(Core Value Paper/Project Cover Page

The Principals Role As Leader of Learning

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Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership

And Postsecondary Education

University of Northern Iowa

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In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the

Advanced Certificate

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By

Sarah Saladino

Fred Becker Elementary

Waterloo, IA

November 20, 2016

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Dr. Carol Montz

The Principals Role As Leader of Learning

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to look at the principal as a leader of learning and the role that they

do on a daily basis. This paper will cover different skills, knowledge and dispositions

professional growth and development. The information will be centered on the ISSL standards as

a Leader of Learning. I will address each question that is required and connect these with

research that supports any information in regards to a Leader of Learning.

The Principals Role of Leader and Learning

Introduction

In todays society in the educational profession principals are required to do so much

more than they have had to do in the past. The responsibilities in this role somedays feel endless

and almost undoable to most from the outside. The principal wears many different hats when in a

building in order to make it be successful and some of these roles include the following: teacher,

mentor, facilitator, manager, and even in some cases a parent to either their own children or the

other children in their building who may be lacking that stability at home. Its amazing to watch

a person in such a strong leadership role and have the ability to balance everything that this role

brings along. When a principal decides to take on this role they are the commander in chief

and are directly responsible for everything that goes on in the building. This role that they

assume works in connection with all of the ISSL standards.

As a principal their role is to build a mission statement in a way that will be suitable for a

whole building and also one that is achievable. Along with establishing a mission statement the

principal needs to create a vision for the building then everyone knows where we are going and

the plan of how to get there. Through this vision, learning is created through knowledge and

skills to move forward in improving what needs to be improved upon and creating a climate that

has a safe environment. In establishing the things listed above the principal can envision

successes, create a plan for the success and everyone can understand that Success Is the ONLY

option.
The Principals Role of Leader and Learning

What does the research and professional literature suggest related to the principals role as

a Leader of Learning?

In looking at the research and the professional literature there are different information in

regards to the principals role and how it is related to a Leader of Learning. First, lets look at

what the definition of a Leader of Learning is. As the school principal has a role to fulfill there

are responsibilities that go along with this role that connect with being a leader and also learning.

According to an article title: Five Key Responsibilities- the school principal as a leader:

Guiding schools to Better Teaching and Learning, states there are five major responsibilities

that a principal has to undertake and they include the following: shaping a vision of academic

success for all students, creating a climate hospitable to education, cultivating leadership in

others, improving instruction, and managing people, data and processes.

The first key responsibility that principals are in charge of is establishing schoolwide

vision with commitment to high standards and success of all students. Then next responsibility to

make principals effective is to ensure their schools allow both adults and children to put learning

at center of the day. Most effective principals focus on building sense of school community

especially building their own school community and working on making sure that every staff

member is upbeat, welcoming, solution-oriented, take responsibility, and professional

environment. Another responsibility depends on others to accomplish groups purpose and need

to encourage the development of leadership across the organization. The fourth responsibility is
to work on improving instruction, help define and promote high expectations and encourage

continual professional learning in order to help staff continue expanding their knowledge.

The last responsibility is to manage people, data and process while also making good use

of the resources that are at hand. The principal can facilitate this and begin to put a plan in place

of how to work on getting the staff to read data, collect data on students and then to work

processing the data later to work towards a plan to improve (Porter, Murphy, Goldring).

After looking at this research and connecting it with the principal as a leader. This

research explains what the principal does in their role and how they can work to support the staff.

These responsibilities lay out a great outline of the foundation to build as a leader and what areas

are the most important to have focus on.

What skills, knowledge, and dispositions are required of principals who seek to

facilitate their own professional growth and development as well as that of teachers and

students?

In looking at the skills that a principal needs in order to be successful there are a few that

are very important in beginning this role. One of the skills that a principal should have is the

ability to synthesis readings in order to communicate what they have learned through the current

literature. Communication is a huge piece of being in a leadership role and being able to build

relationships with staff through communicating. Another skill that the leader needs to have is the

ability to buy into the process. If they do that others will buy into the process more as well. The

Principals Guide to Curriculum states the following about communication: Communication

must be a two-way for collaboration to exist. When communication flows freely both ways, then
trust takes hold and culture of collaboration is created ( pg. 32 Sorenson, Milton Goldsmith,

Mendez, Maxwell)

Another skill is the ability to build relationships with the staff in the building as this is a

huge piece of what makes a principal successful as it makes the staff feel that they can go to their

administration and talk to them as they have previously established a relationship. In one of the

books we read for class it discusses in chapter two about building relationships and the ability to

establish relationships. It is only when we know one another that trust can be established. By

trust we mean that one anothers promises, statements, or words can be relied on, (pg. 40

Sorenson, Goldsmith, Mendez, Maxwell). These are just two of the skills that are needed in the

principal role in order to run a smooth operation. Along with a specific skill set in this role the

principal should have knowledge to help support the staff in education.

