Let's Shift Our Expectations Of School Leaders

Let's shift our expectations of school leaders

In 1902, principal George E. Atwood of the Liberty Street School in Newburgh, N.Y., writes in an annual report to the local board of education: “It gives me pleasure to say that the teachers of the several classes have pursued their work with interest and energy, and the results have therefore been reasonably satisfactory.We do not mean to assert that we have reached our ideal or that we consider our work perfect. Our ideal is a perfect human being, one who has developed intellectual and moral power” (Newburgh, N.Y., Board of Education, 1902). In their reports, Atwood and his colleagues at other buildings share details of the curriculum and where teachers and students succeeded and struggled, the number of books in the library, how illness

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Tracy Crow (tracy.crow@nsdc.org) is associate director of publications of the National Staff Development Council.

References

National Association of Secondary School Principals. (1921). Fifth yearbook of the National Association of Secondary School Principals, pp. 38-39. Available online at https://snipurl.com/ vgfjy.

Newburgh, N.Y., Board of Education. (1902). Annual report. Newburgh, N.Y.: Author, p. 43.