Knowledge From the Field

The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning

Published: January 2012

Publisher(s): Wallace Foundation

Funder(s): Wallace Foundation

View Report (20 pages; 1.72MB; PDF)

Area of Focus: Teacher Quality and Leadership

Abstract

Based on over a decade of foundation research and work in school leadership, this Wallace Foundation report identifies key responsibilities of school principals and profiles a principal who helped transform a school.

Key Findings and/or Recommendations

=Leadership is second only to classroom instruction among school-related factors that affect student learning in school.

=Effective principals shape a vision of academic success for all students, create a climate hospitable to education, cultivate leadership in others, improve instruction, and manage people, data, and processes to foster school improvement.

Focus: National

Subjects/Keywords: Elementary and Secondary Education; Leadership; Principal; Reform; Student Achievement

+ Successful strategy
= Observation
– Challenge