1. Leadership Pitfalls

Principals function both as the instructional and managerial leaders of a school. Often, when a new principal steps into the role, faculty and staff members may test the new administrator to determine their boundaries. This presents a delicate “tightrope” on which the new principal must walk.

While being personable and approachable is important, it is equally important to hold to school policies and draw a hard line against any violations.

The principal’s goal is not to be a dictator; however, it is their responsibility to ensure that contractual and policy-related obligations are met. As a result, new principals should develop a leadership style that enables them to connect with their faculty and staff members while also maintaining high standards of professionalism and compliance.

2. Instructional Missteps

Within the field of education there always seems to be a “next best thing.” Advertisements for new and improved textbooks, learning apps, websites, and manipulatives flood inboxes, and latest buzzwords are used repeatedly at professional meetings and conferences.

A common misstep new principals make is attempting to keep up with the latest new initiatives while not following through on ones that were started previously.

This is especially true for first-year principals. The first year primarily should be an exercise in observation. The new principal should take stock of what currently is being done throughout the school year and weigh the pros and cons.

The tale of a new principal who enters a new school and changes everything on the first day is extremely common, and it is a surefire way to lose credibility with faculty and staff members.

Instead of following the latest trends, new principals should carefully weigh any new initiatives from the perspective of what is best for their students and staff based on the needs of their specific geographic area.

3. Communication Challenges

One of the common mistakes new principals make revolves around communicating too much information at once. In most cases new principals are passionate about the success of their students and have invested significant time preparing for the transition to administration.

However, new principals must remember that just like students, adults learn best when information is chunked into smaller portions and shared over a period of time.

Principals who begin their tenures composing lengthy, multi-paragraph emails to their faculty and staff members every day soon will find that their emails go unread. This is not because the faculty and staff willingly disregard the emails but because they do not have the time during a busy school day to process copious amounts of information via email.

The same concept applies to faculty meetings. Agendas should be kept brief and limited only to critical information, especially for meetings after the school day.

People, in general, will “tune out” after more than 10-15 minutes of information, so principals should be sure to keep both spoken and written communications clear and concise. Otherwise, their messages will go unread or unheard.

4. Financial Management Faux Pas

One of the roles of the principalship for which new principals often are unprepared is the aspect of managing a budget. The budgeting process varies from one school system to the next, but one element remains critical regardless of budgeting style: requisitions. All school systems require requisitions to be completed by staff members who wish to make purchases via the school budget.

During budget season, which usually runs from January through early spring, principals may encounter hundreds of requisition forms. Given the volume, simply signing requisitions without reading them can become a common faux pas.

Principals must be aware of how money is being spent within their buildings, and they are responsible for ensuring that the funds allotted to their buildings are spent wisely in a manner that benefits all school stakeholders.

Although it is a taxing process, the principal must review all budgetary requisitions beyond general school supplies and challenge them if necessary. Few things are worse than being questioned at a public meeting about money being spent in one’s building and not having an answer at the ready.

Being a principal is challenging, and financial matters often are placed on the back burner. This should not be the case, and new principals must build in the time necessary for monitoring the budget process within their schools.

5. Time Management Mayhem

Time management is perhaps the greatest challenge for new principals. The principal role requires individuals to think on their feet and move quickly from one thing to the next.

An example of this is a high school principal who, within an hour, may deal with student discipline issues, address sports-related matters, field phone calls from parents, make curricular decisions, and observe a classroom.

In the principal’s chair, everyone and everything seem to be clamoring for time. As a result, principals must set aside time before and after the school day to think, plan, and complete tasks that must be accomplished without distractions.

The job of a principal does not begin and end with the first and last bells of the school day. Consequently, new principals must be prepared to invest the time necessary to complete the job successfully.

Most importantly, new principals must reserve a window of time each day to decompress for the sake of their own mental health. This looks different from person to person, but principals must take the time to look out for their own wellbeing because it directly affects their interactions with their students and staff members.

A graduate degree in administration prepares you to lead as a 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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In our defense, it is not as crazy as a three-ring circus, but the analogy of three major arenas is worth discussing, and management of these components is the key. The three areas that almost everything falls into are operations, academics, and culture.

Operations

Mazlov’s Hierarchy of Needs applies directly to a school’s function, thus why operations and how a school functions leads off our three-ring Venn diagram. Before any learning can occur, distractions that can take away from learning must be minimized, and the people in the building need to be taken care of.

This begins and ends with the safety of the faculty and students in the building.
Any kind of perception or actual threat in or outside of the building will make teaching and learning difficult. The following question must be answered positively: Do our staff and students feel safe in the building? Principals must keep safety and security at the foremost something to be monitored.

