Educational Leadership

responsibilities—such as coordinating a safe and orderly school environment, ensuring efficient facility maintenance, using data in organization management, managing fiscal resources, and managing technology resources (Stronge, Richard, & Catano, 2008)—have often been portrayed in the principal leadership literature as mundane and of secondary importance. In reality, however, no good principal would ever neglect them. Schools don’t run themselves: A smoothly functioning school that provides a safe and positive learning environment for all requires a principal’s focused time and effort (Cotton, 2003; Marzano et al., 2005).

Standard 5: Communication and Community Relations.

Effective principals know that they don’t act in a vacuum. They understand the importance of bringing stakeholders into a collaborative decision-making environment that focuses squarely on the growth and welfare of all students. Thus, communicating clearly and establishing strong relationships

When principals hire, develop,
support, and keep the best
teachers, they look like geniuses.

with the community are crucial school principal responsibilities (Lashway, 2003).

Standard 6: Professionalism. This standard includes such practices as engaging in ethical behavior and modeling professionalism for teachers, staff, and students. Another important attribute of principals’ professionalism is their own continual professional development and self-renewal. Now more than ever, successful principals must hone their leadership skills and continue to evolve. A study that focused on why good principals stay in the profession found that professional development was a key (Boris-Schacter & Merrifield, 2000). Another study found that effective principals attended more professional development programs—and found the sessions to be more helpful—than their peers did. They were more likely to participate in professional development along with their teachers, visit other schools, participate in learning networks with other principals, mentor other principals, and be willing to observe and critique fellow principals (LaPointe & Davis, 2006).

Evaluating Principal Results

Clearly, the performance standards noted here are heavily loaded in favor of principal behaviors. I believe that this

FIGURE 1. Recommended Standards
for Principal Performance
Behaviors
Results

Standard 1:
Instructional
Leadership
Standard 2:
School Climate
Standard 3:
Human Resources
Leadership
Standard 4:
Organizational
Management
Standard 5:
Communication and
Community Relations
Standard 6:
Professionalism
Standard 7:
Student Progress

emphasis is justified: Results are achieved through principals’ knowledge, skills, dispositions, and behaviors. The more effectively principals meet these behavior standards, the greater the likelihood that they will produce positive and sustained results.

But in today’s climate of accountability, measuring principal behaviors is no longer sufficient. Simply stated, principals are expected to produce results. Standard 7: Student Progress reflects the fact that evaluation must hold principals accountable for student achievement. In fact, the student