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    The Effective Principal

    5 Pivotal Practices That Shape Instructional Leadership

    By Pamela Mendels
    February 2012
    Vol. 33 No. 1
    When most people hear the word “principal,” they think of the noun meaning the chief, the top executive, the head of all others, the person who controls the levers. Not so Dewey Hensley, himself a former principal and today an assistant commissioner in Kentucky’s Department of Education. Hensley likes to remind people that when it was first used in connection with school leadership in the 1800s, the word “principal” was an adjective in front of another word, “teacher” (Pierce, 1935, p. 11). The “principal teacher,” he says, was a kind of first among equals, an instructor who assumed some administrative tasks as schools began to grow beyond the one-room buildings of yore. The original principal, Hensley stresses, was, like the other teachers in the school,

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    References

    Darling-Hammond, L. (2007). Excellent teachers deserve excellent leaders. In Education leadership: A bridge to school reform (p. 17). New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/key-research/Pages/Bridge-to-School-Reform.aspx.

    Goldring, E., Porter, A.C., Murphy, J., Elliott, S.N., & Cravens, X. (2007). Assessing learning-centered leadership: Connections to research, professional standards, and current practices. New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/principal-evaluation/Pages/Assessing-Learning-Centered-Leadership.aspx.

    Leithwood, K., Louis, K.S., Anderson, S., & Wahlstrom, K. (2004). How leadership influences student learning. New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/key-research/Pages/How-Leadership-Influences-Student-Learning.aspx.

    Louis, K.S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K., & Anderson, S. (2010). Investigating the links to improved student learning: Final report of research findings. New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/key-research/Pages/Investigating-the-Links-to-Improved-Student-Learning.aspx.

    Pierce, P.R. (1935). The origin and development of the public school principalship (p. 11). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Available at www.archive.org/details/origindevelopmen00pier.

    Porter, A.C., Murphy, J., Goldring, E., Elliott, S.N., Polikoff, M.S., & May, H. (2008). Vanderbilt assessment of leadership in education: Technical manual, version 1.0. New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/principal-evaluation/Pages/Vanderbilt-Assessment-of-Leadership-in-Education-Technical-Manual-1.aspx.

    Portin, B.S., Knapp, M.S., Dareff, S., Feldman, S., Russell, F.A., Samuelson, C., et al. (2009). Leadership for learning improvement in urban schools. New York: The Wallace Foundation. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/district-policy-and-practice/Pages/Leadership-for-Learning-Improvement-in-Urban-Schools.aspx.

    Shelton, S. (2011). Strong leaders strong schools: 2010 school leadership laws. Denver, CO: National Conference of State Legislatures. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/state-policy/Pages/Strong-Leaders-Strong-Schools-2010-School-Leadership-Laws-.aspx.

    Simkin, L., Charner, I., & Suss, L. (2010). Emerging education issues: Findings from The Wallace Foundation survey (pp. 9-10). New York: The Wallace Foundation.

    The Wallace Foundation. (2012, January). The school principal as leader: Guiding schools to better teaching and learning. New York: Author. Available at www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/school-leadership/effective-principal-leadership/Pages/The-School-Principal-as-Leader-Guiding-Schools-to-Better-Teaching-and-Learning.aspx.

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    Pamela Mendels (pmendels@wallacefoundation.org) is senior writer at The Wallace Foundation in New York City.

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