Do You Think Principals are Heroes Like Teachers?
D. Scott Schwartz, M.Ed.
Author | Education Thought Leader | I am helping School Leaders Build 21st Century Schools (check out my website for more info)
If you survey 100 people, do you think teachers are heroes? 98% of them would say yes!
But if you ask those same 100 people if they think principals are heroes, you won't get the same response.
Why is that?
Why do so many people think principals are the "bad guys" in education?
If you want to find out the answer to this question, then I hope you'll take this journey with me behind the scenes of the school system, so I can reveal to you the real truth and also how to help principals become the heroes they want to be.
Why Does Everyone Think Principals are Clueless?
If you have a social media account, then you probably have seen people talking about their principal horror stories and how some principals make the worst leadership decisions.
Over the last 20 years, more and more teachers want the federal government to mandate that every principal must have prior classroom teaching experience or all principals should be required to teach at least one class during the school year.
Do you agree with this idea?
On the surface there is nothing wrong with principals having prior teaching experience, but principals that don't have teaching experience isn't the reason why they are bad principals. And until people admit that "teaching experience" isn't the key to successful leadership, then everyone will continue to lose the game.
If this is the first article of mine that you've read, then you probably don't know that I have prior teaching experience. Yes, I'm a former teacher, principal and superintendent.
So when I tell you that my teaching experience has nothing to do with being an effective principal, I am speaking from real world experience. Now you may or may not believe me. But I'm telling you the truth.
When you become a principal that's the first time you realize the skills you need to become a good teacher are completely different from the skills you need to become a good principal.
It's Lonely at the Top
Being a principal might be one of the most stressful jobs in K12 education today. Yes, teachers have the legal responsibility of the students in their classroom, but the principal is legally responsible for everyone in the school building, including the lunch ladies.
So when you're responsible for everyone, it gets lonely at the top.
The solution isn't to remove responsibility from the principal's shoulders, instead the solution should be to help principals understand how to do their job better.
But here's where the real obstacle shows up.
The K12 system does not want to make life easy for principals.
We already know about all the problems and obstacles the K12 system creates for teachers. And if you weren't aware, then let me tell you that the K12 system was designed specifically to make life very difficult for teachers.
If you knew that already, then you might not know the K12 system was also designed to make life difficult for principals as well.
So how can principals beat the system?
Giving Principals Their Superman Cape
I first became a school administrator in 2007. After I met all the teachers and got up to speed on how the school operated, I had one frightening thought:
"What was I going to do now?"
In that moment, I realized why our K12 system was in shambles. I understood why schools fail and why principals are in a no-win situation.
The easy thing to do would have been to point fingers, but that's not a solution.
Not only that, but the problem isn't the teachers, it isn't the kids and it's not the administration. So what does pointing fingers do?
The simple truth is the problem is the K12 system itself.
That's right - the K12 system was designed over a 100 years ago, and unfortunately the 100-year old system can no longer meet the needs of 21st century students. And until people come to grips with that reality - everything will continue to fall apart.
Therefore, the answer is to fix the K12 system.
And if you don't believe me, then why do the schools that buy the most expensive textbooks or decide to give every kid a laptop still deal with the same issues that lower income schools face?
The fact is every school in America is dealing with these problems:
Therefore money isn't the answer.
So what's the solution?
And the answer is simple.
Principals need a secret weapon.
Yes, principals need to be able to go into a phone booth and walk back out transformed into their superhero costume, ready to battle the forces of evil.
So that's what I did in 2013.
I created the phone booth that principals could use to change their clothes and put on their "superman cape."
What's the Right Way to Run a School?
I know that I'll get a lot of criticism for this article. But all of my critics aren't upset with the content of what I say - they just object to the "way I say it."
Which is why I'm trying to be more mindful of tone in this article.
But I hope you can forgive me if I'm a bit rough around the edges. Fixing the K12 system is an all-hands on deck emergency - and not enough people are treating it that way.
Having said that, before I get into how principals should run their schools, let me make sure you know the three most important skills every principal must have, in order to improve instruction and boost student learning:
Any principal that does not have high-level expertise in these three critical areas is going to end up spinning their wheels and wondering why none of their ideas or goals are working.