Discipline will fall into this category and serve as an example of how some items span all three arenas. How well supported the teachers and even students feel when other students do clearly wrong things will impact the ease of learning. Quick, fair, and reasonable discipline will help run a school smoothly.

Another operation in the Mazlov’s hierarchy that must be monitored and the principal needs to attend to are the food service operations. Too many of our students today rely on the school as the most reliable place for two meals a day. Without this, many of our students will be hungry to learn their next timetable or write their next essay. This is a way that schools and administrators are meeting the needs of students.

Next is the simple cleanliness and temperature of the building. It distracts learning when rooms are not clean, and trash gets in the way. When the building is not cool enough or warm enough, it is a distraction that concentration in the classroom comes easy. Sometimes, the allergens in the air system can cause sickness or breathing issues. All of these things need to be running well and checked by the principal with the help of maintenance.

Three other operations that need to run well are pick-ups, dismissals, and the schedule for the day. Nothing can impact the community opinion of school more than how smoothly or inefficiently dropping off students and picking up students can be. Then nothing can impact staff more than how smoothly the transitions and switches will take place in the building. A principal has to make sure these operations are running smoothly.

Academics 

The foundation (operations) have been laid, now let’s start building the house with the principal as the instructional leader of the school.

The master schedule of the school is the number one academic matrix that a principal will deal with. Who teaches what, when, where, and how are we addressing our most pressing needs are all things that the master schedule will address. From here the principal gets to set up their strategic plan for the entire school. This will impact how the schools budget is spent.

The next academic aspect that the principal monitors is the actual academic progress of the school. This involves how data is being tracked toward student success and the school’s goals. This includes progress on state-mandated targets and a school’s own initiatives. Another critical aspect of this is the actual teaching and learning in the classroom. The evaluation and progress of staff in the art of teaching has to be one of the top priorities of a principal. A rising tide raises all ships, thus if there is improvement in those who are teaching, more student success can’t be far behind.

Another aspect that leads into teaching in the classroom is the support given to teachers.
This spans from technology in the classroom, to assisting in the accommodation needed for some students, etc. Is taking attendance easy, can showing a PowerPoint to students happen without distractions, is the internet running smoothly, and is there someone available to help read tests to students? All of these are examples of how the academic infrastructure needs to be monitored and, at times, addressed by the principal.

Culture

With the academics and operational foundation in place, the principal must make the building one where staff and students want to come daily.

How are relationships from teacher to teacher? Is there good professional collaboration taking place between staff so they are improving their craft? Is the principal providing time for staff to get to know each other personally and for relationships to grow. If relationships grow at the staff level, they will carry over from staff to students. A faculty that wants to teach, will lead to students who want to learn. How a principal addresses morale (the desire to charge the hill) will directly impact student success.

Another major aspect of culture that a principal needs to directly impact is how welcoming the community feels when they come to school. When someone walks in, how welcoming is the atmosphere? Do parents and guardians feel as if the school is an advocate or adversary for their student? This can range from the type of events held on campus to the frequency of events.

Lastly, especially in higher grade levels, how a principal encourages and supports students in extracurricular activities can impact the culture of a campus. Many secondary students academics take a back seat (no, it should not) to their extracurricular activities, but either way, it still brings them to school; that is the most important thing!

So, what does a principal do? It is a tightrope of items to focus on from making sure the campus is a place where learning can take place to making sure learning is taking place to making sure the school is a place where stakeholders want to come and learn every day. Some days, operations will be the focus. Some days, academics will be the focus, and some days all three items will be addressed multiple times. Balancing this three-ring circus is the primary thing that principals do every day.

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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A school improvement plan (one we call an “annual school plan”) is a document that puts forth a vision of what your school seeks to accomplish, sets forth a series of goals, and a reasonable path to accomplish these goals in a set amount of time. New Jersey, the state that I work in, requires all schools to have an annual school plan. According to the New Jersey Department of Education website, “The New Jersey Annual School Planning process serves as a framework for long-term sustained improvement that is considered best practice.”

Where You Should Start

You need to start with a set of goals. Keep the goals simple and make sure they fit the acronym “SMART.” This stands for “Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time Bound.” These goals should come from an annual school planning Team that represents a good cross-section of your school and district. Our committee includes me, the principal, our early childhood supervisor, a teacher, a reading specialist, a parent, and a community member.

The school improvement plan committee needs to review the curriculum, the core programs of the school, and the standardized testing data from the previous year. Other factors should be taken into consideration as well. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other related factors, social and emotional needs have come to the forefront. Our committee considered this in addition to the basic academic goals we identified. After reviewing all of this, the committee should determine the school’s greatest needs. Now it is time to write your specific goals.

Identify Your School Vision

Our school mission statement is the guiding document from which we base all of our academic and extracurricular programs and initiatives.

