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By Ted Domers
Categories: Change management, Evaluation & impact, Leadership
August 2023
Early in my tenure as a principal, I had coffee with a veteran school leader and mentor. As we discussed the complexities of leadership, he asked, “What is your biggest challenge?” Before I could answer, he added, “And you can’t say time.” This comment has remained with me for a decade, as I work to improve my leadership on behalf of the children in the Philadelphia area. Educational leaders would love nothing more than to have more time. However, it’s difficult to come up with more of this essential resource. Over the years, I have come to realize what matters is not how much time we have, but how we use it. I served the School District of Philadelphia for eight years as a principal

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References

Dufour, R., Dufour, R., Eaker, R., Many, T., & Mattos, M. (2016). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work (3rd ed.). Solution Tree Press.

Grissom, J., Egalite, A., & Lindsay, C. (2021). How principals affect students and schools: A systematic synthesis of two decades of research. The Wallace Foundation.

Hargreaves, A. (2010). Presentism, individualism, and conservatism: The legacy of Dan

Lortie’s Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study. Curriculum Inquiry, 40(1), 143-154.

Heifetz, R. & Linsky, M. (2017). Leadership on the line: Staying alive through the dangers of change (2nd ed.). Harvard Business Review Press.


Ted domers
+ posts

Ted Domers (tdomers@hatboro-horsham.org) is assistant superintendent of Hatboro-Horsham School District in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.


Categories: Change management, Evaluation & impact, Leadership

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