Before writing this post, I asked my sons what a principal does. Their responses sounded straight out of television’s Abbott Elementary with tasks like checking on teachers and making announcements. The principal is there for order and for when things go wrong. With Ava Coleman of Abbott as the best known portrayal of a principal for this generation, it is unsurprising that this is most people’s perception of the principalship⸺ even those who had a principal for a dad.
The reality is that principals are only second to classroom instruction when it comes to student learning. With stakes that high for our kids, how do we tell if we have a good principal?
While a lot of the work of the principalship happens away from the eyes of parents, there are three things parents can explore to better know if they have the principal their community needs.
The primary role of the principal is to create the conditions so people can learn. That means students learning to be ready for college, career, and community participation. That means teachers learning to work collaboratively to help students unleash their potential. A strong principal can communicate how the relationship between students, teachers, and curriculum cause learning and the sorts of tasks that lead to the learning we desire.
Your Move: Ask your principal what aspects of the school are most important to achieving its learning outcomes. Then ask yourself if those actions align with how your child learns best.
During an athletic competition the coach is as close to the game as they can be. They aren’t watching the game on tv or hearing about it from the players after the game. They are at the game and talking to players in real time. The same is true for school leaders. A strong principal is where learning happens. They are in classrooms, hallways, teacher meetings, and any space where kids are preparing for their future.
Your Move: Notice where the principal is when you visit the school and who they are with. Ask your child about their principal and if they have any stories about interacting with their principal.
There are leaders who focus on what they can’t do and who is to blame. Then there are leaders who focus on what kids need and how they will accomplish it. Strong principals are in the second camp. Furthermore, when decisions come up where people disagree, strong principals make the call and communicate their choice by explaining how student learning would be impacted.
Your Move: When your principal does something you disagree with, ask them how they came to their decision and listen for language around learning.
Parents should get curious about these three things and principals should work to answer these questions in ways that help them become the leaders our young people and educators need.