Mission Statement Example

Collings Lakes Elementary School is dedicated to allowing each student to maximize their full academic and social potential. To accomplish this, we seek to ensure that:

1. The principal leads by example and encourages all students, staff, and parents to fully participate in the life of the school in their respective capacities.
2. The staff works as a dedicated collaborative team, exchanging ideas, concepts, strategies and outlooks.
3. Each student is supported in all academic and social endeavors and is equipped with every available resource.
4. Each student is encouraged to put forth their best effort and participate fully in all the school activities.
5. Each member of the teaching and support staff feel fully appreciated and are fully utilized in their assigned role.
6. The school’s successes are celebrated and publicized.
7. Parents are always welcomed into the school and encouraged to participate in our Parent/Teacher Organization and volunteer for events as able.
8. Participation from outside community organizations and their sharing of resources is encouraged.

As you can see, our statement seeks to balance the academic and social needs of our students. This is especially important given the age ranges of our students: preschool to second grade, which includes ages three to eight. Our school’s tagline also emphasizes the social and academic balance. This tagline is on our letterhead: “Growth and Development, Friendship and Community.”

If I were to summarize our school’s vision in one sentence it would be “Collings Lakes school seeks to assist our students in meeting their academic and social potential.” Now it’s obvious that students will not meet this lofty goal, save a few exceptional cases, but it’s an ongoing standard that is always set.

Analyze What You Need

The committee needs to review the mission statement/school vision, curriculum, the core programs of the school, and the standardized testing data from the previous year. Other factors should be taken into consideration as well. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and other related factors, social and emotional needs have come to the forefront. Our committee considered this in addition to the basic academic goals we identified. After reviewing all of this, the committee should identify the school’s greatest needs. Now it is time to write your specific goals.

Determine Your Action Items

After our committee completed our review in June 2023, we were ready to write a specific set of action items. This is what we came up with in June:

1. By June of 2024, 90% of K-2 teachers will implement small group ELA instruction daily, as evidenced by walkthroughs, lesson planning, and observations.
2. By June of 2024, 90% of K-2 teachers will implement small group math instruction daily, as evidenced by walkthroughs, lesson planning, and observations.
3. By June of 2024, 90% of K-2 teachers will implement social/emotional lessons during greeting time three times a week as evidenced by walkthroughs, lesson plans, and observations.

Communicate the Plan

Our initial committee meeting this school year is on October 11th. Once the committee meets, reviews the goals, and confers on them, the plan will be shared with the superintendent, the director of curriculum and instruction, and the entire school staff. The staff will be asked to assist the team in meeting the goals. It isn’t going to be a tough task to have the staff buy in as the goals are aligned to the school and district’s curriculum and instructional methodologies.

A school improvement plan, or annual school plan is a great tool for a school to sharpen its focus on its already existing vision. It gives your team and your school a specific set of goals it identifies and seeks to meet reasonably. My advice is to keep it as basic and simple as possible. What is your school’s overall vision, and what set of goals can best encapsulate that vision? Once you have that identified, you should be able to easily come up with a viable annual school plan.

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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You have so much to show them, and you can’t wait for the right questions so you can strut your stuff…but what are the administrators looking for on the other side?

The Right Fit

This is a hard one to swallow, even for this seven-year high school principal in my twelfth year of administrative experience. You need to know that even if you had the best, rock ‘em, sock ‘em, nailed the landing interview, it still has to be the right fit for the school and for you. The administrators are looking for whether this hire will add value to their school. Thus, one of your goals during the interview is to show what you can bring to the school. What skills, what experience, what can you add to the school?

For example, we interviewed a certified physical education candidate who could coach football and track this spring. On his resume, he taught a math class last year without a certification. It was an outstanding young man who brought some diversity to our campus and who had a good story about how he persevered to where he was today. However, we had recently interviewed a physical education teacher who would also fill a head coach position. It was a better fit to hire the head coach for our campus. We did not have another place to put another physical education certification, it was about fit.

Do Your Research

It is always impressive in interviews when candidates can tell you something about your school. We all have a friend who likes to take the opportunity to name drop, in this case, research drop. Taking the opportunity to add in how you looked through the school’s data, or perused their campus improvement plan, or talked to some people who are familiar with the school shows initiative and a desire to work at that school.

Take that research and then turn it into some experience you have or some program you have been associated with. This will show how you bring something to the school and can address a need the school may have. This will be a common theme in this article, how do you contribute to the school?

Demonstrate a Team-First Approach

Every principal or person in charge of hiring will want to make sure you will maintain the campus culture. In the case of principals who know they need a culture change; they are looking for candidates who will add to their culture.

The goal here is to show how you are a team player, and the school or organization comes first. Give examples of how you and the team worked toward a common goal or better yet, a time when you helped lead a team through a difficult situation.

