With all the attention that’s focused on teachers, principals must feel like the neglected stepchild of education reform. Evaluations, tenure, and the lackluster performance of teacher prep programs are all hot reform topics, and there’s no shortage of books and articles that obsess over all things teacher-relate. But what about principals? School leaders are responsible for nearly everything that happens in a school—from creating a positive culture and tracking data to evaluating instruction and hiring (or sometimes firing) the teachers who most affect student outcomes.
Research points to the challenges of recruiting and selecting effective principals. Most principals are chosen from employees who already work for the district. This isn’t a problem per se, except that districts often do a poor job of building skills in and smoothing the transition for those they select. Add to that the other hallmarks of the job, such as high pressure and low compensation, and it’s easy to understand why it’s so hard to find great talent.
This bleak picture begs the question: Is anyone doing it right?
A recent piece in Education Week looks at KIPP's principal training, which boasts “real-world practice” for its participants. One of KIPP’s six programs, the Fisher Fellowship, is a yearlong residency that includes an intensive summer workshop, one-on-one coaching with experienced leaders, and the opportunity to spend a year visiting high-performing schools across the country. Fellows receive salaries and benefits, allowing them to focus their time and energy solely on their training. In addition, our D.C. office recently posted the last piece in a fantastic series by John Chubb that examined how to build better school leaders. He focused on six exemplary alternative principal leadership development programs that boast objective evidence of their effectiveness. KIPP's leadership development programs are on the list, along with New Leaders, Building Excellent Schools, Denver’s Get Smart Schools, New York City’s Aspiring Principals Program and the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Urban Education Leadership Program.
If alternative programs and departments of education in other states can take up the mantle of improving school leadership, why can’t Ohio do it too? Why aren’t there highly effective principal leadership development programs in the Buckeye state?
As it turns out, Ohio is stirring itself to act. One emerging program is the Cleveland Metropolitan School District’s Aspiring Principals Academy (APA), which was established in partnership with New York City’s Aspiring Principals Program (one of the programs discussed in Chubb’s series). Like KIPP’s Fisher Fellowship, APA participants take part in a yearlong program and school-based residency under the mentorship of a current principal. Participants receive a salary ($75,000) and benefits and are eligible for an Ohio Alternative Principal License. They also commit to serving five years in Cleveland Metropolitan Schools. APA is currently in its first year; its inaugural cohort is composed of ten participants, six of whom are from Ohio. What makes this program promising is its affiliation with the NYC Leadership Academy, which is backed by data that shows its principals positively impact student achievement. Furthermore, the program’s evaluation method is pass/fail, meaning that participants are required to meet “rigorous performance standards” in order to progress through each phase of the program.
A second program is called BRIGHT New Leaders for Ohio Schools. Authorized and funded through the Ohio legislature, it’s a partnership between the Ohio Business Roundtable, the Ohio Department of Education, and Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business. BRIGHT intends to place the leaders it trains in high-poverty, low-performing schools, but technically only requires fellows to serve two years as a principal of any public school in Ohio. Just like APA, a BRIGHT fellowship is a full-time, yearlong residency within an Ohio public school that pays a stipend ($2,500 a month) and leads to Ohio principal certification. Participation in BRIGHT, however, has the added bonus of a fully paid MBA from Ohio State. As a result, fellows work with a principal and a business leader mentor to develop their leadership skills. BRIGHT is accepting applications now for its first cohort, which begins work in June 2015.
While APA and BRIGHT are still in their infancy, and data on their effectiveness is a ways off, it’s encouraging that the Buckeye State has taken an interest in the selection and development of principals. Teachers are a key factor in student achievement, but we can’t forget that principals often directly and indirectly influence teachers, school culture, and even the students themselves.
