I wrote this article a few years ago when I was an assistant principal. I am currently serving on the NASSP A.P. task force. I thought I would re-post this article to shine the light on one of the most challenging positions in education. I hope you enjoy!
One of the most important roles in a school is that of the assistant principal. (Disclaimer: I am currently an assistant principal, so these may be a bit biased!). The duties of the assistant principal are wide ranging and quickly changing. The job has always entailed student discipline and supervision as well as other managerial tasks such as bus duty, scheduling, event coverage, “key keeper” and so on. However, assistant principals are asked to delve more and more into curriculum and improving student achievement.
Most assistant principals welcome this new requirement. I have never pulled into the school parking lot excited about bus duty or making sure all of the doors are locked during an emergency drill. I am quite certain most of my colleagues feel the same way. I am an assistant principal so I can impact students. I want to increase student achievement and allow each and every child to be the best they can be. I want to be an instructional leader. I want to gather and analyze data to improve instruction. I want to build relationships with kids so they have another person looking after them and encouraging them through the tough times we call school. I want to work with other adults collaboratively in the best interest of kids.
Many, if not all, assistant principals do these things. We know it is expected of us and we enjoy doing it. We know it is in the best interest of the students. However, many assistant principals struggle to find a way to balance the time demands of being an instructional leader and a manager.
I do not always want to do bus duty. I do not particularly want to sort the bins of testing materials for the state assessment. However, I know these are parts of my job and I always complete them with the most diligence and professionalism. All of this presents an issue. How can an assistant principal use the time afforded to “manage” the school and still be the instructional leader that he/she wants to be?
The National Association of Secondary Schools Principals recently selected 15 administrators for a task force on the assistant principalship. I was honored to be one of those selected. We will be spending a lot of time on defining the role of the assistant principal. I am truly excited to be part of the task force and eagerly look forward to working with colleagues from across the nation.
Assistant principals were stretched on time before the accountability aged rolled in. Taking care of the nuts and bolts of school operation takes a tremendous amount of time. What are some of the ways an assistant principal can complete both managerial type duties with more instructional focused ones?
I have worked directly with 9 or 10 different assistant principals during my time as a school administrator. All of us have aspirations to be a building principal. Two of them have already been promoted to lead their own school. We realize that to prepare ourselves for our future role, we need to be the strongest instructional leaders. Handling referrals are one thing, but if we are ever to be entrusted to run our own school, we know we have to stand out from the crowd. We decided to develop procedures to give ourselves time for the instructional duties we wanted to perform.
At my last high school we made a fundamental change to how we handled student discipline. Previously, we were each assigned a part of the alphabet and if one of our students received a referral, we handled it. We often found ourselves in the office for a good part of the day. One of my colleagues came up with a great plan. Our school was rather large and there were 5 assistant principals. Instead of handling student discipline via the alphabet we created a schedule that allowed us to be out of the office for 3 full days a week (sometimes even 4 days!). Two administrators were assigned to discipline each day. When you had discipline duty, you were often handling referrals all day. This kept you tied to the office, but it created much more time during a given week to observe classes, work with data, and do the things we really want to do. A positive unintended side effect was that referrals were handled much quicker as well.
At my current middle school we have 3 assistant principals. We handle student referrals for our grade level. I have tried to implement a few procedures to use my time as efficiently as possible. I always make it a point to handle referrals as quickly as possible. I think the teachers enjoy this and it is better for the students. If a student misbehaves in class and three days later I ask why they did what they did, I will usually get a look of confusion. Maybe they are trying to get out of trouble, but three days to a middle school child is similar to how I feel watching my beloved Dolphins this year (for the non-football fans, the Dolphins are 0-11!).
I try to schedule a time each day to handle student discipline issues. The 7th grade students attend their elective classes the last two periods of the day. I generally handle referrals during this time. It keeps them in their core classes as much as possible. However, I am a true believer in the benefits of the arts, so I am not so sure this is the best plan possible. Of course, some incidents require immediate attention and these are handled as they arise. At my school, most of the incidents seem to occur outside of class. I make an attempt to be as visible as possible during class change. Hopefully, this is preventing some incidents before they occur.
If you surveyed assistant principals, I think the number one issue would be finding time to be an instructional leader in light of our other responsibilities. I would also predict that these instructional duties are why just about all of us chose this profession. I hope serving on the task force will allow me to learn from others on how they manage their time.
Testing 1,2,3
I know there are a million posts on state assessments all over the blogospehere. I think I have even posted one or two. However, a news article from Florida caught my eye the other day.
Testing, testing, testing. Has this become the sole focus of education today? There was an interesting news article out of a school district in Florida a couple of weeks ago. The School Board told the district to de-emphasize the FCAT (Florid’a state assessment). They did not say to just cut out the hoopla and glitz. They made it pretty clear–do not allow the FCAT to consume day to day instruction.