On a personal note, I am a culture-first principal. I will gladly hire someone who cares for students, works well with others and is coachable with little content experience over a twenty-year successful veteran who will be a curmudgeon and bring my school down.

Patrick Lencioni in his book The Ideal Team Player talks about hiring hungry people (desire to learn), humble (team first), and smart (smart with people). This is a blueprint I discuss with each team I hire with.

Content/Classroom Management

Why has it taken this long into the article to talk about instructional strategies, content, and classroom management? These are all things that can for the most part, be taught.

Most of the successful principals I admire are looking for people who care for kids and are team players. The state of Texas and other places have developed curriculums that can be followed and allow the teacher to just teach.

At some point in the interview, you will either be asked or given the chance to show your experience in the classroom. Maybe talk about your student teaching experience, why a lesson worked so well, how you adjusted the lesson, how you know students are learning, or even a favorite instructional strategy. You need to show the committee some competence in the instructional arena to stay in the running for the job.

A similar approach applies for classroom management. Administrators want you to demonstrate how you handle students. Talk about some procedures you have, how you have handled challenging students, how you are willing to call parents about situations, and how procedures and structure are important.

To put the icing on that cake, remember that relationships with students and good instruction will diffuse 90% or more of any classroom management problems you might have. Relationships and instruction prevent classroom disruptions.

Extra Curriculars

One of the best things an educator candidate can show a school is their willingness to get involved. It shows a desire to help students if you can talk about the different clubs, organizations, athletics, etc., that you were involved in. Then take it to the next level and be willing to start something on that campus or get involved with an existing program already on campus.

This desire or experience you bring to a campus can often be a tiebreaker in deciding to hire. This is a great example of how adding value to a campus could earn you that job.

Ask Questions

Another thing you have to remember is that this is your interview also. You need this to fit as much as they need this to fit. You are each looking for a situation that will make you successful and the school successful.

Thus, ask questions. New teachers, ask about the support you will receive from the school and district. Veteran teachers, ask about the longevity of the teachers at the school. Anyone should ask what the school sees as their biggest challenges and how they are handling them. Turn to the teachers in the room and ask them why they like teaching at that school.

Asking questions is your chance to turn the tables so to speak and put the interview committee on the hot seat. Don’t be aggressive but be curious and ask the questions you want answers to.

Closing Thoughts

Follow your gut! If you leave the interview and don’t have a good feeling about the people you interviewed with, it might not be a good fit. Trust those questions or feelings you still have. Hopefully you walk out of every interview with the feeling that you want to come to work every day with those people, but, that does not always happen.

In the end, take the chance to show how your skills can help the school, show you know the school, demonstrate a team-first philosophy, demonstrate competency with content and classroom management, and how to get involved with students. Doing those as mentioned above will put you in a position to get hired. You can’t control the fit the school is looking for…but you can make sure you make it hard for the school not to hire you!

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The Significance of Administrators Going into Classrooms

First and foremost, the principal and their team are the instructional leaders of the campus. Yes, they are also the culture leaders, vision leaders, and disciplinarian leaders of the campus; the instructional leaders of the campus need to be inspecting and monitoring the instruction on campus.

They need to see if their writing initiative is being executed the way it is supposed to be executed. Is the rigor level of the lesson meeting what is being asked on that state standard? Are the teachers growing in their profession? Are they giving them the tools they need to help students and themselves succeed? If administrators are not in classrooms, how can they effectively be the instructional leaders of a campus?

Second, being in classrooms equips the administrators to help defend the teachers with parents and other issues that might come up in the classroom. Unfortunately, today we find ourselves defending more than anything else. We had an incident last year where a parent was only getting bits and pieces of what was going on in a math teacher’s classroom. When the parent approached us about all that she had heard was going on, our personal walkthroughs in that classroom were able to diffuse the situation.

Thirdly, as instructional leaders, if administrators are not in the classroom with teachers, how are administrators supposed to have the credibility to help teachers grow professionally. How can an administrator who has not been in a classroom tell a teacher what they need to improve on?

Another angle of why administrators need to be going into the classroom is for the students. I tell my teachers every year (starting my seventh as a high school principal and twelfth as a high school administrator) that my purpose in a classroom is fifty percent for them and fifty percent for the students.

The students need to see administrators in classrooms because it adds importance to what is happening in the classroom. If a principal never went to a football game at a school, it would come across that it was not as important. Some people may say, “That principal is never here, I guess it doesn’t matter to him. Why should it matter to us?”

The same is true for students. It should not be a surprise to students when an administrator comes into the room. By administrators being in classrooms it shows the students you are monitoring the teachers and students. I take personal joy when students note that I have been in their classes a lot that day. It also creates a perception among students that you never know when an administrator will be around. The same is true for teachers…hopefully they never know when you are coming…keeping everyone a little more on their toes. I also would like to think when I beat students in Kahoot and participate in other classroom activities and discussions while I am there that they see the importance of what they are doing in the classroom.

