QUALITIES OF EFFECTIVE PRINCIPALS

School improvement efforts rely heavily on quality leadership. Educational leaders are tasked with establishing a collective vision for school improvement and initiating change to spur innovation, ensure student learning, and increase achievement Leading and teaching is challenging work that requires a high level of understanding and patience.

What do good principals do? The top elements to become an effective one are as follows Great communicator: Principals need to be able to communicate what the school is all about. School leaders don’t always do the best in terms of epitomizing effective communication Difference maker: They need to be able to keep the focus on important initiatives and culture characteristics that have an impact on student learning and achievement. They establish accountability measures to hold teachers and students accountable for learning. Great principals see solutions, not just problems. Risky, but not too risky: Principals have to be willing to try new things and have a mindset to keep trying until improvement is the end result . Manage by walking around: Principals that consistently walk around know the students, can better identify areas where teachers can improve, and set the tone for practices to be emulated throughout the building. Great principals establish a positive school culture by treating people the way they would like to be treated. Address problems: Strong principals will do the hard, dissatisfying work associated with addressing and removing ineffective staff. This requires addressing problems head on with a positive attitude. When hiring new staff, principals need to go to great efforts to hire educators that align best with the vision of the school. Cares about students and staff: Effective principals never give up on kids and their support staff. They are the epitome of instructional leadership and will show teachers how to become more effective based on evaluative data. Instructional leadership: building a vision, establishing a shared leadership model, leading a learning community, using data, and monitoring curriculum & instruction .School climate: creating a positive culture, establishing high expectations, adhering to a practice of respect .Human resource administration: hiring quality teachers & other staff, inducting & supporting current staff, providing meaningful opportunities for growth, retaining quality staff, and effectively evaluating teacher performance. Organization management: safety, daily operations, facilities maintenance, and securing & using resources to increase student achievement Communication and community relations: effective communicator with all stakeholder groups. Professionalism: ethical standards, serves as a role model, models life-long learning.

Now more than ever schools need great leaders. The task now at hand is to develop a plan on how to support principal effectiveness while developing an evaluation tool that will help them to do the best job possible for the students and teachers.

--oOo— The author is from San Vicente Elementary School, Apalit, Pampanga