At this point, I’ve tackled bad teachers not once but twice, and even wondered if I was a bad teacher. Yet, people fully expected me to talk about bad administration, especially bad principals. Sadly, the current narrative amongst teachers is to lay all the blame at the feed of administrators, at students, at parents, and everything and one else for a number of reasons, some good, some not-so-much. Even my nicest colleagues still look to their administrator when things are going great or awful. National surveys have shown, principals feel like their jobs are more difficult than ever before, so we need our principals to be more, not less, competent at their job. Then maybe we’d reform the vision for principal as just a boss and more as a teacher of teachers. “That’s why you get paid the big bucks” seems appropriate because, on paper, the principal is the highest paid person in the building, so they have the most to shoulder in the building.
Except when they don’t. Thus, a few questions:
What is a bad administrator? How many principals have you actually met? If you’ve met them, how do they work? Do they actually do anything, and, if they do, can you make a quick list of five things you’re sure that the principal does? If you can, does that list outweigh whatever personal grievances you have about the principal’s management style? Do they walk briskly down the hallway trying to put out fires or walk slowly, glossing over every tile and every Post-In note on the bulletin boards? Are they experts in a subject area or expert binder-gatherers? Are their suits grey, black, or purple? Are they cordial with people who walk into the building and staff members or do they project a consistent disinterest to any set of folks?
Can you trust your administrator?
When you walk into their office, does your blood boil or do your toes get cold? Do you welcome their feedback as administrators or do you roll your eyes and hope they don’t just spit out whatever framework jabber they just learned at a principal’s meeting? Do you want them in your classroom or not? Do you feel informed when you listen to them during the inevitable hour-long school session you have or are you left stunted by the lack of anything that he or she just said? Does favoritism feel real at your school, and if so, what does favoritism look like?
Most importantly, do they know the students’ names? Do the students know him? Do they care to know him? How would they characterize him? Do they begrudgingly acknowledge the admin or do they genuinely reach out to them and look to them for leadership? Do parents feel like they’re a part of the school community, too?
What is your vision for a good principal? Or a bad principal?
Oh well, let’s see…How about a principal who, when coming in during a time of severe change (significant cuts to building and district), instead of spending the first meeting talking about how we were going to solve the problem, insisted on spending two hours reading and discussing _Who Moved My Cheese?_ That one lasted, lessee, six months. Really was a nice person in many ways, but just not administrator material.
Then there was the guy who didn’t even make it to the building because he did something really, really stupid at his previous school that got him fired by both his district at the time and my district.
Followed by the principal who hated field trips, turned a closed eye to bullying, did lots of stuff I can’t mention for various reasons but was destructive to the school population at all levels–staff, students, families….yeah, that one almost made it to the end of his second year.
I had eight principals in ten years of teaching at a small, rural K-8 school. I also had stellar principals who understood the community and its needs, and managed to engage and motivate students, teachers, parents and community to soar. I’m not in teaching any more for very many reasons, but I suspect that the eight principals in ten years factor is huge. A skilled, engaged principal can do huge things in turning around a school. A competent but uninspiring one keeps it functioning, often quite well, just not as high as it could fly otherwise. But what a bad principal can do to a school…oh man, especially for buildings that see kids as long as a K-8 does, the effect is horrifying. You see that ripple effect across the cohorts, and it is disheartening for staff and other students alike.
A principal should be evaluated by the following guiding principle: Do they have an educational philosphy that is embedded into the schools policies in such a way as to positively enhance and support both the educators and the students of the school building?
Currently, I work for a principal in their 4th year in my building, and I do not feel that (s)he has instituted one policy change that had a positive effect as noted above. Thus, I am frustrated with the culture and infrastructure of my building. Ughh..
The sole contribution that my principal made to my school for three years, other than turn treacherously and without notice on teachers who irritated her for any reason whatsoever was to walk around the school reciting a mantra: “Believe, Achieve and Succeed.” Your students were out of control: “Why, Mr. L. you need to make the Believe, Achieve and Succeed.” You had LTAs and worked with the attendance teacher diligently to get them to school: “Why, Mr. L., you need to get him/her to Believe, Achieve and Succeed.” The math department’s Regents pass rate started to go south of 35%, “Why, math department, you just need……..”
To TheJLV:
I don’t know if this is the proper forum to give shout outs for ,” This is Not a Test”.
In between work and my own initiatives , I try to find moments to continue reading your book. I have read eleven chapters and so far have been absorbing and savoring every reading moment.
Besides the writing being crisp and clear,your anecdotes stand out as being very relatable. There are so many outstanding nuggets and as I am reading, I take a lot of notes so that I can effectively write a review for the posting of my blog.
Although l believe you are a notable mathethician, by far I find you to be better as a writer! :-)
Nice work, bruh.
I would say one of the most important factors is trust – in colleagues, in students, in parents, in the community. I would add collaborating to implement a shared vision guiding all decisions. (Sounds kinda like “This We Believe,” come to think of it…)
Regardless as to location, class size, and so on, I have found that students have common “expectations” for a classroom teacher. First, they need a teacher who has depth of knowledge of the subject matter. The teacher must be able to explain the subject in a way that is understandable to the students and is able to answer their questions in a way that will provide them with context allowing kids to tie current learning with past learning. Second, the teacher must be organized and have a vision of where the class is heading. This vision must be apparent to the kids. Implementation of this vision, class rules and procedures, must be efficient and consistent. Third, the teacher needs to demonstrate they care about their students’ success by at the very least knowing the kids’ names and some of their background including determining where the students are in their learning at the beginning of the term.
Similarly, I believe that teachers have certain expectations of building principals. First, they need to have a depth of knowledge concerning curriculum and learning theory. They need to be able to recognize when effective instruction is taking place. Principals need to be able to assist teachers in terms of class organization, generally, and classroom management in particular. Principals need to be highly visible. They should know most student names. They must know the names of their teaching staff. The principal needs to have an idea as to the level of experience and competence for each teacher. Yes, this includes having knowledge and information as concerns standardized test results for each class of each teacher going back at least three years. Second, the principal must be knowledgeable of current rules and procedures as well as knowledge of past practices. The principal must be able to explain rules and procedures with a context that makes sense to teachers.
Third, the principal must have a vision as to the direction of the campus that is at least consistent with, if not exceeding, the school district vision. This vision must be apparent to all teachers and students. This vision provides a sense of direction for the campus. It is upon striving to achieve this vision that students and faculty begin to take pride in their campus and view their work as worthwhile.