Pursuing a master’s degree in educational leadership or administration can provide significant advantages that enhance your qualifications and increase your competitiveness in the job market.

Enhanced Knowledge and Skills

One of the most compelling reasons to consider a master’s degree is the opportunity to acquire specialized knowledge and skills essential for effective school administration. Master’s programs focus on key areas such as:

Curriculum and Instruction

You’ll gain a deep understanding of educational theories, best practices, and how to successfully implement and evaluate curricula.

School Law and Policy

Familiarity with laws and regulations governing schools is crucial, and this training ensures you understand the nuances of special education, student rights, and discipline.

Budgeting and Finance

Managing budgets is a critical aspect of administration. A master’s program will equip you with the skills to make informed financial decisions and understand various funding sources.

Human Resources

You will learn about hiring, evaluating, and supervising staff effectively, which is vital for creating a supportive and productive school environment.

Data Analysis and Decision-Making

Mastering the ability to analyze data allows you to identify trends and make strategic decisions based on evidence.

Communication and Interpersonal Skills

This enables you to effectively engage with students, parents, staff, and the broader community. Leadership qualities are fostered as well, preparing you to build and guide effective teams in complex educational settings.

Increased Career Opportunities

A master’s degree can significantly expand your career prospects. Administrators with advanced degrees often enjoy higher earning potential compared to their counterparts without them. The range of positions available to those with a master’s degree is also broader, including roles such as:

• Assistant Principal
• Principal
• Director of Special Education
• Curriculum Coordinator
• Superintendent

Moreover, in today’s competitive job market, holding a master’s degree can enhance your job security, making you a more appealing candidate for administrative roles.

Professional Development and Networking

Another vital aspect of pursuing further education is the professional development opportunities it provides. Master’s programs often offer networking opportunities with other aspiring and established administrators, educators, faculty members, and industry professionals. This networking can lead to mentorship possibilities, collaboration, and job opportunities that might not be available otherwise.

Continued learning is a hallmark of pursuing a master’s degree. It nurtures a mindset geared toward lifelong learning, which is critical in the ever-evolving field of education. Participants in these programs are often encouraged to stay up-to-date with the latest educational trends and research, further enhancing their effectiveness as administrators.

Choosing the Right Program

When considering a master’s degree, it’s essential to choose a program that aligns with your career goals and personal aspirations. Key factors to evaluate include:

Accreditation

Ensure the program is recognized by a credible accrediting body.

Curriculum

Look for a program that offers courses relevant to your interests and future aspirations.

Faculty

Research the faculty’s backgrounds and their expertise in the field.

Networking Opportunities

Consider how well the program facilitates connections with peers and professionals in education.

In summary, a master’s degree undoubtedly brings a wealth of benefits. It arms you with the necessary knowledge, skills, and practical experience needed to excel in leadership roles within the educational landscape.

The degree can help you make a lasting positive impact on students and schools, guiding educational initiatives that promote student success and community engagement. If you’re serious about advancing your career in school administration, pursuing a master’s degree is a worthwhile investment in your future that can benefit your career path.

Educators never stop learning; check out our available graduate degree programs  to hone your skills and promote lifelong learning and academic excellence.

The post Can a Master’s Degree Help Me Become a School Administrator? appeared first on Graduate Programs for Educators.

You may have the skills to take a new position, but you are never truly “ready” for many things in life. Whether that is being a parent, being married, being an administrator, etc. until you are in the role, you don’t know what it will take. I would say that with almost twelve years as a high school administrator, we are not always ready for what is thrown our way.

But the question: “is being an administrator right for me?” is a question that we can discuss, as there are certain traits and skills that make for a successful administrator.

Self-Assessment

Let’s consider first the biggest question you have to answer: Are you ready to leave the classroom or what you are doing now?

For me, after ten years in the classroom, I was ready for another challenge. This author taught technology applications for ten years at the middle school level, and my students changed every semester.

Thus, I taught my content twenty times, and I was ready for a new challenge. Over the previous three years, my principal had tabbed me for leadership jobs on the campus and for subbing as the principal someday. Why, because he saw in me the skills needed for the job.

