School leadership broadly impacts students, teachers, and the community. For school administrators, providing a safe and positive learning environment is important. Additionally, building-level leaders use their leadership skills in collaboration with fellow administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, and coaches for the growth and development of the student. Teaching and learning are important for administrators in addition to student behavior. School principals have multiple responsibilities, such as student supervision, maximizing instructional content, data collection, understanding state and local school education policies, and student discipline.
When it comes to impacting student behavior, there are multiple ways school principals and assistant principals can make an impact. This can come in the form of offering professional development on student behavior, collaboration with administrators and guidance counselors to create student interventions, and establishing consistent parent contacts. Creating a safe school environment is at the forefront of school administration rules and procedures. Each school has their own set of rules and procedures that align with the school district’s policy and mission statement. Combining the expectation of the school district with the tailoring to the needs of the school building is an effective way to impact student behavior. Here are a few ways that school leadership can impact student behavior.
Establish High Expectations for Student Success
School leadership can impact student behavior by having high expectations for student success. The expectations must be school-wide and provide an opportunity for best practices and effective leadership to be modeled. Setting high expectations for student success should be expected to be carried out by teachers, students, faculty and staff, and school leadership as well.
Knowing how to build staff leadership in the school is crucial to providing a positive school culture. Furthermore, building-level leaders can use multiple apps to communicate to students and parents. Using apps such as ClassDojo, ThrillShare, and Remind, are ways to communicate to parents and influence student behavior. When establishing high expectations for students, these should be the areas of professionalism, academics, and social-emotional learning growth.
Establish a School-Wide Behavior Plan
Establishing a school-wide behavior plan is another way student behavior can be impacted. A school-wide behavior plan establishes school wide norms and expectations for students. Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) is a school-wide plan that uses a three-tiered approach to student behavior. By collecting data on student behaviors and collaborating with teachers and guidance counselors to provide interventions, students can get the support they need from school-wide, small group settings, and on an individual level. Using tools such as PowerSchool helps administrators and counselors to keep track of incidents, log entries, and reports that can address the needs of students. With the right intentions, recognizing trends in data, and using relations to improve behavioral management, the right school-wide plan can make a positive impact on student behavior.
Provide Alternatives to Detention
An effective school leader has various approaches to impacting student behavior. Providing alternatives to detention is one way administrators can foster relationships with students and allow for reflection. According to a report by K-12 Dive, school suspension rates have seen an increase over the years. Additionally, the article shares a report by the Learning Policy Institute on the trends and racial disparities when it comes to out of school suspensions. Having alternatives to detention such as reflection assignments, mediation with guidance counselors, and parent conferences all can be alternatives to detention. By providing alternatives to detention, students and parents can build positive relationships with school administration to support the student as a whole.
Create a Positive After School Program
Many students have parents that work long hours or relatives who may not be able to pick a student from school once the bell rings. School leadership can promote a safe environment by providing an effective after-school program. This can be one provided by the district with pay incentives for teachers, the Boys and Girls club, or another established program. The 21st Century Community Learning Center (CCLC) is a grant based program that works with local school districts and nonprofits to provide an after-school program. In addition to after-school programs at the elementary and middle school levels, utilizing resources at the secondary level is also important.
High school students have athletics such as football, basketball, tennis, baseball, and track and field. Extracurricular activities such as chess clubs, robotics club, and cheerleading all provide an environment for high school students to learn leadership skills, team building, and personal responsibility. The After School Alliance provides data and resource information on the 21st Century Community Learning Center grant funding, after-school policies, and support material for the various schools who are a part of the 21st CCLC program.
Whether it is establishing high expectations for students, using a school-wide behavior plan, or providing interventions through teachers, coaches, and mentors, impacting student behavior is important. Each school environment is unique, and the school leadership should use multiple resources from their training, community involvement, and teacher-to-student relationships to influence student behavior. School leadership has the opportunity to make a lasting impact on students that will shape their lives for the future.
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