What We Look For

The number one thing this administrator looks for when I walk into a classroom is not the objective on the board (although I touch on that in a minute), but evidence of learning taking place.

If the objective on the board says, “Students will be able to explain the difference between procaryotes and eucaryotes”, then that is what I expect progress toward or happening in the classroom. Is the product they are working on taking them toward that goal?

Second, is what students are doing on that product with the same rigor they are expected to perform later. For example, to explain the difference between procaryotes and eucaryotes, there will need to be some steps to get there. Are students going over the vocabulary for each one? Are they doing an exercise that will demonstrate the differences (thinking map)? Are they talking to each other about what differences and similarities they see in each? I might not be in the classroom to see a goal achieved, but I should see something happening that helps students achieve the objective.

Granted, in this example for the uber curriculum specialists out there, explaining is not on the highest end of Bloom’s Taxonomy. But in the end, we should see, hear, or watch something that is on that rigor level to achieve this standard/objective.

There are some other things we look for:
This administrator does prefer the objective to be on the board because I like the teacher to be able to refer to it is they need to ask a student what they are doing for that day, it also tells the students what the end result that day will be, and it helps me because I can’t walk around with everyone’s lesson plans every day.

Strong admin teams will also have different items they are focusing on that grading period. Maybe the focus is on classroom management, or what questions the teacher is asking, or where the teacher stations themselves most of the time.

These are more intricate but help the ultimate goal of whether or not the students are learning something in the classroom.

Two quick other examples for the teachers out there. This administrator is not a fan of movies, but at least if you have a movie connected to your learning standards, and a watching guide for the students to answer questions to, you have a chance to make something meaningful.

Last example, we had a walkthrough with a World Geography teacher who had students coloring maps in ninth grade. It didn’t look much different than a student in kindergarten coloring something.

However, after the students colored the map and other geographical aspects of the region, the students ended the lesson with a writing exercise on how the mountains and river’s locations would have impacted the movement of different groups in the region…and now we have some application. Application saved the day from what otherwise was a very low-level activity.

Walkthroughs are as much for the students as they are for the teachers, and as long as there is evidence of learning taking place, the walkthroughs will continue until learning is complete.

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

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Recently, there seems to be a laser focus on education, particularly the challenges with staffing in both the classroom and administration, and research has pointed to burnout as a significant cause of a growing teacher and administrator shortage. As an administrator, there are several ways to avoid burnout, navigate burnout, and thrive despite feelings of burnout.

What Does Burnout Look Like for Administrators?

First, to know what administrative burnout is, one must first understand the idea of burnout. Although not a medical condition, the APA Dictionary of Psychology defines burnout as “physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion, accompanied by decreased motivation, lowered performance, and negative attitudes towards oneself and others

You don’t have to look too far in today’s educational climate to see scores of teachers and administrators leaving the profession, all attributed to “burnout.”

The COVID-19 pandemic certainly exacerbated these feelings, with administrators particularly feeling the pressure and stress of operating schools safely, creating and implementing reopening plans, facilitating hybrid instructional practices, and spending countless hours contact tracing and other challenges.

For administrators, burnout can take on several different forms and present itself in various ways. First, burnout can present itself physically in the form of fatigue.

As administrators, we are expected to be on campus to supervise students, attend games and other functions, and be highly visible on campus. This fatigue caused by burnout can lead to mental and physical exhaustion, chronic absenteeism, tardiness, and failure to complete job-related tasks.

Additionally, burnout can lead to feelings of apathy or disinterest in the total school program. For administrators, this feeling is not because of a lack of “want to”; it is firmly rooted in the sheer weight of all the stress and fatigue that leads to a feeling of disengagement and questioning whether or not we are making a difference in anything.

Differences Between Administrator Burnout and Teacher Burnout

The concept of burnout is real, and it exists at both teacher and administrative levels. In the education profession, burnout can take on similar roles in both teachers and administrators.

For both, burnout symptoms can include fatigue and sleep issues, concentration issues, physical challenges including appetite and weight issues, depression, and anxiety. For teachers, these burnout challenges exist within their classes and their workload, often aided by the feeling of being perfect and living in a culture of working overtime and carrying work home.

Teachers are perfectionists, and the last three years in education have certainly not been perfect. All of the intangible and uncontrollable factors have led to more and more burnout in teachers and administrators alike.

Although similar, teacher burnout can affect the teacher’s individual classes and components they are a part of.

Administrator burnout can impact the total school program, from the culture and climate to the day-to-day operations. Ultimately, burnout is critically detrimental to a school at every level.