As I sat in first-year assistant principal training provided by our regional service center, the leader explained why he led the classroom, and this helped me confirm my decision. He saw himself as a multiplier. As a department chair, he could help a few teachers. As an assistant principal he could help more teachers. As a principal, he could help even more teachers. You get the idea; he later went on to be a successful superintendent.

You will need your own reason to leave the classroom, but these are just some examples why it could be time for you to do this. Need another challenge? Can you help teachers grow? Can you help students get on the right path? Do you have instructional and classroom management strategies that set you apart? If any of this is a “yes,” you have answered the first question.

This answer may also be your “why.” When things get tough, you get yelled at or a parent wants to take your job…you must remember “why” you are doing this. Know your “why”!

Now let’s consider other factors in deciding if being an administrator is right for you.

Leadership Skills

What have you done that shows evidence that you can lead and work well with your colleagues? Have you been a department head? Have you organized major events on your campus? Have you mentored teachers on the campus? You have to have the ability to create consensus and lead people toward a goal.

For example, as an administrator, you may be responsible for leading the English department or special education, holding 504 meetings, etc. In those situations, you may have to move a group of teachers toward some instructional goals, find the professional development they need, and help them through their troubles. You may have done this as a teacher also, but leading people is something you will do every day.

Decision-Making/Problem-Solving Skills

As I write this, I am sitting in a conference, and the speaker just posted a quote, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

This applies to your decision-making skills and problem-solving skills. There will be times where you will need to make split-second decisions about safety or immediate situations, and you will need to have good judgment for what is best for students in those moments.

The other side of decision-making and problem skills is your ability to follow procedures and a set of decision-making tools. There will be times when you will use multiple data points to make instructional decisions. There will be times when you will use the student handbook, a student’s history, and student statements to make a disciplinary decision.

All of these things are based on what is best for the students. Your decision-making and problem-solving will need to revolve around what is best for the student or students.

One more note on problem-solving: when you move into administration, all of a sudden, you are supposed to have all the answers. You are supposed to know what to do with the most difficult parent and student situation. You will not have all the answers, so don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know, and I’ll get back to you.” That is part of being a leader. The answers and “how to” will be turned over to you.

Communication

Since you are now in a more prominent position what you say and do will be scrutinized and analyzed to another degree. Jokes you once made to your friends may now have a different perception. Make sure your grammar and spell checker are working correctly in your emails. How you address the community at school events and on the phone with parents will be important. You may have to communicate your empathy with a parent and tell them their students will be in DAEP for 45 days.

Time Management

During the course of the day of an administrator, you may have department meeting, a meeting with a parent or two, morning duty, lunch duty, afternoon duty, discipline to hand out, walkthroughs and observations to be done, game day duty, a teacher cry on your shoulder, a student cry on your shoulder…all in one day. To be a successful administrator, you have to be able to juggle this. Not to mention you are likely a parent and spouse also!

Stress Management

This is a good category to follow the time management section because after the day mentioned above, you might be a little stressed or a little mentally tired after that day. You have to have a way or two that allows you to handle the pressure and stress that comes with this job.

Whether that is exercise, turning the email and phone off at 7 p.m. at night, totally unplugging when you take vacations, or binging something on Netflix each night, you have to have a way that mentally and physically the stress does not overpower you. Being an administrator is a weighty job. You will take on the burdens of your staff and students just by your nature.  You will need to make sure you are well to be able to make sure others are well also.

Challenges and Rewards

The challenges of being an administrator are many. You have to know or find instructional answers, parents will be calling, kids will be in the lunchroom, dismissal will happen every day, you will need to be in the classroom, you will need to be in teacher/parent conferences, and students will need to be disciplined. The challenges will come at you from different directions. The great thing about challenges is that they lead to rewards.

The rewards of this job include but are not limited to:

• Helping that teacher that can now help students in their room behave the way they are supposed to.
• Help the teacher find the instructional strategy that will help students to read the for the first time.
• Help the student who has no discipline at home come to school and be in every classroom every day and learn.
• Create a major event happen at school that bring parents on campus that have never been there.
• Help a school run smoothly so that teachers and staff can do their job to help students.

