The Principal’s Role in Student Achievement

     Often, the principal’s role seems very far removed from the daily
routines of teaching and learning that most affect student achievement.
Aside from their skill in motivating and supporting teachers in using the
most effective instructional approaches, many principals report that
they feel a bit “helpless” in directly affecting student achievement.

     Ironically, according to some researchers, that attitude itself reduces
the principal’s effectiveness in promoting high levels of achievement in
their schools. Indeed, strong principals who believe that they are directly
responsible for and involved in their students’ learning do produce higher
levels of achievement than principals who believe that they can do little
to produce strong results among students in their schools.

     But this belief cannot be based on faith alone. Principals who believe
they affect achievement actually engage in a number of behaviors that are
clearly linked to student learning and performance. The most comprehensive
review of research findings about how principals influence student
achievement was conducted by Kathleen Cotton and reported in the 2003
book, Principals and Student Achievement, published by the Association
for Supervision and Curriculum Development. (Available on line from ASCD, http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/2003cotton/2003cottontoc.html.)

     Among Cotton’s most important findings were that the principals of highly
effective schools exhibited rather specific traits and behaviors that cut across
setting, demographics and school organizations. These included:

• Maintaining a safe, orderly school environment that fosters both
individual student responsibility and a “school as community” orientation.

• Promoting a vision and goals that focused on high levels of student
learning, and continually articulating that vision throughout the school
community.

• Establishing high expectations for student achievement and holding
everyone accountable for meeting those expectations.

• Exhibiting self-confidence, responsibility and perseverance, conveying
the sense that “we’re all in this together, and, together, we can help
students achieve.”

• Being visible and accessible to students and staff throughout the school,
particularly in instructional settings, such as classrooms, labs, and
performance sites.

• Creating and maintaining a positive and supportive school climate that
has, as its central tenet, high achievement for every child.

• Communicating and interacting effectively with all groups in the school
community, including dissenters and critics.

• Providing emotional and interpersonal support to students and staff
during times of need or conflict.

• Reaching out to parents and the greater community, seeking their
support in both instruction and governance.

• Managing rituals, ceremonies, and other symbolic actions to honor
strong traditions, instill pride, recognize achievement, and strengthen
staff, student and community affiliation with the school.

• Sharing leadership and decision-making and empowering staff to
participate in significant improvement efforts, making certain people
have the information and training to participate effectively.

• Assuring collaboration by creating a climate in which they and their
staffs learn, plan and work together to improve their schools.

• Actively involve themselves in the curricular and instructional life of
the schools by conducting walkthroughs, focusing on student work,
and leading professional development focused on teaching and learning.

• Sustaining focus on high levels of student learning by making all
decisions in light of the potential impact on student learning and
achievement.

• Pushing continuously for improvement and creating norms of continuous
improvement in all school functions; persisting in asking, “How can we
make this better?”

• Facilitating discussion about instructional issues and participating
in these discussions themselves.

• Observing and giving feedback to teachers on classroom performance
in the spirit of coaching as well as supervision.

• Granting teachers considerable autonomy in organizing and managing
their classrooms, and protecting teachers from intrusion by forces outside
the school or the instructional process.

• Supporting responsible risk taking on the part of teachers willing to try
new ideas to improve the school or their teaching.

• Providing professional development opportunities and resources focused
on student learning.

• Securing the resources – financial, human, time, material – that the school
needs to improve.

• Protecting and maximizing instructional time by treating the schedule as
an important instructional resource and preventing interruptions from
noninstructional activities.

• Monitoring student progress and sharing findings through systematic
procedures and regularly scheduled performance discussions with faculty
and staff.

• Using student data for school improvement by turning data into
information that can be discussed and used in curriculum development
and instructional planning.

• Recognizing student and staff achievement.

• “Walking the talk” by modeling effective practices and the behaviors
associated with school achievement, including apportioning their own time
in ways that support student learning.

• Treating staff and students with respect.

• Avoiding the behaviors that quash achievement, such as placing tight
administrative controls on others, allowing desk work to take over their lives,
focusing on discipline and management at the exclusion of instruction,
or adopting a “command and control” style of leadership.

     This list comprises a tall order for school leaders, but the payoff, according
to Cotton, is very high in terms of student performance and teacher effectiveness.
For additional information on principals’ performance and student achievement, be
sure to check out some of the important resources listed below as well.

Additional Resources

Balanced Leadership: What 30 Years of Research Tells Us
About the Effects of Leadership on Student Achievement.

From Robert Marzano and his colleagues at the Mid Continent Educational Lab,
this excellent monograph outlines the leadership behaviors associated with first
and second order (or deep) change in schools. This is a “must read” for principals.

 

What Works in Schools
Also from Marzano and his colleagues, this site provides a full line of books
and videos on research based school practices for teachers and school leaders.

The Learning-Centered Principal
From leadership expert Richard DuFour, this timely and engaging article from
Educational Leadership describes what a “learning centered” principal does in
his or her school.

Closing the Achievement Gap
Kati Haycock challenges school leaders to make the hard decisions
that are necessary to promote high levels of learning among minority and disadvantaged learners. This Educational Leadership article has compelling
evidence from the kids themselves.

What Works
The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was established in 2002 by
the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to
provide educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public with a central, independent, and trusted source of scientific evidence of what
works in education. Check it out at http://w-w-c.org/

Prepared by Howard Johnston
Secondary Education Department
University of South Florida