How to Thrive Despite Burnout

Unfortunately, the concept of burnout is here to stay. However, there are certainly ways to combat burnout. Although it is not a problem that is resolved overnight, there are ways to deal with burnout and slowly move away from feeling inadequate to feeling energized and rejuvenated in the work of education.

Make Time for Yourself a Priority

First, one way to combat burnout is to take time for yourself. Whether a teacher burnout or administrative burnout, finding a way to relax and compartmentalize the stress of the job is a great way to refocus.

For administrators specifically, there is not a lot of downtime, so to speak, so finding a hobby, craft, or making intentional time with family and friends outside of school is a great way to restore your physical and mental health. Along these lines is the art of self-care.

Make Your Health a Priority

The knock on education is that educators don’t take care of themselves. Oftentimes, educators are overweight, stressed, and generally in poor health. These factors only contribute to more burnout and can be rectified by taking care of yourself.

Whether it be eating healthier, exercising, or other methods, taking time for yourself and unplugging from school is critical. Next, finding ways to connect and accentuate the positives of the education profession is crucial in reducing burnout, and can be done by involving the whole school community.

For example, having staff events where positives are celebrated and upbeat connections are made and encouraged can lead to circumstances where people remember why they entered the education profession, thus connecting back to happier times in their lives and moving the focus from burnout to re-engagement.

Recognize You’re Struggling

Finally, understanding that you are burned out is critical. As administrators, we live in the moment and face issues as they present themselves. We put aside our own personal feelings and diminish thoughts that creep in regarding self-doubt and question our own abilities.

Facing those beliefs and addressing those ideas is crucial to addressing burnout. Recognizing and naming burnout allows for prescriptive steps to be taken, like those mentioned above, to reduce burnout and ultimately thrive.

The overall well-being of both teachers and administrators is an immediate concern as schools and students look to return to the days before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Burnout attributes like stress, fatigue, and poor mental and physical wellness have a detrimental effect on the learning environment in which we work and can impact academic and non-academic outcomes.

Burnout is here to stay, however, that does not mean the attributes of burnout have to control our lives. Taking time for self-care, connecting positively with faculty and staff, and finding ways to decompress and unplug from the educational world are just a few ways to combat burnout and ultimately be the best administrator and teacher you can be.

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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Granted we are all busy just trying to keep the train on the tracks but we must remember that after our students, our teachers are our most important resource for success.

Notes to teachers do not have to be long or elaborate. It has been my experience that heartfelt thanks on a Post-It note can brighten the day for a beleaguered teacher.

Signing on as an administrator means that we must learn to multi-task and be willing to change hats at a moment’s notice. Sometimes, we need to stop and take the time to analyze our teachers and take time to honestly and personally appreciate them.

Verbal “thanks” are important, but sometimes let’s be honest; we just don’t get to it during the day. But, when we take the time to write something personally, it goes a long way to showing appreciation to those we are thankful to have in the classrooms.

 Why Staff Appreciation Is a Must

So, why is it important to show appreciation to our teachers? After all, they are doing the job they signed a contract for, and we are paying them, right? One of the most important jobs we have as administrators is to be mindful of the overall health of our school.

This overall health includes our teachers. We could be cynical and say, learn to separate your personal and professional lives. But, let’s be honest, how does that help anyone?

The daily grind of teaching can lead to teacher burnout and even make them question why they are continuing in the field. Multitudes of documentation show how many teachers are leaving the field for something else.

One of the main reasons is burnout and a feeling that their administration does not support them.

Using handwritten, not digital, teacher thank you notes shows your staff that you care about them in the classroom and as a human being.

It is essential to take a moment to show your teachers how much you care. Thank you notes, words of encouragement, uplifting quotes, scripture verses, or just a note to say, “thanks for what you do,” might lift a teacher at just the right moment in their lives.

As an administrator, you can also use handwritten notes to say happy birthday, happy anniversary, congratulations on the new baby or grandbaby, and offer condolences in the death of a family member or friend, to name a few. Administrators can also send get-well-soon cards when a teacher is sick or has surgery or other medical procedures.

By investing in your teachers in this personal way, you stand a good chance of keeping your teachers intact. Everyone wants to work somewhere and for someone where they feel appreciated.

How to Write Staff Thank You Notes

So, how do we keep up with what is going on, and still find time to gather information that we would want to put into an appreciation card?

Yes, we are busy, but again we knew this when we signed up for this career. Taking care of our teachers has got to be a priority. Showing appreciation is part of our job, and if we truly do care about our people, this should be a priority for us.

In writing thank you, or appreciation notes, they should be personal. The teacher needs to feel that you have taken time out of your day to make them feel special and appreciated. If your teacher appreciation note is for encouragement, then mention in your note why you appreciate them.