Granted, some of these rewards will be tangible, and they will not be seen for years, but the rewards are in helping others (students and adults) be successful. If that is your goal, you can be an administrator.

Am I Prepared for the Lifestyle Change?

Your perspectives will change when you become an administrator, especially if you take a job in the same building where you taught. If you take an administrator job in the building where you taught, you may now be writing up your friends for their adult behavior. This is not an easy shift. Just something to consider if you are looking at this possibility.

The principal that I most try to pattern myself after made it clear to me before I started in administration that the adults will cause you more problems than the kids. Know that you will have to deal with more difficult adult behavior than student behavior. This is where your ability to work with others will come and be your stronghold. All of those problems that were not solved before, you should be able to solve them.

Also, as an administrator, especially on the high school level, there are more games and banquets than you can imagine. There are times, especially in the spring, where on four out of five evenings you will be at a game or event and have to hurry home to help put your kids to bed (I have a great wife)!

The next morning, after dropping the boys off at school, I will have a before-school meeting with a parent or department, etc.

The hours do increase, the responsibility will increase, but you will have the skills to handle it. Have a good support team (like my wife), take your kids to the games and events and include them, and know that your visibility at events is valuable to the community.

Different Administrator Roles

The most traditional administrative roles are principals and assistant principals. Some schools have morphed the assistant principal role into a more academic role as an academic dean over more instruction versus the operations and discipline for an assistant principal. This really depends on your district and the size of the schools you are working in.

There are also some other administrative roles that teachers can move into. Director roles at districts like:

• Special Education Director
• 504 Director
• Career and Technology Director

These are examples where you can begin as an administrator without being an assistant principal or principal first.

No matter the role, the name of the game is doing what is best for students, serving others, and working well with others. It is a simple formula but harder to achieve than the sounds. You will use your skills, skills you learn from others, and you will find the best answer.

A graduate degree in administration prepares you to lead as a principal, superintendent or other school administrator and help shape the future for generations of students. Check out our available leadership and administration graduate degrees and get started today!

The post Is Being an Administrator Right for Me? appeared first on Graduate Programs for Educators.

The educational system was in a monotonous rut until the COVID-19 pandemic. In a span of two weeks, the entire world’s eyes were on the shutdown that affected our entire country and large parts of our world as a whole. During this time, and the subsequent time that followed from March to July of 2020, students across the country were learning from home, with teachers who had only a handful of days to pivot from traditional brick-and-mortar education to online, distance learning education through a screen.

For a time, during increasing uncertainties and painful statistics of loss and suffering from the global pandemic, there was an overwhelmingly positive perception and incredible support for frontline workers, healthcare workers, and teachers. We were heroes! Parents everywhere had a newfound appreciation for what teachers did daily, and there were countless appreciation posts, support, and other good feelings towards those in education. Fast forward to three years later, and educational leaders everywhere are back dealing with the same challenges as before – navigating the ebb and flow of teacher morale.

What Is Teacher Morale and Why Is It Important?

Teacher morale is simply the overall feeling on a day-to-day basis of faculty and staff within a building. For experienced school leaders, this is often an undercurrent that can sometimes be felt or seen, depending on your location. Great leaders know that the direction of the building is solely based on the teachers’ happiness, and finding ways to support each adult in the building is critical.

In schools with low teacher morale, there is an unfortunate correlation to faculty and staff turnover and general unhappiness. Teacher morale is important because it permeates into each space in which students occupy. Unhappy teachers lead unhappy classrooms, leading to negative student outcomes. Multiple research efforts have shown correlations between positive teaching experiences and positive student academic outcomes. Teacher morale truly matters.

Factors That Influence Teacher Morale

Teacher morale is an interesting concept, deeply rooted in intrinsic and extrinsic factors. For school leaders, focusing on the intrinsic factors is a great place to start. For faculty and staff, intrinsic factors that influence teacher morale are things like job security, new curriculum or initiatives, teacher autonomy, or the overall climate and culture of the building. Extrinsic factors, which are the most difficult to address for building level leaders, are “big ticket” items such as increased compensation, district level support, or the general sense of being undervalued by district or central office staff.

