Introduction
The following issues confront today's school administrators every day. Having the ability to deal with these issues and those affected by them is one of the attributes of a highly capable building principal. While teachers have always looked to their building principal for strong leadership, they also depend upon the principal's ability to manage the day-to-day organizational tasks that occur regularly. When these expectations are not met, discomfort, unrest, and a good deal of concern begin to grow.
In preparing today's school building leaders, programs need to provide activities and opportunities for building leader candidates to learn about and address the daily management tasks that confront today's principals. The following issues are designed to develop the student’s problem solving capabilities and to require them to begin interacting with building principals in rural, suburban, and urban settings.
While many possible variations can be developed for utilizing the issues posed, the two presented in this module are intended to be used in a classroom setting.
Directions for Variation # 1
Each student in the class is assigned a management issue to research and share information with the other students in the class. Students are asked to prepare a three to five page paper discussing the research they have identified and reviewed on their respective topic. They are also asked to prepare a bibliography (APA style) to be submitted with each presentation. Students are also asked to interview a minimum of three school principals from three different school districts (not their own district) to gather practitioner information and perspective regarding the issue assigned. Students are encouraged to ask the principals interviewed to share experiences they have had in dealing with the issue assigned. Lastly, students are asked to prepare a power-point or other form of presentation (40 - 45) minutes to share what they have learned about the topic assigned.
The class instructor can also select from among the following to add to the experience:
- Beginning with the second class session, individual students are assigned to present the information they have identified, including practitioner experience.
- Each presenter must share a copy of the power-point presentation with other members of the class. This permits individual students to take notes (including their personal reactions) and save the information for future reference.
- Following each presentation, the students in the class can discuss the issue from their individual perspectives and share any additional information related to the topic.
- Members of the class can also be asked to complete an “Oral Presentation Rating Sheet” regarding the presentation skills of the student making the presentation. These can then be given to the presenter to assist in refining his or her presentation skills. (See Appendix A)
- Each presenter and/or class member can verbally identify which ISLLC standard(s) provides guidance in responding to the issue. (See Appendix B)
- At the end of each presentation, members of the class can discuss how a school district and school building can prepare, in advance, for dealing with this issue.
Directions for Variation # 2
Students can be assigned in pairs or in small groups of 3 or 4 to interview a greater number of school principals from a variety of school districts (not their own district) to gather practitioner information and perspective regarding the issue assigned. These districts could include rural, suburban, and urban districts with varying degrees of need and wealth. Students are also required to prepare a three to five page paper and a 40 - 45 minute class presentation to share with other members of the class.
The class instructor can also select from among the following to add to the experience:
- Beginning with the second class session, student pairs or groups are assigned to present the information they have identified, including practitioner experience.
- Each presentation group must share a copy of the power-point presentation with other members of the class. This permits individual students to take notes (including their personal reactions) and save the information for future reference.
- Following each presentation, the students in the class can discuss the issue from their individual perspectives and share any additional information related to the topic.
- Each presenter and/or class member can verbally identify which ISLLC standard(s) provides guidance in responding to the issue. (See Appendix B)
- In this variation, presenters are asked to identify what they believe should have already been done to have in place operational procedures, protocols, regulations, etc. that would enhance the likelihood that the issue will be managed routinely, effectively, and in a timely manner.
Management Issues
- Developing the Master Schedule: Students are asked to identify some of the many issues that exist in developing a master schedule. Where does the principal begin? Who else is involved in developing and implementing the master schedule? What are some of the limitations that a schedule creates? What are some of the problems that occur in developing the schedule? What is the impact of shared staff? How do they schedule band and chorus? Physical education? Speech services, Instrumental music lessons, etc.? How does the lunch period (or special subject courses, or speech services, or instrumental music lessons, etc.) complicate scheduling?
