“If he works for you, you work for him.”
– Japanese Proverb
In our school district we have six schools and six amazing principals! With 44 years combined as DPS109 principals, Mrs. Brett, Dr. Sherman, Dr. Schwartz, Dr. Bullis, Dr. Filippi, and Mr. McConnell lead our 3000 students. Daily they Engage, Inspire and Empower. They lead, our staff, they engage with our parent community, and they influence student learning and growth. The impact of a principal (and associate/assistant principal) is 2nd only to the teacher impact, leadership is HUGE!
In the book School Leadership That Works:From Research to Results (2005) Marzano, et, al, the authors report on the impact of principal leadership on student achievement. Their studies reflect “meta-analyses” (studies of studies). Specifically they identify 21 Responsibilities of the School Leader (pp.41-64). A listing of responsibilities that have been “positively correlated” with 2nd order change (which means leadership behaviors that have been proven by research to impact measurable changes) are:
- Knowledge of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
- Flexibility
- Change Agent
- Ideals and Beliefs
- Monitor and Evaluate
- Intellectual Stimulation
- Optimize
Each of these leadership responsibilities, and the others, are found to relate to impact on the school, the culture, the student learning, etc. In DPS109 we’re proud of our principals and the impact they make and the legacies they imprint each and every day. Our principals lead and demonstrate these responsibilities and we work on leadership development as a regular part of our administrative training and development.
This year we put together a video in celebration of National Principals Month (embedded below). We asked our most important stakeholders (our students) to share why they liked their principals.
The video is but a token of our esteem and appreciation for the myriad tasks, events, issues, ideas, decisions, etc. they partake in each and every day.
Thank you Eileen, Dave, Scott, Brian, Anthony, and John!