Another factor that has been increasingly prevalent in the last six to eight months is the lack of recognition for the incredible job that teachers and support staff do on a daily basis. This is not a perceived slight, but rather a real issue that plagues education today. Mainstream media, political divisiveness, school board elections, and other noticeable struggles continue to pour on to already overworked and tired educators who feel they are shouldering the burden of public education.

How to Identify Signs of Low Teacher Morale

Low teacher morale is, at times, hard to identify. Successful schools can often mask the sense of low teacher morale due to a variety of programs or success in a specific area, but building level leaders know that, at any time, an issue with teacher morale can cause headaches. Evidence of low teacher morale can be strikingly visible:

1. Faculty and staff that have an overall negative demeanor can experience burnout or low morale. These teachers have often been described as “curmudgeons” or “energy vampires.” They typically have a problem for every solution.
2. Low morale can exist with faculty and staff who demonstrate uncooperative behavior, refusing to work with others. In education, collaboration and professional development opportunities are only successful when teams come together.
3. Low teacher morale can take the form of constant complaints from faculty and staff, or the lack of effort given. Those with low morale typically aren’t afraid to express their complaints, while giving minimum effort to complete tasks.
4. Turnover and attendance are examples of low teacher morale.

For a high turnover rate, this is not those who have low morale; rather the faculty and staff members leaving are those who wish to work in a different environment, often away from those who are always negative. In the end, this is a negative form of turnover, one that leaves building-level leaders with the wrong people left behind. Regarding attendance, those with low morale are often the ones always late, absent, or in the parking lot before the students have all left the building.

Strategies for School Leaders to Improve Teacher Morale

Although low teacher morale is a negative, there are ways that school leaders can increase morale! First, establish a way to recognize faculty and staff, both informally and formally. Schools with a positive and supporting culture find ways to recognize their team in fun and unique ways.

In my building, we celebrate our “Viking Spotlight,” where their peers nominate faculty and staff members for going above and beyond the call of duty. This monthly recognition is more special as it is peer-led and peer nominations. Other groups on campus also recognize our teachers, by placing inspiring quotes and notes on their classroom doors as ways to encourage them and thank them for what they do.

Additionally, a no-cost option to increase teacher morale is to create a shared decision-making culture. Teachers will feel more empowered and happier when they know they have input into upcoming initiatives or programs. A culture of respect, empowerment, and support is critical, and is free. Next, supporting their professional growth is a stalwart of the educational profession. Teachers need to be able to conference with their peers, learning and honing new strategies and techniques to improve their classrooms.

As building-level leaders, we must provide opportunities for staff to have choice in their professional development. Also, great schools know that the best professional development is often sitting in the room, in the form of seasoned and experienced teachers, not a hired consultant speaking about theory or innovations that won’t work for that specific building. Additionally, fun events always make the environment more enjoyable!

Fun lunches, duty-free days, small tokens of appreciation, “cheer” carts with drinks and snacks, social media shoutouts, and other items are low-cost budget items that can really go a long way. Not all schools are blessed with ample money or supplements laying around. Building-level leaders don’t have bonus checks laying around for everyone. Strategies to increase morale have to be strategic, intentional, and worth the time. Encouraging free things like spirit dress-up days, exchange days where faculty work longer hours over a few weeks to have teacher workdays off, and other ideas are just a few to affect the climate and culture of the building positively.

Teacher morale is the heartbeat of a school, a concept that has a far-reaching impact on the total school program. When teacher morale is high, teachers have more patience, are happier, and are generally more enthusiastic during the day. Students often take their cues from teachers, meaning there is a causative relationship between happy teachers and successful students. Ultimately, navigating teacher morale is a tough and arduous process, but one that will pay dividends in schools with a high culture of morale for all faculty and staff.

A graduate degree in administration prepares you to lead as a principal, superintendent or other school administrator and help shape the future for generations of students. Check out our available leadership and administration graduate degrees and get started today!

The post Navigating the Ebb and Flow of Teacher Morale: Strategies for School Leaders appeared first on Graduate Programs for Educators.