Let them know if your note is because of a challenge they are going through that you are in their corner all the way. Sometimes all of us just need to know that we are not alone in our journey. We sometimes need to know that someone cares enough to express their support and show that they are willing to be there for you.

When possible, mention in the note something that shows you know how important their work is. Take time to specifically mention something that shows how important their work is, and you have noticed their success in the classroom.

If the note you are writing is celebratory or written for condolence, be sure and add enough details to show that you know what they are going through, good or bad. I cannot express enough how important it is to hand write these notes. Digital is nice, but be honest, would you rather get a real card in and envelope or a digital card through email or text?

In writing the note or card, be sure and express your personal appreciation. Don’t be generic here; be specific and tell the teacher how much they mean to you. The right statement to a teacher stating your personal appreciation can go a long way toward making their day.

As I mentioned earlier, we, as administrators are busy with a multitude of details throughout the day. But staff morale and staff appreciation are as much a part of our jobs as anything else we do in the course of the day.

Our teachers are depending on us to take care of them from an administrative role every day. But when we can take a moment or two to care for them personally, we only improve our teachers. Everyone is better when they feel appreciated.

Verbal thanks while walking down the hallway is important and can help a teacher through the day. But a handwritten note can carry on positively for a long, long time. If you haven’t already tried the handwritten notes, give it a try. The rewards can be great; all it costs is a little time.

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 Staff Appreciation: How to Write Staff Thank You Notes appeared first on Graduate Programs for Educators.

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!

The post The Administrative Experience: Elementary or Secondary Education appeared first on Graduate Programs for Educators.

Like most things in life, a healthy balance between optimism and reality is essential to set high expectations, sustain a positive culture, and gain commitment among staff to work toward those goals. That is, effective school leaders build realistic optimism.

Research and Organize Your Vision

Effective school leaders set high expectations for themselves, fellow staff, and the outcomes of the learning community. It is essential that leaders build positive energy and optimism throughout the school. Innovative thinking and collaborative effort help ensure high expectations can become a reality.

School employees are more devoted and promote schools in which the vision is clear, articulated, and drives daily operations. People will be more optimistic that strategic goals can become a reality when all cogs within the organization operate seamlessly.

A strategic plan can organize optimism in a way that can lead to reality. All pieces of the plan must be essential because too many initiatives can lead to chaos and burnout. School leaders should work with all stakeholder groups and listen to earn support. When there is a plan and innovative practices with formative measures, the leader operates with realistic optimism.

Formative data checkpoints and times for reflection should be included in the plan. Data aligns with reality, while reflection leads to optimism by focusing on solutions.

Working Toward Balance

Appropriate balance is the key to success in most aspects of life. Similarly, strong school leaders achieve and work to maintain an appropriate balance of realism and optimism as both stances are necessary for effective leadership. Leaders who are idealistic but lack planning and follow-through will likely fail.

Likewise, leaders who complain and are negative about circumstances will likely fail. Yet, leaders who focus on reality while being optimistic about potential initiatives to lead to better outcomes are likely to find successes along the journey.

Address Realities

Being overly confident and joyful while not acknowledging current realities subtracts from authentic leadership. School staff want a leader who is both visionary and authentic. To develop authenticity, a leader must be self-aware and acknowledge both the successes and challenges of the learning community. School leaders praise the successes to build optimism and support, while openly noting areas for improvement.

This vulnerability actually promotes support among stakeholders. Leaders grounded in reality see challenges with potential solutions. Schools based on realistic optimism face realities, plan accordingly, and work collaboratively to achieve common goals that align with the central vision. This process builds trust. Further, the school community can be optimistic about achieving and sustaining growth measures.

Find the Positives in Pursuit of Goals 

It is natural for everyone to feel defeated and focus on the negative at times in life. Yet, we must reframe the problems in a way that can lead to actionable solutions to these realities. School leaders need to be realistic yet look for the positive pieces of an overall situation. That is, effective leaders recognize circumstances and work to overcome these challenges. These individuals work to advance goals with informed decision-making and a positive outlook.

Transparent, Clear, and Timely Communication

Strong communication practices are central to a successful school community. Effective leaders are sincere as they acknowledge challenges and facts but balance the communication by sharing ways to work toward solutions. Strong school leaders do not blame or waste time complaining or being negative.

Blame and negativity are significant hallmarks of ineffective leaders. Rather, confident leaders use communication to inspire fellow staff to become more optimistic in pursuit of strategic goals that align with the central vision. This practice leads to innovation.

An often forgotten but essential aspect of communication is listening. Effective leaders use active listening to gain valuable feedback as they plan for the future. Further, active listening helps stakeholders feel valued and respected. In turn, staff will work harder to support the school and its vision.

