The Literacy Leadership Guide for Elementary Principals: Reclaiming Teacher Autonomy and Joy

For the past decade in the United States, elementary principals have faced increased scrutiny. Student performance regardless of student experiences, district funding practices, or societal factors have been the responsibility of the principal. In a similar fashion, teachers have been ridiculed and scorned. As a result, principals are left trying to create positive school culture, evaluate teacher performance, and guide and support professional development initiatives. In the meantime, teachers in many ways do not see themselves as professionals, do not feel that they have autonomy in their classrooms, and as a result may not have the same joy that they once had.

The goal of this guide is to assist principals and school leaders to cultivate a school culture where the principal is positioned as the literacy leader. This guide will support principals to address, define, and create a literacy culture. Most importantly, provide insight to support principals in their quest to becoming primary individual responsible for bringing joy to teaching and learning as part of building school culture.

Tynisha D. Meidl, PhD is the Co-Chair of the Education Program and Associate Professor at St. Norbert College. Meidl’s research expertise includes curriculum planning for linguistically and culturally diverse student populations, service-learning as pedagogy, as well as Freirean-based approaches in literacy classrooms.

Jason Lau, Ph.D is the principal at Westwood Elementary School and Phantom Knight School of Opportunity, a project-based charter school, for the School District of West De Pere, in De Pere, Wisconsin. He earned a Master’s degree in school psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Margaret-Mary Sulentic Dowell, PhD is the Cecil "Pete" Taylor Endowed Professor in Literacy and Urban Education at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA. Sulentic Dowell is Director of the LSU Writing Project and Coordinator, of the Elementary Grades Teacher Education Program.