To be honest, I believe these lists will be a little different for everyone. That is why I surveyed over ten administrators and over ten different online articles to see the most common answers to what are the attributes of a great school. I was also curious how my list compared to others in the trenches and the experts online.

The Fabulous Foursome: Four Attributes Mentioned Most Often

Effective School Leadership 

There are many studies that show a direct correlation between effective school leadership and the success of a school. Common examples of effective leadership included adapting to change, being proactive, nurturing the instructional environment and maintaining a positive school culture.

Establishment of High Standards and Expectations for All Students and Staff 

This falls under cultural expectations in that the school will make all students successful and teachers are held to that standard in everything they do. Teachers are consistently being pushed to improve and that attitude is passed on to the students.

Supportive Learning Environment (Culture)

At the apex of what is going on in the school, learning is supported at all times. The school is secure, and the safety of the school is not a distraction. The school is clean, and those possible distractions are removed. All activities (extra-curricular, community events, etc.) aim to ensure students are learning in the classroom and feel supported.

Having a Clear and Shared Focus

This one is a culmination of the top four answers and has to be implemented at all levels — district level, campus level, students, and community. From the top down, the focus of the school is having every aspect of the school point to the ultimate goal of the school — the learning and success of the students. Everyone knows that the clean school, the organization of the school, the instruction in the school, the programs in the school, all support what the school is trying to achieve, and everyone understands that goal.

Tier Two: Mentioned Some, but Not Enough

High Levels of Collaboration and Communication

This attribute definitely is where it needs to be as it is a result of a supportive learning environment (culture) that allows collaboration and communication. Teachers will grow more quickly (regardless of experience) when they are in safe places where they can discuss instructional success and failures with their colleagues. A strong professional learning community (PLC) can make average teachers great because of the collective mind at work. High levels of collaboration and communication have to be fostered by the school culture and administrators.

State Standards of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessments

This attribute dives into the weeds a little, but it is vital to the success of students and teachers. Educators need to know what they are teaching to students and how to get their students to that target. If the curriculum (what to teach), instruction (how it is taught), and assessment (are we successfully teaching) is all pointed in the right direction students will grow exponentially.

High Level of Community Involvement

Usually not an issue at the elementary levels, but harder at the secondary levels. This does include how often there are events where parents and students are on campus at the same time. This also looks at how much of a partnership is created with parents and how they are included in the education direction their students are headed. There are many schools out there that offer a lot to their parents, but do not get much back. The goal is to move from just involvement of parents and the community into engagement. Involvement is not necessarily engagement.

Attribute Runner Ups of a Great School

It was hard to “minimize” the following attributes, as they all have some importance in the success of a school, but the following attributes did not make the top seven.

Frequent Monitoring of Learning and Teaching

This is completion of the cycle, so speaking…if you expect, you must inspect it.

Focused Professional Development

Are you feeding teachers and staff what they need to grow professionally? Those that feel they are being grown and improving usually stick around in the organization they are working for.

Extracurriculars

Students do not just come to school for math problems and to write essays. Most students will come for band practice, athletic practice, or whatever club or organization they are in. Extracurricular activities give more reasons for students to come to campus every day!

Office Staff

There might not be a better way to gauge culture than how you are welcomed when you enter the front office of a school. The office staff can change the environment and mood of people with just a smile and a welcoming salutation.

How Administrators Can Guide a Great School

The list above is a great playbook for administrators on how to guide great schools.

In short, as an administrator, make sure everyone knows their job and the expectations for the job. You have to keep your staff focused on what the overall goal is all the time. The whirlwind of a school will hit every day, but you and your staff have to be able to keep the main thing the main thing.

So, administrators, is the culture you are building fostering learning and collaboration? Is the instruction in the classroom going to move students forward to their learning goals? Are the right people doing the right things all around the campus? Does that 25th club and organization on your campus help reach the goal of student involvement/engagement?

A great school is a puzzle of many different attributes, the administrator’s job is to make those puzzle pieces work together into the overall goal of the school.

A graduate degree in administration prepares you to lead as a principal, superintendent or other school administrator and help shape the future for generations of students. Check out our available leadership and administration graduate degrees and get started today!

