Click the icon to listen to the podcast.
Perspectives
How Are You Doing?
Aretired principal I know described her former job as a little like being a mayor of a small
town. “Everyone knew you. You knew
everyone. And just like Mayor Koch, you
had to keep asking everybody, ‘How am
I doing?’ ”
These days, accountability for prin-
cipals has changed quite a bit—although
building good relationships still may be
the most essential part of the job. The
2013 MetLife Survey1 of 500
principals and 1,000 teachers
on “Challenges for School
Leadership” finds that 9 in 10
principals (and 74;percent of
teachers) say that a principal
should be held accountable
for everything that happens
to the children in a school.
Among the newer challenges
the principals identified are
addressing the individual
needs of diverse learners, engaging the
community in improving education for
students, and managing school needs
despite depleted budgets.
The report also notes disturbing
trends: Principals’ job satisfaction is
declining. Almost half of principals
( 48;percent) report that their daily stress
levels are higher than they were just five
years ago. And one-third of the principals
surveyed say they are likely to leave their
positions in the next five years.
Commenting on the survey findings
during a telephone press conference,
NASSP’s Mel Riddile and Achieve’s
Mike Cohen were not surprised about
the results. Riddile identified “the big
autonomy gap” as one reason for the
increasing pressure. Principals are
held responsible for matters they don’t
entirely control, he said. “Building a
new culture, guiding long-term change,
empowering teacher leadership, establishing student literacy across content—
principals are focusing on the right
things, but they often aren’t adequately
prepared to carry all these initiatives out.
Many in the public think anybody can
teach or lead. It’s much more complex,”
he said. Mike Cohen regretted that educators are “operating in an environment
of public discourse that focuses on
blaming rather than honoring.” The multiple demands of the day—from closing
achievement gaps to preparing students
for college and careers—are complicated
and cannot be implemented quickly.
This issue of Educational
Leadership identifies ways to
meet the pressing challenges
of the principalship, and it
explores the most effective
supports for principals.
Elizabeth A. City (p.; 11)
begins the issue by discussing
how to work with existing
resources. In times of short
supplies of people, time, and
money, investments that create hope and
energy should be the leader’s focus. Hope
can take root in small things—a robotics
project, a writing contest—whatever
helps students and teachers believe that
something different is possible.
Jean Johnson (p.; 16) of Public Agenda
looks at the many constituencies sur-
rounding the principal—diverse groups
that all need to be transformed into
pivotal allies and partners. “Progress
comes when people recognize the need
for change and believe that they them-
selves can play an essential part.”
In line with these recommendations,
several articles explicitly redefine the
role of the principal as “leadership for
learning.” Connie M. Moss and Susan
M. Brookhart (p.; 42) describe walk-
throughs that focus on what the students
are learning, not whether the teacher is
following a prescribed routine. And Rick
DuFour and Mike Mattos (p.; 34) outline
steps for creating the collaborative
culture and collective responsibility of a
professional learning community.
Four countries that have built a
comprehensive approach to attracting,
recruiting, and supporting high-
performing school leaders have many
lessons to share, writes Vivien Stewart
(p.; 48). Most have invested in talent
development and distributed leadership.
“In the age of Twitter,” Stewart notes,
“the effectiveness of leaders may depend
less on administrative powers and more
on the capacity to attract followers.;.;.;.
A better image of leadership may be of
leaders in the middle of a circle rather
than at the top of a pyramid.”
When I asked Tom Hoerr, who has
been a principal in St. Louis, Missouri,
for 35 years, what makes principals stay
in a challenging job, he said,
The most rewarding thing, for me, is
feeling that you’ve made a positive dif-
ference in others’ lives. I have had lots of
difficult times and made many mistakes,
yet I live for the times when someone
tells me how their life is better because I
worked with them.
With kids, it’s often easier. The growth
is obvious and they come back, years
later, to talk about how their time at
my school changed their life. But some
teachers, too, will share how they see the
world a bit differently or how they took a
risk and succeeded, and thank me.
It’s a hard, taxing, and a frustrating job,
but I love it.
Here’s to hoping that all of you
out there in the principalship will get
thanked today—and stay on the job.
—Marge Scherer
1 Harris Interactive. (2013). The MetLife
Survey of the American Teacher: challenges for
school leadership. New York: MetLife Foundation. Retrieved from www.Metlife.com/
assets/cao/foundation/MetLife-Teacher-
Survey-2012.pdf
