Bradley Portin et al., Center on Reinventing Public Education
September 2003
Herewith another excellent study of the principalship. Making Sense of Leading Schools is the third report issued by the Center on Reinventing Public Education as part of its leadership series funded by the Wallace Foundation. It looks at successful leaders in a variety of schools and draws some policy conclusions from how they do things. It concludes, for example, that principals are first and foremost diagnosticians who need to grasp the strengths and weaknesses of the school, then target resources accordingly; that schools need leadership in seven critical areas (instructional, cultural, managerial, human resources, strategic, external development, and micropolitical); that principals are more like CEOs managing department heads than superheroes who know and do it all; that governance matters; and that the skills required to be a good principal can't be taught, but instead must be learned on the job. The authors make four recommendations:
- Principals need the authority and freedom of action necessary to meet the demands expected of them.
- The pipeline for quality school leaders need not run solely through the classroom.
- Schools of education need to focus less on classroom theory and more on practical experience.
- Districts should work hard to match talent to the job at hand.
This report should be read by all concerned about providing schools with quality leaders. Check it out at www.crpe.org/pubs.shtml#leadership. Leadership junkies seeking more should check out: http://www.edexcellence.net/issues/index.cfm?topic=2.