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The Administrative Experience: Elementary

A day in the life of a principal is different every day. The typical elementary school includes grades K-5. In elementary schools, there is a need for guidance counselors, math and reading coaches, and especially administrators. Administrators collaborate with teachers and other faculty and staff to improve student instruction and create a positive environment for social-emotional learning.

At the elementary setting, administrators are held accountable for students’ reading and math enrichment as this is the foundational period for students in their educational career. Elementary schools usually consist of the head principal and at least two assistant principals. At the elementary level, school administrators supervise teachers, have bus and car duty, student discipline, textbooks, and complete scheduling of classes for students.

Additionally, school administrators focus on providing professional development in curriculum and instruction. Depending on the district or building administration’s priorities, one administrator may be assigned specifically in the area of instruction. One clear difference between elementary school administrators and secondary administrators is the time spent in the school building.

Respectively, all school principals and assistant principals spend a majority of their time on school campuses. However, due to the lack of extracurricular activities in the elementary setting, principals are able to leave earlier than their counterparts at the secondary level. An example of a school hours of operation will be from 7:20 AM to 2:30 PM. This does not include dismissal and car pick-up. Although this is just an example of a school time frame, the times will vary depending on the district or state objectives.

The Administrative Experience: Middle and Secondary

Both middle schools and high schools are included in the secondary level. Most middle schools serve students in grades sixth through eighth, while students in grades ninth through twelfth are served at the high school. In middle school, administrators have textbook duties, bus, and car-line supervision, as well as teachers’ observations and growth and development. During the middle school years, students have learned their basic elementary concepts in the areas of math, language arts, social studies, and science and now have a more advanced teaching and learning process. School curriculum is more advanced and so are the issues facing students, teachers, and administrators.

The high school administrator has many goals and objectives on a daily basis. The high school principal and assistant principal have long hours during the work day. This includes classroom observations, collaborating with school counselors to schedule classes, and implementing student discipline. An example of a high school schedule time is from 8:25 AM to 3:30 PM. However, in addition to the daily schedule for classroom instruction of students, there are also multiple events and extracurricular activities.

Outside of classroom instructional observations, high school administrators have to supervise athletic events, coordinate activities such as prom, JROTC Programs, and participate in the graduation ceremony. In the high school setting, there is the school principal and at least three to four assistant principals depending on the size. 

Certification and Graduate School Requirements

For an aspiring administrator, it is important to know what steps must be taken to become a building administrator. Principals and assistant principals lead schools based on their previous teaching experience as well as the professional development they receive and the school district’s priorities. Certification requirements vary from state to state, however, as a general rule, school administrators must have a minimum of three to five years teaching experience.

There are specific graduate programs that certify an educator to become a school principal. An M.Ed. in Educational Administration or Leadership is the most common degree. However, there is also an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction. Examples of coursework in M.Ed. Educational Leadership and M.Ed. Curriculum and Instruction programs include the following:

• Introduction to Research and Statistics
• School and Community Relations
• School Law
• Curriculum Management
• Supervision and Evaluation of Teachers
• Ethical Leadership

For those who want to further their education, educators can also pursue an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership or a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction. It is important to know that most administrators choose to go to either the elementary or secondary setting. This usually is dictated by whether or not the teacher has experience in the elementary or secondary setting. Generally, an administrator will get a certification in one or the other, however, some programs certify educators for administration grades K-12.

Administrators in schools have many tasks that change daily. Motivating staff as a school administrator is just as important as improving student achievement. Building-level administrators use data to analyze student success, meet with parents, and the school board for enhanced community relations, and serve as a model of professionalism for students, teachers, and other colleagues. Being a school leader is rewarding no matter what the role is. This can be in the classroom as a teacher, as a guidance counselor, or a school principal.

However, the school principal has a unique role in the growth and development of the student and the school as a whole. The many different hats worn by the school principal is a reflection of the different skills they use to enhance the school combined with the different priorities of the school district and board. All of these examples are ways that administrators on the elementary and secondary level positively impact the lives of students and the community.

A graduate degree in administration prepares you to lead as a principal, superintendent or other school administrator and help shape the future for generations of students. Check out our available leadership and administration graduate degrees and get started today!

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