- Handling Student Discipline: Students are asked to identify the various ways school administrators manage the daily issue of student discipline. Do all buildings have written procedures or rules? How were they established? Was there faculty, student, parent, community, or Board of Education involvement? How were the procedures disseminated? What are the most frequent discipline problems that principals have identified? Who handles discipline in the building? Are parents notified when a student gets into difficulty? What rules/procedures are in place to determine when parents are/are not notified? What kind(s) of reactions do principals experience from parents? Students are asked to review the rules regarding short and long term suspensions? Superintendent hearings etc?
- Working with and Managing Employee Contracts: Students are asked to identify some of the major issues that principals identify in working with the various employee contracts? (i.e. personal days, required documentation, payroll issues, etc.) Do different employee groups have provisions that differ, thus causing confusion? What involvement does the central office have in managing contractual issues? Have conflicts arisen between employee groups? How were they managed? What is the principal’s role in managing grievances? How do they/should they react when a grievance is filed?
- Managing Special Education Issues at the Building Level: Students are asked to identify the various issues that building principal’s experience in dealing on a daily and yearly basis with special education students. What kind of scheduling concerns exist and how are they handled? What, if any, is the role of the principal in the IEP process? How is student discipline managed for special education students? (differences and limitations) Identify any complications arising as a result of having multiple adults working with a single student (i.e. 1 – 1 aide, sign language specialist, note taker, OT, PT, etc.? What are the issues in managing IEP requirements for test modifications etc?
- Dealing with 504 Plans: In addition to managing special education issues and the IEP process in schools, building principals also have the responsibility to assure that 504 plans for students are in place and being implemented properly in their schools. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act specifies that students with a “physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more major life activities” must be provided with a 504 plan assist them in participating in elementary, secondary and post-secondary schooling. Students are asked to research this topic. How is this process managed in your school? What did the principals you interviewed share about the process in their schools? What kinds of help or assistance do they have? What are the major difficulties or issues encountered? What has been the faculty response to providing 504 accommodations? Have parents been cooperative…combative? How are 504 plans developed? Who is involved? What is the range of services currently being provided to students, etc?
- Managing Effective Communications: Students are asked to identify the various groups that a building principal communicates with. (i.e. faculty, support staff, parents, community at large, community groups, board of education, etc.) What mechanisms do principals use in communicating with these groups? How frequent does the principal communicate with them? How important is communicating with the community, faculty, etc.? What role does the principal have in communicating with a union representative? How does the principal deal with emergency communications? Snow days? What role does technology play in communications today? How does the principal decide which form of communication to use in dealing with various issues? (i.e. When to use an e-mail? a brief note? a personal conversation? a formal letter? a memo? etc.)
- Dealing with Legal Issues: Students are asked to gather information on the range of legal issues that today’s principal’s deal with at the building level. What are the major legal issues that a principal deals with during the year? How do principal’s manage residency issues, parental rights (custody after divorce), access to students, access to their records, theft or destruction of property, suspension of special education students, injuries resulting from fighting, police request to interview students, etc.? Does the principal communicate with the central office on legal issues? How often does the principal solicit outside advice on legal issues? Where does the principal get advice on legal issues? Do principals generally have direct access to the school’s attorney? Do they need permission from central office prior to speaking with the school attorney?
- Maintaining Safe School Facilities: Students are asked to solicit information from building principals regarding how they work to maintain a safe school facility. What role do principal’s play in identifying facility safety needs? (i.e. need to replace broken windows, doors, locks, drinking fountains, bathrooms, ceiling or floor tile, etc. or need to replace worn carpets, black/white boards, chairs, desks, etc.) What role does the principal play in addressing other safety needs like better lighting, preventive maintenance, vehicle traffic issues, etc.? Do they have a building safety committee? Who serves on a building safety committee? What is the principal’s role with this committee? How are these issues addressed financially? Who else is involved in maintaining safe school facilities?
