May 31: Last day to save $75 on registration for 2012 Annual Conference in Boston More Info June 30: Board of Trustees nomination deadline More Info July 22-25: 2012 Summer Conference in Denver More Info

The principal's essential role as a learning leader

Principals as leaders of learning
#1 in a series

By Dennis Sparks

Results, September 2004

Copyright, National Staff Development Council, 2004. All rights reserved.

Quality teaching in every classroom requires skillful leadership on the part of principals. There are no substitutes.

Skillful teaching in every classroom requires skillful leadership by principals. This reality is too often ignored when schools and districts make professional development decisions. And that is why I am devoting my columns this school year to the principal's essential role as a professional development leader.

I am convinced that high-quality teaching in every classroom depends on principals who make the success of all students their highest priority, nurture continuous improvement in teaching, and create energizing, interdependent relationships among all members of the school community. While effective principals delegate responsibility and distribute leadership, the ultimate responsibility for quality teaching in all classrooms falls squarely on their shoulders.

Across this school year, the columns in this series will examine what I believe are the essential ingredients in leadership for adult and student learning. My October column will argue that significant change in schools begins with significant change in leaders. What principals understand, believe, say, and do has a profound consequence on those around them. Different results, therefore, require new understandings, beliefs, words, and actions. In other words, if nothing changes, nothing changes.

In November, I will propose that successful principals possess richly-detailed visions of the student learning and teaching they desire in their schools. They can see in their mind's eye and describe in detail to others the quality of student thought and work the school desires and the type of teaching that will produce it. Likewise, they are crystal clear about the kind of professional learning that is aligned with their vision of student learning and high-quality teaching.

My December/January column will discuss how successful principals affect the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of individuals who are both above and below them on the organizational chart. These principals skillfully and persistently advocate for the policies, resources, and support that are essential in their schools. They also develop the leadership talents of teachers by delegating increasingly more complex responsibilities and nurturing the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully fulfill them.

In February, I will describe how skillful principals use various sources of information to create urgency for change, to establish plans, and to track progress toward important goals. Principals guide teachers, parents, and other community members in understanding and using various types of data and other forms of evidence. They also embed the study of professional literature in faculty, department, and grade-level meetings.

My March column will discuss ways in which principals who make staff and student learning a priority create relationships within schools that build a sense of common purpose, generate energy, and are mutually respectful and trusting. Such relationships speak to the heart as well as inform the mind, foster teamwork, create community, and develop a collective responsibility for the learning of all students.

In April, I will address how successful principals embed professional learning within the core day-to-day tasks of teaching and learning. Instead of leaving their classrooms and schools to be "in-serviced," teams of teachers learn as they analyze data, plan lessons, and reflect on the effectiveness of their work.

My May column will describe ways in which skillful principals strengthen subject matter understanding and instructional practice by drawing on the talents of teachers within their schools as well as on external sources of expertise.

Taken together, these columns will underscore my view that quality teaching in every classroom requires skillful leadership on the part of principals. There are no substitutes.