Since the big surge of state assessments have grown into the mega institution they are today, I have always been for them. I thought they would force schools to improve and in turn increase student achievement. We have all heard the endless scream from parents about the negatives of high stakes tests. My mother is included in this crowd. She always lets me know of the story of the 10 year old getting physically sick due to the anxiety that some feel during testing. She includes stories of schools dropping just about everything for extra “test prep” time (i.e. some elementary schools dropping recess or offering very little while our country faces an obesity crisis). I always kind of just listened and said, “Yeah, but…”
I wonder how the board will react if the scores go down due to the decreased focus on the FCAT?
Is this happening in your area? What do you think?
I am about to begin teaching a Web 2.0 class. No, I did not recently complete my Ph.D. (or start it for that matter) and the teaching job it is not at a fancy college or university. I am not presenting at a prestigious national conference. It is much more powerful and important that that. I am teaching this class to teachers at my school who are interested in learning more about using technology in the classroom. It is really a professional development series, but a course none the less!
I have been throwing bits of information out at my teachers about technology during the course of this year. In my weekly updates I recently sentan article about using blogs and wikis in class. One of our teachers loved the article and was fired up to learn more. Her desire to use Web 2.0 really got me excited as well. We already have several teachers blogging and podcasting, but I knew it was time to try and take it to the next level.
I have about 15 teachers signed on for this course. The first thing I am going to tell them is that I am not an expert on this stuff! I have been blogging and podcasting for a while now and I am comfortable with those two technologies. I also know the need our schools have. I am a big believer in transforming schools to meet the needs of our digital learners. However, I have learned almost all of this one my own (with some technical assistance from my colleagues-thanks!). I have figured it out by messing around and seeing what happens.
I also entered the 2.0 world as an administrator. I need to start thinking through the teacher lens. I have a great course planned–and have the first couple of classes planned. I think I can effectively make a case for the need for incorporating 2.0 technologies and will then venture into blogging and podcasting. However, I know I need much more.
What advice do you have for me for this course? Do you have any solid examples of teachers using this in the classroom? I would appreciate any assistance!
One of the big obstacles schools face is community and parental involvement. Sometimes it is easy–drive by your local high school on a Friday night. Depending on where you live, you may see the entire town (or close to it) at the school. There is excitement in the air and everyone is pumped up about your school. This is to easy! However, we know why the people are there.
Sometimes the crowd gathers in the school auditorium. Once again there is excitement in the air and everyone is there to see the hard work of the students. Hours and hours have been spent rehearsing for the gathering. The work has been done and the playbills are ready for distribution. Wow, it is really easy to get families in our schools!
There are many examples where we are successful at bringing the community and families into our schools. However, we all know the previous examples deal with athletics and the arts. These are important functions of schools and are worthy programs. Once the crowd leaves and the administrative staff is ready to head home their thoughts turn to the next evening. Science Night! Experiments are planned and there is even a guest speaker from the prestigious university. The crowd should be huge!
The following evening rolls around and Science Night is set to begin. The anticipated reality then sets in. There are only a handful of families in attendance. The same can be seen at School Improvement Council meetings, PTA meetings, Curriculum Nights and the list continues. Apparently, we have the ability to get families in our school (see first two examples) but it is the rare exception rather than the norm. How can we increase attendance at ALL of our school events?
Publicize, Publicize, Publicize
If you are having an event at your school, you need to work extra hard in getting the word out. Simply putting it in a newsletter and on the school marquee is not enough. Advertise in the local paper. Post it on your school blog (you have one, right?). Most importantly, reach out to your community! Go to the places your community goes. Post a flyer at the local grocery store. The local restaurants often have community message boards. What about the dry cleaners? Everyone has to get their hair done or cut. I am sure the salon would allow you to post your information. Local churches? Gas stations?
Truly Welcome Them In
Many people are intimidated by schools. We are not always the most welcoming places. We need to work to change that perception. If the only time a parent hears from us is when their child is in trouble, why would they want to visit us? Connect with the community and families often. We must spread our good news because if we do not, who will? And of course, a free meal never hurts!
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One of the most important roles in a school is that of the assistant principal. (Potential Bias Alert!: I am currently an assistant principal, so these may be a bit biased!). The duties of the assistant principal are wide ranging and quickly changing. The job has always entailed student discipline and supervision as well as other managerial tasks such as bus duty, scheduling, event coverage, “key keeper” and so on. However, assistant principals are asked to delve more and more into curriculum and improving student achievement.
Most assistant principals welcome this new requirement. I have never pulled into the school parking lot excited about bus duty or making sure all of the doors are locked during an emergency drill. I am quite certain most of my colleagues feel the same way. I am an assistant principal so I can impact students. I want to increase student achievement and allow each and every child to be the best they can be. I want to be an instructional leader. I want to gather and analyze data to improve instruction. I want to build relationships with kids so they have another person looking after them and encouraging them through the tough times we call school. I want to work with other adults collaboratively in the best interest of kids.
Many, if not all, assistant principals do these things. We know it is expected of us and we enjoy doing it. We know it is in the best interest of the students. However, many assistant principals struggle to find a way to balance the time demands of being an instructional leader and a manager.
