The Principal’s Role as a Leader of Learning

Presented to the University of Northern Iowa

Department of Educational Leadership and Postsecondary Education

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the

Master of Arts in Education

Aaron R. Reinhart

Waterloo West High School

Waterloo, Iowa

November 18, 2017

Dr. Sharon Ingebrand

University of Northern Iowa

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Introduction

A principal’s responsibilities are wide ranging - from safety and building

management to complying with state and federal mandates to responding to the needs

of the community to making sure students learn something. Prioritizing these

responsibilities is no easy task. As soon as I think I have figured out that student

learning comes before building management I am reminded of the words of former

principal and current University of Northern Iowa Educational Leadership Professor Tim

Gilson, “Principals are hired to be educational leaders but they are fired for not

managing the building.” In the spirit of doing and keeping my job, I will examine these

priorities in no specific order. A principal’s responsibilities include being well versed in

educational research, being reflective and aware enough to develop people

professionally, adhere to the requirements of ISSL, and using their own wide range of

experiences to guide future decisions.

What does the research and professional literature suggest related to the

principal's role as a Leader of Learning?

When a principal makes decisions it is important that those decisions are

rooted in sound reasoning and research. Waters, Marzano, and McNulty (2003)

highlighted 21 responsibilities of a school leader that “have a statistically significant

relationship with student achievement” (p. 5). Considering this research could help a

principal prioritize time. For example, the authors found that visibility and rewards had a

relatively low correlation coefficient, .16 and .15 respectively. However, building culture

(.29), allowing for teacher input (.30), and working as a change agent (.30) were found
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to have a bigger impact on student achievement. Even more so was intellectual

stimulation of staff (.32) and situational awareness (.33). Considering this research adds

to the importance of properly identifying those priorities. Certainly all aspects have some

importance, but identifying the greatest chance of impacting student achievement will

help a principal prioritize time.

Sorenson, Goldsmith, Mendez, and Maxwell (2011) stated “principals must

recognize they are not alone...the school’s mission involves everyone” (p.110-111). This

view supports Waters, Marzano, and McNulty’s research regarding the importance of

areas of culture, teacher input and intellectual stimulation of staff. These views and

research have redefined the principal role as a leadership position rather than a

managerial position. To be a great leader the principal must motivate others to

continuously increase student achievement.

Sorenson et al. (2011) stated, “Principals typically observe less than .001% of a

teacher’s lessons” and stressed the importance of a principal's leadership style

regarding the unsupervised delivery of curriculum (p.9). The focal point of the

application of any educational research will be trusting adults to be professionals and do

the best job they can. When increasing student achievement a new initiative may be

exactly what is needed. Having strong, trusting relationships with the people

implementing the initiative will have a big effect on the initiative's impact on student

achievement. Perhaps a better way to say it would be to quote educational guru Todd

Whitaker and his view on people, not programs. Whitaker states, “understand that

programs are not solutions. Leaders must adopt changes only if those changes make

their teachers better” (p. 7).

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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?

One important characteristic a leader can convey is that of a growth mindset, a

theory developed by Carol Dweck (Marzano, Pickering p.16-17). Dweck described two

mindsets; first, a helpless approach where failures are blamed on natural abilities and,

second, a focus on mastery and perseverance in learning. Dweck discovered the

differences in individual mindsets can be traced to one’s belief about intelligence.

Dweck found that individuals with a helpless approach believed intelligence was fixed

and unchanging. On the contrary, mastery focused individuals see intelligence as

something that can change and grow. The fixed mindset believes you are born with a

predetermined amount of intelligence while the growth mindset believes learning and

ability is determined by the amount of effort one puts in. Growth minded individuals

believe all people can learn to have a growth mindset regardless of their current view.

Communicating growth-minded beliefs about intelligence on a daily basis lays a strong

foundation for establishing a culture of learning.

Learning is built around feedback on performance, making quality feedback from

an observer (i.e. a principal) an important part of the process. One way instructional

leaders provide feedback is through mini-observations. Author Kim Marshall describes

mini-observations as unannounced, frequent, and short. Marshall advises about 10

mini-observations per year (per teacher) that last about 10 minutes each (Marshall

p.62).
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Following the observation comes the most important part of the experience -

feedback. Learning to provide great feedback is a very important skill to have. Marshall

says this should be face-to-face, perceptive, humble, and courageous. Courageous

feedback is important when expectations are not being met; not saying anything says

“that whatever they were doing or not doing is officially all right” (Marshall p.72).

Marshall also reminds leaders to enter those courageous conversations with the

understanding “if you want a friend, get a dog” (p.72).

What does ISSL require of principals as Leaders of Learning?

The Iowa Standards for School Leaders contains six standards; shared vision,

culture of learning, management, family and community, ethical leadership, and

societal/political context. All six standards begin with the phrase “An educational leader

promotes the success of all students…” (SAI 2007). School leaders spend a lot of time

focusing on what adults are doing but the standards help remind educational leaders

their purpose is to promote the success of all students. The six standards and their

thirty-five sub-standards outline actionable steps a leader can take to do this.

Scanning through the sub-standards one will see a few words used multiple

times. The words learning, collaborate, effect, promotes, students, educational

program/system, and staff showing up the most often. These words form a sentence

that summarizes the overall expectations of ISSL when it comes to being a leader of

learning: The administrator will collaborate with staff for the purpose of promoting and

effecting student and community learning within the educational program. To make this

happen a leader must have a shared vision, a culture of learning must be established,
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the leader must manage all the moving parts well, and engage families and the

community. The leader must also always be ethical and consider the political context of

their work.

