Education Week - January 21, 2015 - Special Report - (Page S14)

S12 | EDUCATION WEEK n January 21, 2015 Shaping Strong School Leaders > www.edweek.org/go/principals REDEFINING THE ROLE OF PRINCIPAL SUPERVISORS BY DENISA R. SUPERVILLE New efforts focus on administrators in charge of school leaders Pamela J. Cohn, an executive director of secondary principal support in the Omaha, Neb., district, meets with Dan Bartels, the principal of Alfonza W. Davis Middle School. Until last summer, the superintendent of schools in Omaha, Neb., was theoretically responsible for supervising, coaching, and evaluating the district's 87 principals and school leaders. The reality was different. In any given year, principal evaluations could be conducted by the assistant superintendent of curriculum, one in charge of finance, or another in charge of human resources. "You just distributed principals to other district leaders, but there was no coordinated focus and aligned effort not only on evaluation but on how you supported them," said Superintendent Mark A. Evans, who has been at the helm of the 51,000-student district for two years. To address the ad hoc way in which the district was managing its principals, Mr. Evans last year hired four executive directors to be their dedicated supervisors-to guide, evaluate, and coach the school leaders. Their most pressing responsibility was to focus on improving principals' instructional practices. The executive directors, all retired principals who had led successful schools, were each charged with overseeing between 21 and 26 principals. They were also required to spend at least half their time in the schools. And while the number of principals each was responsible for remained higher than recommended-10 is often cited as a good number-Mr. Evans said that the steps taken in Omaha put the district on a forward-moving path. School districts like those in Omaha; Tulsa, Okla.; the District of Columbia; and New York City are working to retool the job descriptions and responsibilities of so-called principal supervisors, who have traditionally been charged with making sure principals- and the schools they run-comply with rules and regulations. As the varied demands on principals increase and as districts ramp up the role they play in implementing key initiatives-including college- and career-readiness standards, common-core-aligned assessments, and new teacher- and principal-evaluation systems, district leaders say who principals' bosses are, and what they do in that job, is critical. Scant Attention The position received scant attention before. But a 2013 report by the Council of the Great City Schools, the Washington-based organization that represents 67 of the nation's largest districts, and the Wallace Foundation, the New York City-based philanthropy focused on improving learning in disadvantaged communities, put a spotlight on the lack of coherence and clarity in the principal-supervisor role. The report highlighted the degree to which the job varied from district to district and the disparity in the number of principals that supervisors oversee. In New York City, for example, supervisors were responsible for 67 principals. The report recommended reducing the number of charges and clarifying responsibilities, increasing professional development and training, and developing accountability measures for supervisors. Building on that work, the Council of Chief State School officers will release this year the first-ever national standards outlining what principal supervisors should know and be able to do. Those standards will be similar to ones that already exist for principals. According to a draft of those standards, supervisors are expected to dedicate their time helping principals grow as instructional leaders, including assisting them in devising systems that promote teaching and learning, and engaging in regular on-site observations in schools. Supervisors should use adultlearning theories and school-site data to help principals create instructional visions for their schools. They should set up professional learning opportunities for principals; tailor support and feedback based on individual principals' needs; and act as brokers between the principals and the central office. One standard centers on the need for continuous professional development for principal supervisors and the responsibility they have to keep abreast of laws and regulations that affect their job. "This is first-generation work," said David Volrath, who heads the principal- and teacher-evaluation section at the Maryland education department and is the co-chairman of the committee that drafted the supervisor standards. "But I think it's really critical to helping those people who supervise principals at least understand the components of the principal's job [and] how to evaluate them in terms of instructional leadership." The bulk of the research and practical work on principal supervisors has been spearheaded by the Wallace Foundation, which is also underwriting the development of the standards and providing grants to select school districts to refine the principal superPhotos by Daniel Johnson for Education Week http://www.edweek.org/go/principals

Education Week - January 21, 2015 - Special Report

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