purpose/mission through the actions of all staff and students.

Leaders are expected to involve all staff in gathering data to determine if the school or department is currently meeting stakeholder expectations. Leaders must have skills in how to make data driven decisions. Once the gaps in performance between stakeholder expectations and current performance are identified, leaders must have skills to involve all stakeholders in the development of goals and measures that will drive improvement.

Once goals and measures have clearly been identified and communicated, leaders in must have skills to involve all staff in determining what processes will be improved to produce better results. For example, if reading is identified as a goal to improve, the leader involves staff members in developing a plan of action that will improve reading. Staff members also develop measures during the process that will let them know how students are doing in reading. Staff members are also asked to identify what resources and training they may need to improve the reading process. Leaders need skills to keep all stakeholders informed as to the progress being made in improving reading.

What I am seeing when I look across the literature, is that we are coming together in a consensus of what skills leaders must possess. Now all we need to do is increase the market pool of candidates!! In our case, our candidate pool has never been stronger. Why? We are working on growing our own!

Comments

[Scott Elias]

Thanks, Terry, for an outstanding and informative post! As an AP considering whether it's time to move up, it helps to know what skills are valued by district leadership.