A word cloud of ISSL provides a visual of those important descriptors and actions

the leader of learning must exhibit.

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

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

As a department we set a goal of increasing Iowa Assessment scores. We set

this goal every year but have not made an action plan to help us achieve it. This year

we are working on a plan to do this.

To start we are asking students look at their scores from last year and set a goal

for this year. Teachers will explain the difference between percentile and NSS score, as
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well as what the score range is for not proficient, proficient, and advanced. Knowing that

the 50th percentile from one year to the next is about a 10 point change in NSS score

provides students with a starting point for setting their goal. We also ask students to

reflect on their effort last year versus what they commit to doing this year. We find a lot

of students whose class work reflects abilities much higher than their Iowa Assessment

score shows. By setting a goal we intend for students to take ownership over their score

and put in their best effort.

The bulk of the change in score comes from the learning in the current school

year. To increase student learning I am leading teachers away from two mindsets of the

past. The first is “I taught it, they should have learned it,” and the second is “the

textbook is my curriculum.”

As math teachers we can understand the formula “teaching + time = learning”

pretty well. With any formula in math, we always seek to determine what is constant and

what is variable. It used to be (and for some still is) viewed that teaching and time were

a constant and learning was the variable. I have asked my team to consider learning as

the constant – we want all students to learn certain Iowa Core standards – and make

the teaching and time it takes to get there the variable. As this change has taken place I

have seen the attitudes of students and teachers change. Students have a higher

opinion of their abilities as a learner, and teachers are seeing the power of teaching and

time being the variable.

The shift in textbook vs. standards is slow but has allowed for change in the use

of formative assessment. Assessing whether or not students have learned the standard

(at the prescribed DOK level) comes with the mindset that learning should be the
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constant. By eliciting evidence of student learning we are better able to inform our

instruction, and determine who needs different teaching and/or more time. This process

also provides feedback to the student so they know what they do and don’t know and

whether or not their learning approach is working.

In order to improve Iowa Assessment scores at the rate we want, teachers and

students need feedback on the intended learning. As conversations take place around

how to increase learning I have reminded the team that we cannot expect different

results if we continue doing the same thing we have done in the past.

One new approach is implementing an Iowa Assessment review during MTSS

(multi-tiered system of supports) time for students who were “nearly proficient” last year.

I created a spreadsheet that took every student's score last year and sorted them by not

proficient, proficient, and advanced based on the NSS score range provided by Iowa

Assessment. Next I identified a new range I titled “nearly proficient” which was

essentially 1-15 points below the proficient cutoff. These students were then sorted by

the class period they have MTSS so we could identify who needed review and when.

We are now using the MTSS time to incorporate weekly review of basic math skills,

which the Iowa Assessment assesses.

This example demonstrates my leadership of learning in multiple ways. We

started with the goal of increasing student learning and are in the midst of redefining the

way we teach Algebra. We realized we have room for improvement in our instruction, as

well as the structure we have for our students. We have data that suggests student

learning has already increased and we are working through plans for future changes

that will allow for more student (and adult) learning.

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Another example is my peer observation initiative. I set a goal for all math

teachers to do one peer observation once per quarter. I have applied Marshall’s mini-

observation structure to this work and am modeling it myself. I am currently doing peer

observations and sharing feedback with the teacher as well as what I am learning from

them. I am working toward creating a culture of collaboration, an area we currently have

room for improvement in. As I continue to communicate my vision and model what it

looks like I have gathered more support and buy-in from teachers. My principal is

keeping an eye on our progress in hopes of rolling this out to the rest of the building

next year. I believe my experience with mini-observations, creating a collaborative

culture, and sharing a vision will transition nicely as a building principal.

A final example of my role as a leader of learning is my involvement in creating

and leading professional development. I worked with the Iowa Department of Education

in the summer of 2015 to create two lessons, growth mindset and effective questioning.

A colleague and I piloted these modules within the Waterloo Schools and then shared

them with Iowa’s State Math Leadership for implementation across the state.

Additionally, I have also worked within the district to create and lead PD for

district athletic coaches, high school teachers, and district math teachers. In these

professional learning lessons I have lead by example with strong lesson design and

teaching pedagogy, as well as leading adults into an area of new learning for all of us.

Conclusion

Attempting to prioritize a principal’s responsibilities is still no easy task, but there

are some key points that stand out. My reflection, as well as ISSL’s guidance, focused

on what people are learning. I also understand that people learn best from people they
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have great relationships with. If a Principal focuses on building relationships with

everyone in the building and focusing on what those people are learning, I believe most

issues will be taken care of.

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References

Marshall, K (2013). Rethinking teacher supervision and evaluation: How to work

smart, build collaboration, and close the achievement gap. John Wiley & Sons.

Marzano, R. J., & Pickering, D. J. (2010). The highly engaged classroom.

Solution Tree Press.

School Administrators of Iowa. (2007). Retrieved from http://www.sai-

iowa.org/iowa-standards.cfm

Sorensen, R. D., Goldsmith, L. M., Mendez, Z. Y., & Maxwell, K. T. (2011). The

principal’s guide to curriculum leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Waters, T., Marzano, R. J., & McNulty, B. (2003). Balanced Leadership: What 30

Years of Research Tells Us about the Effect of Leadership on Student

Achievement. A Working Paper.

Whitaker, T. (2013). What great principals do differently: 18 things that matter

most. New York, NY: Routledge.