School Culture

School Culture

 

 

            Several articles highlight the fact that many staff members do not need their principal to be the go-to person for technical issues and they don’t need their principal to be completely up-to-date with the newest “whiz-bang” in education.  What they do want is “communication skills, comfort, empathy, decision making, influence, time management, self-management and commitment.” (Sharma, p.537) Teachers don’t want someone to come into their classroom to tell them how to teach, teachers want a human being with human being feelings to be their leader.  Someone who they can go to at the end of a hard day, say everything that they are feeling to, and then be greeted with a warm smile the next day at work knowing that today is going to be better.  I am thinking of an administrator in my district at this time who works really hard at gaining knowledge about educational practices, but what he really needs to do for the teachers is just spend some time getting to know us and supporting us. 

           

            Grissom notes that the most effective way for a principal to influence his or her school is to establish a positive school culture.  This includes “an ability to target resources where they are needed, hire the best available teachers, provide teachers with the opportunities they need to improve, and keep the school running smoothly.” (Grissom, p.32). Basically, this means that principals should allow teachers to teach.  They are trained and competent individuals.  Obviously, if there is a habitual occurrence that warrants administrator intervention, the principal should be the first one on the scene but for the majority of your teachers, they need someone who can keep the school running smoothly and support them in their endeavors.  Viviano agrees and asserts that “A leader inspires and encourages a collaborative approach. A leader empowers teachers and fosters self-governance” (2012, p.3-4) 

 

            Faqir Taj establishes three levels for principal leadership development.  The first level is self-focused, growing skills for the individual principal.  The second level is taking those skills to the staff such as communication skills and how to engage others in the decision making process.  The third level is to develop teams to make decisions that impact the school, then step back after developing a framework inside of your school, to take a more supervisory role where the staff make the majority of the decisions with assistance as necessary from the principal.  The goal here is to have the principal take a “hands-off” approach to decisions that largely impact the student body under the understanding that the teachers are much more connected to the individual students and their needs and therefore they should be making those decisions that directly impact the students.  All the while, the principal is informed of the decisions and available to assist when necessary.

 

 

 

References

 

Grissom, J. A., Loeb, S., & Urban Institute, N. (2009). Triangulating Principal Effectiveness: How Perspectives of Parents, Teachers, and Assistant Principals Identify the Central Importance of Managerial Skills. Working Paper 35. National Center For Analysis Of Longitudinal Data In Education Research

Sharma, S., Sun, H., & Kannan, S. (2012). A Comparative Analysis on Leadership Qualities of School Principals in China, Malaysia & India. International Online Journal Of Educational Sciences, 4(3), 1-014.

Taj, F., & Iqbal, M. (2012). Strategy for Improving Leadership Skills of School Principals. Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, 3(11), 372-377.

Viviano, T. (2012). What 21st Century Leadership in Career and Technical Education Should Look Like. Online Submission

 

 

           

WordArt

Personnel Resources and Communication Skills

Specific Skill Sets of Effective School Administrators

            Overall, both faculty and administrators ranked business skills as the most important set

of leadership skills, followed by cognitive, interpersonal, and strategic…. Business skills included general management skills, and management of personnel, financial, and material resources. Management of personnel resources ranked as the most important for faculty and administrators among business skills. (Kalargyrou, p.59)

 

            In this article, the management of Personnel Resources ranked as the most important skill for effective administrators.  It was ranked as the most important skill by both administration and faculty at the school.  Many of the quotes from faculty included the idea of building trust amongst team members, inspiring and motivating the staff, forming teams of people where the strengths of some team members compensate for the weaknesses of others, encouraging those teams, offering professional development, and empowering the faculty.  (Kalargyrou, p. 49) 

            This information is pertinent to me because at times, in leadership roles, we spend time focusing on the troubled staff members, and “putting out fires” for them, and we forget that a majority of our staff are competent, driven, and passionate people who can sincerely contribute to moving our profession forward.  When in leadership, I need to encourage and support those individuals with vision and resources to go out and be the change they seek.  I also need to realize that no school is a “one man show”, that it takes a team of people to accomplish the mission of educating our children and that I will be surrounded by a great team, I just need to take the time to recognize their strengths and move (if needed) them to the place where they will be most effective. 

            A study of the most effective principals in Seattle, Washington found these to be some of the most important Leadership Skills: (1) an ability to communicate effectively, (2) a tendency to lead by example before mandating desired changes, (3) a skill for empowering others to lead, and (4) a capacity for providing support.  (Seattle, p.6).  Effective communication is often times praised the most when listening is put into practice.  Many teachers noted that their principal, their superintendent and their board listened to them, acknowledged their needs, and followed up with them.  Teachers also enjoyed the privilege of the open communication where teachers felt comfortable enough to approach their superintendent with concerns, and not feeling as though they would be thought less-of for sharing.  Erwin (2010, p.12) mirrors these findings, noting that the most effective administrators she studied had very effective communication skills with both, individuals and with whole staff communication as opposed to being highly skilled in one or the other. 

References

Erwin, S., Winn, P., Gentry, J., & Cauble, M. (2010). A Comparison of Urban, Suburban, and Rural Principal Leadership Skills by Campus Student Achievement Level. Online Submission

Kalargyrou, V., Pescosolido, A. T., & Kalargiros, E. A. (2012). LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION. Academy Of Educational Leadership Journal, 16(4), 39-63.

Seattle Pacific Univ., L. r. (2007). Lessons on Leadership: A Study of Distributed Leadership in Washington State. Research Report #10. Washington School Research Center

 

References

References

Erwin, S., Winn, P., Gentry, J., & Cauble, M. (2010). A Comparison of Urban, Suburban, and Rural Principal Leadership Skills by Campus Student Achievement Level. Online Submission

Grissom, J. A., Loeb, S., & Urban Institute, N. (2009). Triangulating Principal Effectiveness: How Perspectives of Parents, Teachers, and Assistant Principals Identify the Central Importance of Managerial Skills. Working Paper 35. National Center For Analysis Of Longitudinal Data In Education Research

Kalargyrou, V., Pescosolido, A. T., & Kalargiros, E. A. (2012). LEADERSHIP SKILLS IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION. Academy Of Educational Leadership Journal, 16(4), 39-63.

Seattle Pacific Univ., L. r. (2007). Lessons on Leadership: A Study of Distributed Leadership in Washington State. Research Report #10. Washington School Research Center

Sharma, S., Sun, H., & Kannan, S. (2012). A Comparative Analysis on Leadership Qualities of School Principals in China, Malaysia & India. International Online Journal Of Educational Sciences, 4(3), 1-014.

Taj, F., & Iqbal, M. (2012). Strategy for Improving Leadership Skills of School Principals. Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, 3(11), 372-377.

Viviano, T. (2012). What 21st Century Leadership in Career and Technical Education Should Look Like. Online Submission

School Leadership Graphic Organizer