The principal should have knowledge of the current curriculum for each of the grades and

the subjects. Also knowing the building and community that they are working on in order to give

them the background knowledge to help support the cliental that they are working with. In this

role most importantly the knowledge base on curriculum, the Iowa Core Standards, and the Early

Learning Standards. Lastly, along with having a skill set, and knowledge a principal needs to

have certain dispositions in their role as a leader to be successful.

A principal as a leader should have certain dispositions to be successful in their role as a

leader, but also ways to be successful. These dispositions include the following: strong work

ethic, dedication, motivator, communicator, relationship builder, caring, negotiator and mediator.

These are the ones that are most important in this leadership role. As a stated above building a

relationship and making sure communication is open between everyone in the building. These
dispositions all encompass a leader who will be successful, show the skills that in fact make

them a strong powerful leader and one that will have the ability to turn a building around if

needed.

What does ISSL require of principals as Leaders of Learning?

The ISSL standards have a lot of requirements that are demanded of principals in their

leadership role. The six standards focus around the following and each and every one of these is

promoted by the principal and carried out in the educational field. They include the following:

promoting success of all students by facilitating development and the vision of success,

promoting success of all students by nurturing and sustaining a school culture, promote success

of all students by ensuring management of all organizations, promoting success of all students by

collaborating with all families and community members, promotes success of all students by

acting with integrity, fairness in an ethical matter, promotes success of all students by

understanding the profile of the community and responding to it. The ISSL standards require the

principal to have a knowledge based on each standard and to see what sub standards fall under

each standard. It gives the principal the examples and responsibilities that they are required to do

in order to meet these requirements.

Its very important to know what it looks like to represent each standard. The leader also

needs to have a knowledge based on each standard because other stakeholders from outside are

going to come and visit the building. During these visits they will most likely be looking at the

standards and trying to connect where they see these standards and sub-standards being met. This

goes to show the improvement that the building needs to do if any in that point.
The Principals Role of Leader and Learning

What actions have I taken as an aspiring leader that demonstrates my functioning

as a Leader of Learning? How will I build on these actions as a leader?

I have taken on more leadership roles that have helped me to become more comfortable

as a person in charge. I am currently the team leader and this role has definitely challenged me to

think outside of the box and try to figure out what are the expectations as a leader. I also have

had a lot more conversations with both of the administrators in my building and talked about the

process of being a principal, the daily ins and outs of this job and what advice they would give

someone going into leadership. I enjoy having conversations with them as I learn from the

knowledge they have and what they share with me. In looking at building on these actions I

know that I have thought long and hard about ways to improve my skills. My thought process is

that I want to continue to emerge myself in different books that discuss leadership, going to

different opportunities that discuss about leadership, talking to different leaders that are

practicing.

Another important piece of being a successful leader is to make sure that students are

engaged in learning and are enjoying learning. As a leader its my responsibility to be in and out

of classrooms observing and seeing on what levels students are engaged in learning and how

well they are learning. From Marzanos book in the third chapter it talks about different ways for

students to be in engaged in learning and through different activities. In having students working

on activities allows students to have a different variety of ways of learning.

One of the biggest things I feel that is important as a leader is establishing goals and

making a working plan of how to accomplish these goals in a timely manner. These set
accountability for myself as a leader and outlines a timeline of how long it will take me to reach

these goals. This establishes a clear vision and also makes myself as a leader continue to set high

expectations and work to reach these goals. It also shows the staff in the building that I am

committed in the leadership role to accomplish things.

 References

1. Sorenson, R. Milton Goldsmith, L. Mendez, Z. Taylor Maxwell, K. 2011. The Principals

Guide to Curriculum Leadership. California: Corwin

2. Marzano, R. Pickering, D. 2011. The Highly Engaged Classroom. Indiana: Marzano

Research Laboratory
3. Andrew C. Porter, Joseph Murphy, Ellen Goldring, Stephen N. Elliott, Morgan S.

Polikoff and Henry May, Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education: Technical

Manual, Version 1.0, Vanderbilt University, 2008, 13.

4. Michael S. Knapp, Michael A. Copland, Meredith I. Honig, Margaret L. Plecki, and

Bradley S. Portin, Learning-focused Leadership and Leadership Support: Meaning and

Practice in Urban Systems, University of Washington, 2010, 2.