- Planning and Implementing a Building Budget: Students are asked to gather information from a variety of building principals regarding their role in planning and implementing their building budget. What role do principal’s play in influencing their overall budget amount? How much say do they have over the purchase of equipment? (supplies? equipment? materials? etc.) When are materials ordered? How are purchases managed during the year (process)? What does the principal do to monitor the remaining available funds? How are priorities established? Who is involved in developing the building budget? What role does the faculty have in establishing priorities? What role does the support staff have?
- Managing After-School Programs: Students are asked to identify the range of after-school activities that exist in today’s elementary, middle, and high schools. What kinds of programs exist? Who sets the schedule? How is transportation managed? How are the programs financed? Are there contract issues involved and if so how are they handled? What are the issues involved in supervising school dances? (i.e. students wanting to leave early, students under the influence of alcohol or drugs, etc.) What are the issues involved in dealing with evening sports events? (i.e. spectator behavior, spectator or student under the influence, etc.) What role, if any, does the board of education or board policy play?
- Providing Adequate Student Supervision: Students are asked to research the issue of student supervision and identify times and locations during the school day that create challenges in providing adequate supervision for students. Where are the challenges? Are their contractual issues that limit faculty and staff assignments to non-instructional duties? What are some of the alternatives that schools have developed to assist in maintaining adequate supervision? Are there aspects of the school experience that require increased or focused student supervision? (i.e. arrival and dismissal? after-school programming? recreational events? field trips? special events? emergency drills? use of facilities by outside groups? etc.)
- Working Effectively with Parent Groups, PTA/PTO: Students are asked to identify the major issues in working effectively with parent groups. What issues can contribute to a positive collaborative relationship? What strategies have been effective in promoting collaboration, open and effective communication and the adoption of common goals? Are there district policies or procedures that define or affect the relationships between school and such organizations? (Building use, access to information, use of school equipment, funding of school projects, events or resources, etc. How do principals manage the “overly involved” parent? What actions can a principal take to increase (or decrease) PTA/PTO involvement in the school’s program? What kinds of involvement does the principal/faculty want regarding PTA/PTO involvement?
- Managing Issues of Access to Students and Student Records: Principals often receive requests for access to students and student records from a variety of sources including police officials, the press, parents, step-parents, separated and divorced parents, grandparents, other school districts, etc. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), also known as the Buckley Amendment, provides principals with guidance on what is acceptable and unacceptable when it comes to making records available to others without appropriate permission. Additionally, FERPA provides guidelines on how a parent can seek to have an inaccurate or misleading record corrected through both a formal or informal hearing. Students are asked to research this topic. What are some of the difficulties principals have experienced? How have those difficulties been resolved? What advice would an experienced principal provide to a new principal about this topic? What is a school district required to do on an annual basis to inform parents about their FERPA rights? What is directory information? What information can be shared if a student dies (is arrested, etc.) and the press is seeking information? What can a parent do if they don’t wish any information about their student released to anyone?
- Time Management: Students are asked to identify the major challenges to managing time effectively. What are the issues that create inordinate demands on a building principal’s time? What are some of the strategies that can be effectively used to manage time effectively? In what ways can communication, office organization, delegation of duties, calendar management and other procedures assist a school administrator in responding effectively to these challenges? What are some of the remedies that principals have developed to balance their competing needs to be available, visible, accessible to parents, students, faculty, central office, etc.?
- Scheduling & Implementing Faculty Classroom Observations/Evaluations: Students are asked to identify the various ways school principals manage the scheduling and implementing their responsibilities for observing and evaluating members of the professional staff. What are some of the requirements in various school districts for conducting classroom observations? How many observations are required of probationary teachers? Tenured teachers? Long-term substitute teachers? Part time teachers, etc? Do some teachers have options as to the type of observation or evaluation/assessment process? Who is involved in conducting formal classroom evaluations? How many observations do building administrators typically deal with each year? What criteria do principals consider among the most important in their decision-making, etc? What, if any, contract limitations exist in the districts where principals were interviewed?