I do not always want to do bus duty. I do not particularly want to sort the bins of testing materials for the state assessment. However, I know these are parts of my job and I always complete them with the most diligence and professionalism. All of this presents an issue. How can an assistant principal use the time afforded to “manage” the school and still be the instructional leader that he/she wants to be?
I came across this great article via the ASCD express. It was written by Jennifer Booher-Jennings. The article does a great job comparing how hospitals and schools are graded.
“Only 41 hospitals—less than 1 percent of all hospitals nationwide—were identified as high-mortality. Yet in the 2004-05 school year, 26 percent of American schools landed on education’s comparable list—those that did not make adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.”
The article does not proceed to criticize American public schools. Instead, the author compares how hospitals are graded and how schools are graded. Most people in education realize schools are not equal. It would be great if we could compare all schools as apples to apples. We know we must teach all of the kids who walk through our doors. However, I think we all also realize each child comes with their own circumstances and backgrounds. Apparently, hospitals realize their patients arrive at their doors in varying states of health. If we graded hospitals as we do schools, none of that would matter. If a patient arrived at a hospital, the institution had two options-restore their health or receive a failing grade.
States us a “risk adjustment” when calculating the “grades” of their hospitals that perform cardiac surgeries. The article provides a lot of the details but essentially it takes dozens of patient characteristics into account. The thinking is that hospitals should not be penalized for patients who are sicker upon arrival than others. Here is how the Health and Human Services Department explains it:
“The characteristics that Medicare patients bring with them when they arrive at a hospital with a heart attack or heart failure are not under the control of the hospital. However, some patient characteristics may make death more likely (increase the ‘risk’ of death), no matter where the patient is treated or how good the care is. … Therefore, when mortality rates are calculated for each hospital for a 12-month period, they are adjusted based on the unique mix of patients that hospital treated.”
Following this line of thinking, educators could produce a similar laundry list of factors beyond their control that effect student learning: socio-economic status, parental involvement, student health and the list goes on and on.
I think when educators point things like this out, we are perceived as shielding ourselves from criticism. The article makes another great point about this notion. If we were able to compare schools using some sort of “risk adjustment” we would get a much clearer picture of how individual schools are performing. We would not be able to say that one school is performing better than the other due to factor X. If schools are graded in a more equitable format, we would know which schools are truly failing. I have seen schools who do great on state assessments and schools that do not perform nearly as well. Does this automatically mean school A is better? What if school A is located among multi-million dollar homes whose children attend school daily and have private tutors to boot? What if school B serves a section of an inner city filled with crime and poverty? What if school B serves children who do not speak English? Do the test scores of each school automatically determine which school is better? Which teachers are better?
I previously wrote an article on state assessments and how they compare to national standardized assessments. You can read, “Where is Your Bar” here (you will have to scroll down a bit). I will refrain from saying the same thing in my previous post.
However, I found a spiffy gadget to get a quick look at how each state’s assessment stacks up. You can roll over a map of the U.S and see how each state compares to a national tests.
I found this one at the Practical Principals. Pretty practical!
Thanks Scott at Dangerously Irrelevant. I have been awarded the shiny Fantastic Commentator Award!
While I enjoy hosting my own blog, comments are the heart of blogs. I think what drives many of us to blogs, is the interactive nature of them. I like posting my thoughts and musings, but the conversation is the key for me. Reading and leaving comments on blogs allows me to learn so much more from other people.
Curriculum Mapping
I have actually been somewhat neglecting my blog these past two weeks. We started classes this week and we all know how busy this time of the year can be! My district is placing heavy emphasis on curriculum mapping this year. I had some experience with it in Florida, but it is being instituted district wide here. I think it has powerful potential.
We have all seen the comparisons of U.S. schools to other nations (Think TIMMS). It seems other countries focus their instruction so much more. Our books are shiny and expensive but way to BIG!! When I look at our text books it is almost funny that we expect our kids to be able to learn all of the information in them each year. The problem is some teachers still rely on the text book as their main teaching tool. We need to get away from that!
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“Information is not knowledge”.
–Albert Einstein
“Knowledge is power.” It sounds great, but knowledge is pretty useless if you do not know how to use it. The connections to education are numerous. If a person has all of the knowledge in the world, are they really better off? Not if they do not have the tools to use it.
Curriculum
Schools need to develop thinkers and problem solvers. This is not anything sage like or cutting edge, but what are schools doing about it? We need to find ways to allow our students to discover and apply new knowledge. I hope my child learns all sorts of things in school, but he must learn how to process the information and problem solve. We need to teach our students how to work with others and forge relationships. I think many schools are missing the boat on this one.
We need to prepare our kids to work with others (not just assigning group work!), build relationships and connections, and think on their own. If I were a business owner, I would want employees who can solve problems, forge relationships with customers and work on their own. I guess it would be great if they could do trig and know who won the Prussian War, but would it be necessary to job performance?
School reform should be focused on preparing our children for their future. I am not sure that our current model of education is meeting the needs of our customers (students). I do not pretend to have the answers, but I know we need to be asking this question.
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