If you ask me

Partnership can help high school principals

The job of the high school principal is clearly changing, and school leaders must receive current, up-to-date professional development if they are to meet the mandates of today’s challenges.

“Principals used to be managers, but today they are instructional leaders and more,” reflects Bob Lee, senior director of secondary education at Manteca Unified School District and president-elect of the Association of California School Administrators. “High school principals need knowledge in human resources, business, legal issues, political savvy, people skills, athletics, diversity training and the many curriculum areas. The job has become much more rigorous.”

Yet many board members in school systems throughout California may not be aware of the importance of professional growth
for principals.

“Many school board members don’t have an understanding of professional development for high school principals,” believes Evelyn Moore, vice president of Manteca Unified School District’s board and a member of CSBA’s Delegate Assembly. “They just assume that it’s happening.”

“Principals are taken right out of the teaching ranks, and suddenly they have to be good at managing people, sensitive to kids, knowledgeable about human relations and a school leader,” continues Moore. “Principals have to challenge their staff to provide the best instruction possible. They deserve quality professional development.”

As school systems throughout the nation’s most populated state strive to provide their students with an education that will prepare them for an ever-changing future, school principals will play an increasingly essential role. As leaders of their schools, they will set expectations for students and staff and be accountable for school success. But will they have the best information and training to do the best job of leadership they can? School board members must set expectations that their schools have the most talented and best-prepared leaders possible.

In the six years of the Principals’ Partnership, a program of the Union Pacific Foundation, as we have provided professional development to public school high school principals in a number of states, including California, we have discovered a number of “learnings” that are resulting in professional development that principals value and that help them improve their schools. As policy-makers in California’s school districts, board members can replicate these concepts to give their principals the best chance possible of helping students.

Overcome the isolation of leadership

We have learned that high school principals are isolated—not because of location but due to the numerous demands placed upon the modern school leader: working with teachers, other staff members and central office administrators, as well as parents; responding to community and governmental officials; and assisting students. The day for most principals begins hours before the opening bell and may not conclude until 11 at night. This allows little time to read current research, participate in workshops or even discuss school concerns and instructional innovations with colleagues. With tremendous responsibilities, principals can find themselves isolated when it comes to their own growth. We have learned that this means professional development must be focused on their specific needs and designed to deliver important information in as little time as possible.

“There are so many demands at the school site,” reports Stephen Winter, principal of Manteca High School and a Partnership principal. “I can be sitting at my desk all day filling out reports, responding to e-mails and handling disputes. Having contact with kids is becoming more and more difficult all the time.”

The most requested form of professional development that can overcome this isolationism is simply to encourage principals to network with colleagues. Being able to discuss initiatives and challenges with other principals in similar situations not only provides the chance to share ideas but also overcomes their feelings that a principal is “in it alone.”

“Networking gives you practical approaches to real-life problems,” explains Jeff Cornejo, principal of Millikan High School in Long Beach and a Partnership member. “I appreciate the opportunity to network because it helps me do my job.”

High school principals especially value the opportunity to be with their peers—other high school principals. They want to talk with other principals who have comparable-sized student bodies and have undertaken similar initiatives to what they are considering. This allows them to focus on topics specific to them instead of wasting their time on issues unrelated to their work and taking up the time of others who don’t face high school-specific concerns. However, it’s not simple to assure that these opportunities are available to all principals.

Ideas that school systems might consider include:

• Having a scheduled time at administrative meetings when high school principals can talk with other high school principals
• Assuring on professional development days that sessions are offered specific to the high school leader
• Encouraging principals to establish networking relationships with principals in nearby schools of similar needs and size
• Urging principals to take advantage of professional development opportunities outside of the district, such as conferences—and assuring they have the support to do so.

Make research available to school leaders

“I’m trying to make decisions that will help the educational process,” Winter said. “If I can’t access research, any changes I make are like throwing darts at a dart board. Research allows me to make intelligent changes at my school.”

To help, school systems might consider alerting principals to the research briefs section on the Principals Partnership Web site, www.principalspartnership.com, and urging them to take advantage of this free resource; they could also establish a relationship with a local college or university where professors in the educational administration program would assign key research topics to graduate students seeking research projects.

Ask principals what professional development is best for them

Our principals have told us that many professional development opportunities provided to them simply do not match their needs. They want quality learning opportunities. They want to hear speakers who have been through challenges school leaders face.

“I’ve received some professional development that was not the caliber of what I wanted or requested,” Cornejo recalls. “Rather, it has been someone else’s notion of what I needed. What I’m looking for is a very practical approach to doing my job. I want to take ideas and bring them back to my school and make them work at my site.”

Time is especially critical when building professional development programs for school leaders. Effective principals want to be in their buildings where they can work with students and staff.

Questions school systems might consider asking principals or groups of principals include:

• When is the best time of the year or month to hold professional development?
• What specific topics do you want professional development to cover?
• Are there specific speakers you would like
  to hear?

We have also found through our work with the Principals’ Partnership that quality professional development for principals benefits not just the leader of the school, but also teachers. Principals bring ideas back to teachers at their schools, and in the end, students are the ones to benefit. It’s a wise investment for any school district to assure that the best possible professional development opportunities are available to its school leaders.