Education

What’s a Principal to Do?

September 19, 2006 1 min read
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How can school principals rev up the “engine of improvement”? In this Education Week Commentary, Kim Marshall identifies three of the most effective ways for school leaders to stoke the fires of teacher quality and student achievement.

Scheduling interim classroom assessments with follow-up meetings, implementing unit planning, and conducting unannounced mini-observations are efficient and powerful activities that will feed the engine of student improvement, says Mr. Marshall. Too many principals creatively avoid the hard stuff by allowing countless daily distractions to fill up their time. If principals focus on the highest-value activities, writes Mr. Marshall, they can harness the energy of teacher teams and improve student learning.

What do you think? Can principals avoid “the hard stuff” with too many distractions? What should their priorities be?

A version of this news article first appeared in the TalkBack blog.

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