The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact - Hardcover

Fullan, Michael

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1118575237 ISBN 13: 9781118575239

Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub, 2014

Synopsis

The author of Six Secrets of Change describes how and why the principal's role must change to maximize student achievement

*** FREE Professional Development Guide Included ***

Principals are often called the second most crucial in-school influencers (after teachers) of student learning. But what should the principal do in order to maximize student achievement? One of the best-known leadership authors in education, Fullan explains why the answer lies neither in micro-managing instruction nor in autonomous entrepreneurialism. He shows systematically how the principal's role should change, demonstrating how it can be done in short order, at scale.

• Reveals the three key roles that administrators must play in today's schools
• Explains how to choose the right versus wrong drivers of school success
• Filled with "action items" to help implement Fullan's program effectively
• Includes strategies that have been successfully field-tested in schools across the United States and Canada

About this title

From the Inside Flap

The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact

USE THIS BOOK FOR PD! Includes discussion questions and a free professional development guide

Over the past two decades, Michael Fullan has written influentially about the change that school and district leaders must bring about as formalized achievement standards and new technology transform how schools are run. What he hasn't done until now is explore and discuss in detail how and why the principal's role itself must change.

Principals are often called the second most crucial in-school influencers (after teachers) of student learning. But what should the principal do in order to maximize student achievement? In The Principal, Fullan explains why the answer lies neither in micro-managing instruction nor in autonomous entrepreneurialism. He also shows systematically how the principal’s role must change, and demonstrates how it can be done in short order, at scale.

Fullan shows how principals have been boxed into a narrow role that undercuts their ability to develop the whole school. He sheds light on how, in times of crisis, it’s all too easy for principals to do the wrong thing—to take actions that are ineffective or even counter-productive, particularly when they don’t feel entirely in charge. But even in the toughest of external conditions, he shows, there is always leeway for action. Fullan explains how to choose the right versus wrong drivers—loosening focus on accountability and instead concentrating on capacity-building; focusing less on technology and more on pedagogy; abandoning fragmented strategies and striving for “systemness”; and forgoing individualistic solutions in favor of collaborative effort. He shares how principals can foster the professional capital of teachers and get far more accomplished for all students.

The author explains the three key roles that administrators must play in order to have the biggest impact on student achievement—the learning leader, the district and system player, and the change agent. Throughout The Principal are "action items" to help leaders implement Fullan’s program effectively, as well as provocative discussion questions that enhance the book’s usefulness in professional development and leadership courses.

From the Back Cover

Praise for The Principal

"At a time when the role of school leader is simultaneously vital to the success of teachers and students and yet at its most complex, Fullan offers a new view. In the way that only Fullan can—sensibly, with slight irreverence, and ahead of the curve—he challenges us to think about the principalship as not only 'realistically doable,' but scalable: music to those of us who want to see students perform to greater heights and teachers given the support they need to be their best."
—Vicki Phillips, Director of Education, College Ready, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

"Principals are being called upon to serve as instructional leaders who supervise and evaluate teachers into better performance, one at a time. Fullan reveals this strategy for what it is—'a bloody disaster.' He redefines the principalship and provides the specific, high-leverage steps leaders can take to improve their schools. This should be required reading for all principals and those interested in improving education."
—Richard DuFour, education author and consultant

"Fullan has done it again! The Principal has reignited my passion for education the way the What's Worth Fighting For trilogy did twenty-five years ago. This book takes the principal into a wonderful new space with insights and tools to lead learning—never more crucial than now."
—Avis Glaze, Edu-quest International Incorporated; former Chief Student Achievement Officer of Ontario

"Fullan challenges the status quo and opens up a new and exciting future by systematically laying out what truly effective principals should do to have maximum impact on learning, and on the system as a whole."
—Margery Evans, chief executive officer, Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership, Melbourne

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1118575237
• ISBN 13: 9781118575239
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 174