Summer Reading: The Principal

Always great to go back to my favorite author of Educational Leadership! No regrets, I feel charged up and ready to build on the Professional Capacity Framework that yields results in supporting a dynamic and successful learning culture at my school. In summary the PCF includes effectively building human, social and decisional capital to strengthen a professional team, working in unison toward specific, strategic, learning goals. If you want to know how, well, you may want to read his book! It was very reassuring to me and speaks to how our Lower School team functions, grows, and succeeds! A few takeaways:

• Build the capacity of the group.
• Lead the team to commit to a unified vision.
• The leader is a part of a team that is constantly learning.
• Instructional leadership is not solely about instructional expertise; more important is knowing how to involve the team and its members toward achieving a dynamic learning culture.
• A strong learning culture, and quality day to day interactions within the culture supports professional growth and instructional programs; this is the DNA of a Professional Growth System. 1:1 professional growth initiatives, to be effective, are strands of that DNA.

Lastly, Fullan outlines important characteristics of change agent leaders. To be an effective leader of change one must build relational trust, develop confidence within the group, know when to move forward, and be alert and responsive to feedback. Collaborating, problem solving and innovating as a team is key. In my humble opinion, in our interconnected world where ideas, insights, events and experiences are in constant motion, can you even be an effective educational leader if you are not a change agent?