For example, when a principal understands curriculum design at the highest level, they are able to speak to teachers from a position of knowledge. That means, teachers need to listen otherwise more of their students will fail in class.
After all the principal is supposed to be the "lead instructor" in the building.
So how is the principal supposed to lead instruction when they don't know the first thing about curriculum design?
And while you chew on that question, let me ask you the next question:
Recommended by LinkedIn
"How do you build a positive school culture?"
And if your answer to this question is better teacher pay, then you know nothing about teachers.
The truth is people who go into teaching don't really care about money. I'm not saying that should be an excuse to underpay teachers, but 99% of teachers are not motivated by money.
Therefore, the only way to build a positive school culture is by creating a team environment.
So here's my follow up question for you:
"Do you know the five research-based stages of team building skills in the 21st century?"
The single biggest mistake most principals make is by assuming that telling teachers to collaborate with each other is magically going to create a positive team culture. Any principal with experience will tell you - it doesn't work that way.
There's also research that proves that's the wrong way to approach culture.
What I wish people would start doing is admitting reality. I don't feel we can afford to put our heads in the sand and deny what is happening in front of our eyes any longer. What I hope principals will come to grips with is that "you do not teach the classes -- the teachers do."
Therefore your job is to support teaching and learning.
But how do you do that more effectively?
And the answer is not acting like a dictator.
This is why I hope every principal will start learning 21st century team building skills.
But that's not all.
There's still one more skill every principal must know.
And that skill is 21st century leadership skills.
I recently had a conversation with an administrator from the Baltimore City School System. On the zoom call, we discussed all the problems the teachers were having in the school, as well as the challenges the administration was facing.
No matter what the problem, the issue always came back to a lack of leadership skills.
Now before you start judging people without context, let me be very straight with you.
Our K12 system does not teach 21st century leadership skills. So what I want you to realize is that anyone that has good leadership skills in 2024 is a modern day miracle.
But is that how we want to run our schools? Hoping for a miracle?
I've got a better idea.
Let's just teach every principal the six fundamentals of 21st century leadership skills and that way we know we can count on principals to do the right thing.
So I want to ask you: "Does that sound like a better idea to you?"
Be a Hero!
I don't know about you, but I wish we could live in a world where principals were heroes.
Therefore, if you agree with me, here are the three things principals need to learn:
I wish teaching principals these three skills was going to be easy, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy.
A moment ago, I told you I created the phone booth that principal's could use to transform into their superhero mode. More specifically, that phone booth was called The Principal's Academy.
And I ran that phone booth from 2013-2019.
What made The Principal's Academy so powerful is that it became principals secret weapon in their back pocket.
Yes, whenever a principal had a question, they could go to The Principal's Academy and get an answer. And not just any answer, but a research-based answer that actually worked. And if the principal wanted to expand their knowledge, they could also work on their principal skills.
Skills such as:
And the list goes on and on.
This is what's missing from the K12 system. There simply is no support team to help principals and teachers.
And support means help.
That's the problem.
There is no help for anyone that works inside the K12 system.
If we want to fix schools, then we need to fix this situation!
Thus, if you want to become a hero - here's what you can do.
This is a 100% free newsletter that I created to provide some level of support to principals, but more importantly to help principals connect to other principals across the country. Because the isolation is hurting them more than they realize.
When you sign up for the newsletter - please do me a favor and automatically submit one question you are hoping for an expert answer.
The purpose of the newsletter is to provide expert-level answers to your principal questions.
I want you to think of this newsletter as your secret weapon that you keep in your back pocket.
That means, whenever you encounter a new situation that you're not sure how to handle or what to do - simply open up the Principal's Academy newsletter and submit your question. Over time, you will also be able to read all the high-level answers to the other questions principals have been asking.
If you want, you can also submit what you think the right response will be.
The truth is sometimes you'll be right and sometimes you'll be wrong.
But that's not the point. The point is that you will no longer be alone at the top. When you sign up for the newsletter - you will be connecting with principals from across the country, who are facing the exact same issues you are facing right now.
I hope you enjoyed this article and that you learned something from it. If you're a principal or know a principal - please share this article with them. Creating a supportive community means more than just hitting the "like" button. It starts with sharing valuable information and resources with others.