Being Set Up to Fail?
Sunday, August 21, 2005
As the school year come upon us, one third of the District of Columbia's schools will have new principals. (see here)
While the high number of turnover is a concern, I was more struck by Superintendent Janey's quote defending his new principals by stating, "I think they know precisely what is expected of them".
In my opinion, when it comes to successful schools, the issue is not if our principals know what is expected of them, but do they know how to put expectations into action. Knowing what is expected and knowing how to implement, manage, and lead staff and children towards educational success are two totally different animals. Which then begs the question: How do you train your school leaders to be successful implementers?
Apparently, the ed schools have not been doing that very well. According to Arthur Levine, President of Columbia Teacher's College, in his report on education administration programs, found most of these programs to be in poor quality with a lack of high calibur student body. He suggests that a practical and professional business school like approach (with something similar to an MBA) would be more helpful to train future principals and administrators than the current format of obtaining a doctorate (Ed.D). The study also cited that principals felt that they were not prepared to be successful at their jobs.
So, the upcoming year for DCPS makes me a little nervous. (Although I am slightly comforted that they did hire some of their new principals from other districts and from great alternative certification orgs. like New Leaders for New Schools,) While I have faith in our Superintendent, I fear that the good intentions of putting "support systems" in place for new principals will fall through as the school year gets hectic and resources become more scarce. Our newbies in DCPS may be looking at an incredibly difficult year, which if Arthur Levine is right, is not really their fault.
