Learning Forward
Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
IDEAS
How principals can ensure that every student succeeds
By Suzanne Bouffard
Categories: Career pathways, Data, LeadershipApril 2024
Ensuring that every student succeeds takes a shared commitment among all adults in a school and the system that houses it. Principals play a key role in leading and modeling that commitment. Through instructional leadership, professional learning, interactions with colleagues and students, and many other responsibilities, principals can prioritize equity and establish expectations and processes for their colleagues to address every student’s needs. This commitment to equity cannot be a standalone initiative or an add-on task, but instead should be woven into the fabric of leadership and into the school as a whole. As Learning Forward (2020) has articulated in its equity position statement, students’, teachers’, and leaders’ experiences are interconnected. Because leadership is a cornerstone of an equity-focused system, The Wallace Foundation commissioned a
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References
Gates, S.M., Baird, M.D., Master, B.K., & Chavez-Herrerias, E.R. (2019). Principal pipelines: A feasible, affordable, and effective way for districts to improve schools. RAND Corporation.
Gates, S.M., Kaufman, J.H., Doan, S.Y., Tuma, A.P., & Kim, D. (2020). Taking stock of principal Source: Learning Forward, 2022a. pipelines: What public school districts report doing and what they want to do to improve school leadership. RAND Corporation.
Gooden, M.A., Khalifa, M., Arnold, N.W., Brown, K.D., Meyers, C.V., & Welsh, R.O. (2023). A culturally responsive school leadership approach to developing equity-centered principals: Considerations for principal pipelines. Wallace Foundation.
Khalifa, M.A., Gooden, M.A., & Davis, J.E. (2016). Culturally responsive school leadership: A synthesis of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 86(4), 1272- 1311.
Learning Forward. (2020). April 2024 | Vol. 45 No. 2 Learning Forward’s equity position statement. learningforward.org/2020/10/14/learning-forwards- equity-position-statement/
Learning Forward. (2022a). Standards for Professional Learning. Author.
Learning Forward. (2022b). Action guide for the principal: 43 Implementation strategies and Innovation Configuration maps for Standards for Professional Learning. Author.
Suzanne Bouffard is senior vice president of communications and publications at Learning Forward. She is the editor of The Learning Professional, Learning Forward’s flagship publication. She also contributes to the Learning Forward blog and webinars. With a background in child development, she has a passion for making research and best practices accessible to educators, policymakers, and families. She has written for many national publications including The New York Times and the Atlantic, and previously worked as a writer and researcher at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Duke University and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. She loves working with authors to help them develop their ideas and voices for publication.
Categories: Career pathways, Data, Leadership
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