Help Staff Find the Joy in Their Work

Sometimes the advice we give others is the advice that we most need to hear. Effective school leaders can often see what will help others become more joyful and optimistic in their work. Coaching fellow staff to prioritize what matters most can lead to self-reflection. As such, investing time in helping staff find joy in their work can also help the leader find more joy in their work. By helping one another, the leader and the staff will become more optimistic while looking for realistic solutions to current challenges.

Model the Optimism You Want to See

We all find ourselves struggling at points along the journey as education becomes ever more stressful. School leaders need to invest in the parts of the job that have the most impact and bring the most joy. Often, we focus on negatives or minority opinions that are not significant but can become overwhelming when leaders obsess over these issues. As leaders model realistic optimism, they must try to find joy in their work by prioritizing what matters most. Modeling is an effective way to overcome negativity within a learning community.

As leaders acknowledge both current successes and challenges, plan accordingly, and devote time to what matters most, they will become optimistic about the implementation of strategic goals to achieve fruitful outcomes. One of the most effective leadership strategies is to model the way for fellow staff. Respected and authentic leaders are able to model optimism which then spreads throughout the learning 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!

The post How School Leaders Can Build Realistic Optimism appeared first on Graduate Programs for Educators.

This eleven-year administrator sat on the culture side of the table and still does today. There was one day, however, during my time in a principal academy that solidified this stance. Some schools were being analyzed for their organizational health (Organizational Health Index) and the correlation between their culture and their standardized test scores. The correlation was stark and clear. Schools with a higher rated culture by the people in the building scored on average about ten percentage points higher than the schools with a lower perceived morale.

In an 2021 article by Adem Bayar titled, “The Effects of School Culture on Students Academic Achievements” one his conclusions state that: “Culture at school has importance on the academic achievement of students in terms of motivation, sense of competition and development in all respects, both social and physical. Students expressed that the above-mentioned factors affect their academic achievements in a positive way.”

He also mentions in his article that three other studies have shown similar results.

I believe I was sitting on the correct side of the table; thus, we must motivate our staff as school administrators and leaders.

It is no secret that education has taken some hits and gone through some changes since the COVID-19 pandemic. Our students and teachers have changed, and our communities are still figuring out all of the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is just one factor as to why education has gotten harder and harder through my twenty-one years as teacher and school administrator.

With pandemic challenges, library books being challenged, changing demographics, retiring teachers, harder-to-find teacher recruits, and more administrators retiring, it is important to remember why we started in education. We need constant reminders of our “why.”

How to Motivate Staff as a School Admin 

Based on education salaries versus the private business world, it is clear that most educators did not get into this career for the money. We have a love for students and people, or just the desire to coach and teach, or instill a passion for something (English, sports, etc.) into students.

With burnout and fatigue, as administrators, we have to remind our staff often of their “why.”

The second point lies in the school culture piece. If teachers and students don’t have a reason to come to the school every day, why would they want to come? If teachers don’t come to the school feeling appreciated and supported, what is the point in coming? Why would students want to come if they don’t have a reason beyond writing essays and completing math problems? This is why motivation across all levels is essential.

I have not recently had a student come to me and tell me how excited they were to write another essay in English class or read another article on the Great Depression. However, their “why” has to do with the welding career they may have, or sport they get to play that day, or the music they get to play in band, or the Future Farmers of America event they have that night, or finally the work they need to complete for their college application.

For teachers, it is more about who they work with and what they get to impact. For students it is about something bigger than just the classroom. Culture in the workplace and the connection for students helps to bring them back every day. We all need a reason come to work every day, whether that work is learning in the classroom or that work is delivering the lesson.

Many studies show that people come to work happily under two main conditions: 1.) They have consistency and know what to expect from their boss and 2.) They like who they work with.

Thus, team building, building connections, potlucks, and making time for teachers to work together is important to build a strong culture in the schoolhouse and are good methods to help motivate staff.

Why It Is Essential to Motivate Your Staff as School Admin

This author hopes that the connection between culture and results is just about as clear as 1 + 1 = 2.

Sense of Safety and Belonging

When teachers and staff are pulling for each other and working well together, this positively affects students. Deep learning cannot take place where there are safety concerns, distrust, discord, and no passion. Students and teachers have to have a sense of safety and belonging.

Positive Student Outcomes

Secondly, we need to motivate our staff because we all want positive student outcomes.

Admittedly on standardized tests (in Texas you have to pass this for graduation), but much more importantly for our students. We didn’t get into education for the paycheck, but we want the results of seeing our students move onto colleges, take jobs in our communities, and contribute positively to our community and society; that is the primary result we want to see.

Finally, in this new educational world that we live in, our motivation can help our staff to remember their “why” and reinforce the positive results we are producing.

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 How to Motivate Staff as a School Admin appeared first on Graduate Programs for Educators.