By Dennis Sparks

Results, April 2000

Copyright, National Staff Development Council, 2000. All rights reserved.

In this situation, the professional development of principals becomes particularly important. Unfortunately, principal development, which has traditionally been given an even lower priority by school systems than teacher development, too often turns participants into passive recipients of information rather than active participants in solving important educational problems.

These observations are prompted by a speech given by Anthony Alvarado in December at NSDC’s 1999 Annual Conference. "The truth is that the preparation of supervisors makes the preparation of teachers look outstanding," Alvarado argued. "Principals and vice principals and superintendents rarely have good places to learn."

In his speech, Alvarado outlined the key elements of a well-designed principal development program. First, he urged conference participants to increase the budget for all professional development each year, citing New York City’s Community School District 2’s decade-long growth in this area from one tenth of a percent to nine percent. "We exponentially underestimate what people need to learn to do something different and better," he said.

The budget for principal development must provide funds for regular visits to other schools and for ongoing coaching, Alvarado argued. "One thing that we need is massive inter-visitation . . . to go places, to see practice that is actually the kind of practice that we want to implement."

Regarding coaching Alvarado said, "You cannot change behavior, change practice in organizations, without large-scale coaching by people who know the content, who know how to do it, and who know how to help people learn. At the heart of it is the simple notion that you need someone working with you to model, to give feedback, to assist in the actual trying of the new practice, to support in the ongoing habituation of new practice. It is impossible to improve practice without access to high quality coaching."

A final important ingredient proposed by Alvarado is study groups in which principals consider problems, particularly those in the critical areas of reading and mathematics, and figure out what to do about them. "This sense of organizing ourselves through study groups, action research groups, or a wide variety of practitioner-related structures is essential to making progress in organizations," he said.

School systems that are serious about standards-based student learning and the quality of teaching will ensure that all principals:

• Join ongoing study groups that delve deeply into the most important instructional issues in their schools;
• Visit one another’s schools to learn about outstanding practice, critique colleague’s improvement efforts, and support one another in improving instruction; and
• Receive frequent in-school coaching on critical skill areas such as working with teachers to improve instruction, analyze data, and critique student work.

The development of principals cannot continue to be the neglected stepchild of state and district professional development efforts. It must be standards-focused, sustained, intellectually rigorous, and embedded in the principal’s work day. Nothing less will lead to high levels of learning and performance for all students and teachers.