- Planning for and Making Open House and Parent-Teacher Conferences Meaningful: Every year, school districts throughout the country plan for both open house and parent-teacher conference activities. The sheer number of these activities is overwhelmingly significant and demonstrates the “importance” focused on them. What actual planning, however, actually goes into preparing the faculty for this “significant and important” activity? Students are asked to research both these topics and prepare a brief handbook of “best practices” activities for new principals on how best to prepare teachers and the building for an Open House. (What are the objectives? Are they clear to all? including parents?) What kinds of preparations are required? Are there activities that have proven to be successful, etc? Do principals work in conjunction with their PTA or PTO in planning for open house? Additionally, what kinds of in-service training are offered to faculty (new and experienced) with regard to parent-teacher conference activities? What kind of time is made available for teachers to prepare? Are materials made available to parents ahead of time? Is the conference in addition to or a substitute for a periodic report card? What formats are available for teachers to follow? Are these prescribed? or are options recommended. Are students ever involved?
- Managing and Dealing with Transportation Issues, Problems, and Challenges: Nearly all building principals and assistant principals are confronted with a variety of transportation issues. The challenges range from student misbehavior on the bus or at the bus stop; to after school activity busses arriving late; to unrealistic bus driver expectations, etc. At times it seems that the yellow busses dictate the entire schedule for most school districts making it difficult for the principal to be able to make recommendations for needed program changes requiring transportation flexibility. Students are asked to research this topic to identify the variety of transportation issues and to then present the issues and possible recommendations for managing them. What role does the principal/assistant principal play in dealing with transportation problems? What role does the principal have in dealing with inappropriate student behavior or unrealistic bus driver expectations? What kind of interaction does the principal have with the Transportation Supervisor? How do the two individuals work together to resolve difficulties? If there is no interaction between the principal and transportation supervisor, how are transportation issues managed?
- Response to Intervention (RTI): Response to intervention is an increasingly mandated method of academic intervention in schools that building principals will soon be required to deal with. RTI seeks to identify general education students who are experiencing difficulty in both academic and behavioral areas and to provide them with focused interventions and instruction to assist them. The goal is to prevent these struggling students from developing gaps in their instructional and behavioral background that become overwhelming. The task in this assignment is to research RTI and prepare a presentation for the class. (It is suggested that you contact potential principals to assure yourself they have some prior awareness of RTI prior to meeting with them.) Questions you might wish to ask include: What characteristics might help a teacher identify a student eligible for RTI? What are some of the appropriate RTI strategies that schools may utilize? What kinds or types of assessments are recommended or required? What involvement do parents have in this process? Who is required to monitor student success or lack thereof? What specific requirements (if any) are placed on the school or the teachers?
- Project SAVE (Safe Schools Against Violence in Education): Every school district in New York State is required by the Regulations of the Commissioner 155.17 to develop a District Wide School Safety Plan. These plans also include a number of responsibilities for building principals to manage the safety of students and adults when a variety of issues arise. Procedures for managing lock downs, early dismissal, bomb threats, etc are required to be in place, and in some cases, practiced on an annual or bi-annual basis. Questions you might wish to ask include: What kinds of safety plans are in place in your building? Are there plans for every building in the district? How was your safety plan developed? Were parents involved? Police? Faculty? Support Staff? Others? What types of contingencies have been considered? Do you conduct any drills for certain types of incidents? What kind of staff development was conducted when the plan was completed? Is there an annual review for returning staff? Is the safety plan reviewed with all newly hired employees?
- Implementing and Managing the Annual Professional Performance Review Requirement(The APPR): In accordance with the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education 100.2(o), all school districts “…shall adopt a plan… for the annual professional performance review of its teachers providing instructional services or pupil personnel services…” Criteria for evaluation of teachers shall include instructional delivery, classroom management, student development, student assessment, collaboration, and reflective and responsive practice. Building principals have a major responsibility to implement the APPR. Students are asked to review APPR plans from at least 3 different districts and prepare a presentation of “best practice” for class review. Some questions you may wish to investigate include: How is this responsibility managed? Does every teacher have an APPR review every year? Do they all occur at the end of the year? Are they spread out throughout the year? How many classroom observations are additionally required in the district’s surveyed?
