As the instructional leaders within schools, principals hold the key to education reform. The principal serves as the mission driver and resource strategist for families, community partners, faculty, staff, and students. In DC Public Schools, these duties bring enormous rewards, but also immense pressure: Principals have implemented rigorous common assignments across content areas and grade levels; launched a successful teacher-leader initiative that allows strong educators to assume leadership roles and remain in the classroom; and helped DCPS achieve the status of fastest-improving urban school district (twice) on the most recent NAEP assessments—all while doing the daily work of schooling.
The DCPS principal force understands the impact of every decision related to instruction, hiring, operations, and community building. And with the myriad skills needed to manage the demands of a busy campus, it is essential that DCPS build a pipeline of strong talent to lead our 115 schools for years to come. This was the impetus for starting an internal principal training program at DC Public Schools.
In 2013, the Mary Jane Patterson (MJP) Fellowship was established. Named after the district’s first African American principal, the program prepares high-performing DCPS educators for principal positions in DCPS schools. Fellows complete an eighteen-month, cohort-based series of leadership trainings that range from workshops to retreats to an intensive summer leadership experience. The integral and unique component of the learning journey, however, is a yearlong principal residency with mentorships from current high-performing DCPS principals. This strong relationship of transparency and communication allows fellows to gain valuable feedback leadership and prepare to lead a school in a way that wouldn’t be possible through external hiring.
I served as a mentor principal during two separate school years. My first fellow specifically wanted to learn more about the community partnership building that is so critical to turnaround schools. By the end of the school year, she was addressing our alumni community at formal events, articulating our school’s mission in a manner that reflected the school’s values while retaining her own individual style. It has been wonderful continuing the relationship that we built, as she is now principal of her own DCPS school. Not only can she still rely on my informal advice, she also takes advantage of formal learning sessions and coaching through the program.
My most recent fellow took on significant literacy work at my school and spurred me to stretch and consider my own leadership decisions: When I had to answer some of her questions by saying, “Because we’ve always done it this way,” I knew that she had hit upon an area that needed to be revisited.
Eighteen of twenty fellows from the first two cohorts are currently leading DCPS schools, with all twenty serving as DCPS administrators. Even though former fellows are in the early stages of their careers, they are already earning district-wide recognition for their strong instructional leadership teams and hands-on engagement with families and the broader community. One MJP principal saw a 23 percent increase in his school’s student satisfaction rate after a single year of his leadership.
In Fordham and CRPE’s new resource, A Policymaker’s Guide to Improving School Leadership, author Eric Lerum writes that leaders must craft policies that use data and
Move from yesterday’s narrow pathways based on a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership training to expand pathways that meet a broader array of needs [through]
- Diversifying the types of training programs to meet targeted needs by equipping principals with specialized training.
- Allow training programs to be operated by a diverse array of providers
- Focus on increasing diversity among principal ranks
With the Mary Jane Patterson Fellowship, we’re happy to say that we’re ahead of the curve on implementing many of these recommendations. We strategically invest in existing staff who have already shown strong leadership in their current roles. DCPS then provides them with the competencies that have been identified on a national level to contribute most heavily to success, as well as the intricate details of what is affectionately called the “DCPS way.” Every district is riven with nuances and complexities that can be difficult for newcomers to navigate; those details specific to DCPS are embedded in the program’s curriculum and experience.
MJP’s design also addresses one of the most common reasons that principals in challenging environments cite for leaving their positions: a perceived lack of support at the district level. To combat this disconnect, our fellows are given eighteen months to cultivate relationships with central office leaders in curriculum, operations, policy, and professional development—the same teams that will offer support as they set their school priorities. This shared investment in our emerging leaders reduces the feelings of isolation and helplessness that can strike when problems arise in their buildings and they don’t know whom to call.
I’m grateful to serve in a district that appreciates principalship as a terrific, challenging job, and I’m appreciative that DCPS continues to refine methods to ensure that leaders at all stages of their development continue to grow in service of the city’s students. It is our hope that other districts will design their own programs to recruit, reward, and retain talented leaders; the benefits are countless, and they truly extend for generations.
Rachel Skerritt is the principal of Eastern High School in Washington, D.C. and the deputy chief of leadership development in the Office of Instructional Practice at DC Public Schools.