Principles for Principals

I've been a teacher for 26 years now. During that time, I've worked in 4 states, 8 school districts, and under 10 principals in schools ranging from 100 students (K-12) to 150,000 (9-12) coming from a range of demographics. So, I've had some variety across my career.

I've had principals I never saw at all or even heard from, except in moments of crisis. Laissez faire to the extreme. I've had principals whose micromanagement bordered on Orwellian fascism. 

The best principals found a balance: providing guidance and support without forcing me into taking on a second job of managing them. They encouraged more often then they disheartened, and built up more often than they undermined. 

Part of what drew me to teaching as a field is the autonomy: the power to make decisions within my domain about what will serve my students best. Underestimating me and insulting my intelligence/professionalism/capability is sure to get you on my bad side. 

 So, some thoughts on what makes a good principal, at least for this teacher:

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1. Show that you trust your staff.

The sub-textual message that screams out from behind the mask of every micro-manager I've ever worked with is: I don't trust you. 

If you ask them, of course, micro-managers will deny that is the case and talk about how talented and resourceful their staff is. But, what a person says matters far less than what they prove with their actions and you DON'T trust your staff if you can't step back and let them do their jobs without reporting in to you at each baby step along the way. 

Education talks a good game about differentiation and multiple paths to learning, but the same flexibility is not afforded to teachers. Too often we get top-down restrictions that hamstring us and impede our ability to help our students. 

Pacing guides, lesson plan formats, and structural demands are well and good in their place: on the side, available as resources, not hanging from our necks as collars to keep us in line. 

The same goes for onerous demands for documentation. I've had principals demand I spend as much time documenting my work as I spend doing it, as if teachers would just watch soap operas and eat bon-bons all day if we don't have an overseer standing over us with a whip. That shows a fundamental lack of faith in the workers. 

I can do only half as much work if I have to effectively do each task twice: once to complete it and once to prove to someone else that I did. (I could argue that this is what standardized testing has become: the pinnacle of lack of faith in teachers). 

I took on this work because I wanted it and I love it, and when I get burnt out, it's usually not from the work itself but from all the demands that I prove myself over and over and over and over again. 

So, leaders, you want us to have faith in you? Give some first. Trust is a two-way street.

2. Listen at least as much as you talk.

Most of us didn't wander in here without any vision of what we think education is or how we want our classroom to be. It's a highly demanding job without much in the way of external benefits, so people who teach are not in it because they think they can get away with something. If you're looking for a career where goldbricking and slacking off are likely to go unnoticed, teaching is a poor choice. 

Principals have visions, too, of course. Often that's part of why they became administrators: hoping to influence the system more broadly from that angle. But you can't force buy-in to your vision. You have to earn it by demonstration of value, and persuasion of stake-holders. Few things in this world are more intransigent than a teacher being forced into a mode that she doesn't feel serves her students. 

Just as teachers work in service to their students, which means listening to their needs and seeking ways to serve them, the best principals work in service of their teachers, removing obstacles, providing resources and support, and making the work easier in any way they can. 

How do you find out what your constituents need? You pay attention. You notice. You ask. And you listen to the answers, open-mindedly and without rebuttal. You consider that someone else's idea might hold merit--maybe even more merit than your own idea. 

3. Be transparent. 

All of us do better when the expectations are clear. Don't make us try to guess what you think, whether

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you are pleased or not. 

Consider implications, but have the backbone to claim your own ideas as your own. A committee decision that is really just the boss railroading their own ideas through and squashing any dissenting viewpoints is not a committee decision: it's a coward standing behind a committee instead of admitting ownership of a view. The height of CYA culture. 

Given that time is the single most valuable resource of teachers, and it's always in high demand, we resent having it wasted. So, be direct, forthright, clear, and efficient. My energy should be spent on the kids, not on figuring out my mysterious boss. 

4. Have tough conversations with the people involved. 

My number one pet peeve of administrator behavior: blanket passive-aggressive criticism. Even worse if it's disguised as thanks or praise for one group as a way to highlight the failure of another group. In-fighting and resentment among staff members will eventually bleed into the school culture and poison the waters our kids are trying to swim in. 

So, if you have a problem with how a staff member is doing something, take it up with that staff member and leave the rest of us out of it. Some of those conversations are going to be awkward, maybe even painful, but they are part of what you signed on for when you took the job. So, reach for grace, and move forward with a heart to help, and take on the tough stuff head on. 

Whether or not you're a teacher, we all value being treated well and helped to succeed as employees. What qualities do you look for in a boss?