Appendix A
Oral Presentation Rating Scale
Name:_______________________________ Date: ________________
Topic:_____________________________________________________
Oral presentations generally exhibit the following:
Content Rating
- An interesting / enthusiastic introduction 1 2 3 4 5
- Presentation was content rich 1 2 3 4 5
- Content was presented in a coherent / logical manner 1 2 3 4 5
- Presenter appeared to be at ease 1 2 3 4 5
- Supporting details were provided 1 2 3 4 5
- Comfortably paced 1 2 3 4 5
- Vocabulary was appropriate / defined when necessary 1 2 3 4 5
- Ability to respond to questions 1 2 3 4 5
- Presentation built on audience prior knowledge 1 2 3 4 5
Presentation Rating
- Voice, tone, inflection, volume 1 2 3 4 5
- Use of slides, photos, handouts, technology 1 2 3 4 5
- Eye contact with audience 1 2 3 4 5
- Ability to keep to time limits 1 2 3 4 5
- Use of notes when necessary 1 2 3 4 5
Comments: (include areas of strength & areas needing improvement)
Appendix B
Educational Leadership Policy Standards: ISLLC 2008 as adopted by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA), December 12, 2007
Standard 1: An education leader promotes the success of every student by facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by all stakeholders.
Functions:
- Collaboratively develop and implement a shared vision and mission
- Collect and use data to identify goals, assess organizational effectiveness, and promote organizational learning
- Create and implement plans to achieve goals
- Promote continuous and sustainable improvement
- Monitor and evaluate progress and revise plans
Standard 2: An education leader promotes the success of every student by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
Functions:
- Nurture and sustain a culture of collaboration, trust, learning and high expectations
- Create a comprehensive, rigorous, and coherent curricular program
- Create a personalized and motivating learning environment for students
- Supervise instruction
- Develop assessment and accountability systems to monitor student progress
- Develop the instructional and leadership capacity of staff
- Maximize time spent on quality instruction
- Promote the use of the most effective and appropriate technologies to support teaching and learning
- Monitor and evaluate the impact of the instructional program
Standard 3: An education leader promotes the success of every student by ensuring management of the organization, operation, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
Functions:
- Monitor and evaluate the management and operational systems
- Obtain, allocate, align, and efficiently utilize human, fiscal, and technological resources
- Promote and protect the welfare and safety of students and staff
- Develop the capacity for distributed leadership
- Ensure teacher and organizational time is focused to support quality instruction and student learning
Standard 4: An education leader promotes the success of every student by collaborating with faculty and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.
Functions:
- Collect and analyze data and information pertinent to the educational environment
- Promote understanding, appreciation, and use of the community’s diverse cultural, social, and intellectual resources
- Build and sustain positive relationships with families and caregivers
- Build and sustain productive relationships with community partners
Standard 5: An education leader promotes the success of every student by acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.
Functions:
- Ensure a system of accountability for every student’s academic and social success
- Model principles of self-awareness, reflective practice, transparency, and ethical behavior
- Safeguard the values of democracy, equity, and diversity
- Consider and evaluate the potential moral and legal consequences of decision-making
- Promote social justice and ensure that individual student needs inform all aspects of schooling
Standard 6: An education leader promotes the success of every student by understanding, responding to, and influencing the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.
Functions:
- Advocate for children, families, and caregivers
- Act to influence local, district, state, and national decisions affecting student learning
- Assess, analyze, and anticipate emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt leadership strategies
References:
Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008). Educational Leadership Policy Standards: ISLLC 2008 as adopted by the National Policy Board for Educational Administration on December 12, 2007. Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington, DC.
Davis, S., Darling-Hammond, L., LaPointe, M., & Meyerson, D. (2005). School leadership study: Developing successful principals. Stanford, CA: Stanford Educational Leadership Institute.
