Assistant principals at Medgar Evers.
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vision, and that vision comes
from our leader,” said Delroy
Burnett, assistant principal
for science at Medgar Evers
Prep. “The principal of the
school has to set the stage
and say this is what we want.
This is what we expect.”
Teaching matters, but so
does leadership.
the high school had a six-year school year; ineffective
98.1 percent graduation rate. principals lower achievement
by the same amount.”
“We generally don’t have
The Greenhouse School
problems with students
concept coined by TNTP
fighting, running in the hall,
notes the force of putting
knocking on doors,” said
instruction at the center, and
Marcia Stuart, assistant
principal for social studies at valuing a culture of learning,
with the result that teachers
the school. “That, to me, is
want to stay in these schools
a major element in keeping
much more than they do in
teachers and enabling them
schools with comparable
to do their job in terms of
demographics.
educating children.”
There’s plenty of agreement
that a principal’s role is
absolutely vital. In fact,
greater principal turnover
has been correlated to lower
student graduation rates.
The assistant principals at
Medgar Evers make it clear
that they view their school’s
principal as the key factor
in creating a desirable work
environment and positive
effects on students. In 2013
26
Studies have attempted to
quantify the impact.
Researchers at Stanford
University have concluded
that “highly effective
principals raise the
achievement of a typical
student in their schools by
between two and seven
months of learning in a single
Principals can inspire with
clear instructional
leadership and goals, and can
help raise the collective sense
of efficacy, the belief in their
ability to affect student
outcomes, that the faculty
has. Such changes are
positively correlated with
significantly better results.
What, then, is necessary to
attract these linchpins of
success to high-poverty and
high-need schools?
Would forking over an extra
$100,000 per year in salary
for principals help solve the
leadership needs of
America’s most struggling
schools? That’s what a new
study by the Fordham
Institute suggests.
Barring that hefty a raise,
there are other elements that
could make the job more
attractive. They
include an excellent support
team of assistant principals
in the building; other
supplementary personnel,
such as special education
liaisons, academic content
specialists, human resource
personnel, and social
workers; more aut