"Cages of Their Own Design" by Frederic Hess

Principals, particularly in charter schools, think that they are or will be hamstrung by union contracts, policies, and regulations as the conventional wisdom suggests. However, American Enterprise Institute education director Frederick Hess suggests differently in a 2009 article in Educational Leadership.

 

Hess believes that many school leaders are afflicted by “debilitating timidity” that makes them “tepid agents of change.” Principals and superintendents should boldly take advantage of the power they have, says Hess. He describes how principals can do that:

School Culture Begins with Staff: A Great Tool for School Leaders

In the summer of 2000, I was cruising down the tortuous Old Pacific Highway 101 with three of my ninth grade students. It was a road trip that I had organized when I was teaching in a charter school in Cleveland, Ohio. I, along with three of my students, drove from Cleveland to California. It took us two weeks and 7,500 miles back and forth where we saw many “see before you die” type of places, had great fun, and came back with unforgettable memories. My students who are now successful college graduates and professionals still talk about the trip.

When I, once, was bragging about our trip to a traditional public school teacher he responded that he “would not take [his students] across the street, yet I took [my students] to California” with such amazement.  Now, I think about his response that is reminds me of another response that I got from one of my teachers when I was a charter school principal years later. When requested to do home visits to her students, this teacher responded to me that she “did not feel safe going to the neighborhood that our students lived in.”

It is the Principal that matters the most...

Although, there are other purposes of schooling such as creating productive citizens maintaining a desired culture, it is mainly preparing students for life and providing them with skills necessary to survive and succeed in the society that they live in. The desired outcome of schooling is learning. The person who plays the most profound role in making sure that learning takes place in a school is the school leader. Effective schools that produce the desired and expected results are created and sustained largely through effective leadership. Both education lore and research on leadership agree on one point: when it comes to creating effective schools, it's the principal that matters the most.