Study cites CMS for reshaping principals' role

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is among six school systems cited for innovative leadership in a recent study of the changing role of principals.

Cotswold Principal Alicia Hash

The Center for American Progress,  a progressive think tank based in Washington, D.C., says the changing demands on school leaders has created a stream of early-career departures and early retirements, especially at the most challenging schools.  "The Changing Role of the Principal:  How High Achieving Districts Are Recalibrating School Leadership" looks for ways to make the job more meaningful and manageable while providing better support from central offices.

"Attrition due to resignations and early retirements, along with a shortage of qualified candidates for open principal positions, is leading toward a crisis of leadership in American education,"  the report says.

CMS has had its share of principal churn lately,  but the Southern Methodist University researchers who did the work looked to CMS;  Gwinnett County, Ga.;  Denver;  Washington,  DC;  Uplift Education in Dallas-Fort Worth and the Northeast Leadership Academy at N.C. State University for promising strategies  (read the CMS case study here).  CMS gets credit for creating  "super standards"  that go beyond the required state principal evaluations,  for working with nearby universities to help develop leadership and for providing supports such as  "opportunity culture"  classroom leaders and deans of students,  who can keep principals from being spread too thin.

In an aside following up on my recent post about cumbersome school names,  the STEM/STEAM acronym popped up for discussion on the Education Writers Association email list Wednesday.  An EWA staffer shared this New York Times essay urging writers to shun the "didactic and jargony" term for science,  technology,  engineering and math  (with or without art).  A Florida reporter noted the emergence of B-STEM,  adding business.  I figure with the local enthusiasm for entrepreneurship,  it's only a matter of time until we have Education in Science,  Technology, Engineering,  Entrepreneurship and Math,  or ESTEEM schools.

Study: Get more creative in recruiting principals

Urban school districts aren't doing enough to recruit and pay great school leaders,  according to a new study by the Thomas Fordham Institute titled  "Lacking Leaders:  The Challenges of Principal Recruitment,  Selection and Placement."

The DC-based education research and advocacy group  (funded by the usual list of reform philanthropies) studied five urban districts that have been working to improve their principal processes.  I was guessing Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools might be among them,  especially since the institute teamed up with Public Impact of Chapel Hill, which has worked with CMS.  But the descriptions of districts,  which are given pseudonyms such as Reformville and Urbanopolis as part of an anonymity agreement to ensure candor,  don't match.

Still,  the issues loom large here as the summer leadership churn cranks up.  "Leaders must deal with everything from overstretched budgets to mediocre teachers to unruly (and potentially dangerous) students, not to mention heavy pressure to boost academic results (without, of course, 'teaching to the test,' much less engaging in even more dubious practices),"  the report says.  They get little autonomy,  often make little more than classroom teachers and face grueling accountability demands,  it continues.

The researchers conclude that the five districts,  which they describe as pioneers,  are too quick hire from within,  rather than making an energetic and systemic search for the best candidates from other districts and sectors.  Some officials told researchers they'd had limited success with finding outsiders who understand the local culture and stick around,  while others said tapping outsiders over assistant principals in the district hurts morale.

The Fordham Institute and the Broad Foundation issued a 2003  "manifesto"  urging districts to look for noneducators with strong leadership skills.  The latest report also pushes the idea that a strong corporate leader could make a great principal,  so long as there's an instructional expert on the administrative team.

"We acknowledge that private firms do not face the same licensure constraints as school districts, so cross-sector recruitment in public education is apt to be harder" than in corporate hiring,  the report says. "But policymakers could change those licensure rules. And the takeaway is the same: great leaders can succeed across sectors."

I don't think I've seen CMS recruit a principal from outside education,  and the district had some setbacks with a couple of HR directors hired from corporate America.  Superintendent Heath Morrision does seems to be searching outside CMS for principals:  A scan of announcements this spring and summer shows seven from within CMS,  three from adjacent districts and one from Tennessee.

The report also calls for compensation that's more in line with corporate pay,  turning principalships into  "phenomenal job opportunities."

"Districts should also see the principal’s job as the year-round position that it is and treat  —  and 
compensate  —  it more like the executive role that it’s become,"  the report says.  "Too costly, you say? Think of it this way: the United States employs roughly 100,000 principals. If we gave each of them a $100,000 raise, the total price tag would amount to $10 billion—obviously not chump change. But that’s less than 2 percent of the K–12 public school budget—and $5 billion less than the total new cost estimated to fund President Obama’s pre-K plan."

Update: The Wallace Foundation,  which has been working with CMS on its  "principal pipeline"  since 2011,  announced today that it will provide additional money to support principal supervisors in hopes of developing a larger corps of strong principals.

Appreciating Clark Kent

Talking to Paul Pratt about Berryhill School this week made me ponder our vision of school reform.

The education documentary  "Waiting for Superman"  gave us an image of reformers flying in,  shaking up old systems and bringing hope to the children of the inner city.

Pratt

Pratt,  a 60-year-old principal,  evokes mild-mannered Clark Kent more than his alter ego.  He retired as a principal in Clover, S.C., 11 years ago, then came to the school on Mecklenburg's western edge.  It stands out as one of Charlotte-Mecklenburg's most successful high-poverty schools,  but Pratt says his edge is neither flashy nor dramatic.  He and a core group of strong teachers just keep coming back,  year after year,  building relationships with students,  parents and each other.

"I've been here 11 years because I want to be,  not because I have to be,"  Pratt said.

It's a pattern I've seen before:  When you find schools that beat the odds,  the key seems to be the front-line educators,  not a reform program.  Unfortunately,  that's what makes success so hard to replicate.

Last year I looked for the highest-performing high-poverty school in CMS and stumbled across Windsor Park Elementary,  where principal Kevin Woods and his faculty had managed to stay under the radar and out of the CMS reform vortex.

Former Superintendent Peter Gorman got national acclaim for his strategic staffing program,  which brought in new principals and gave them money to provide hiring bonuses to recruit high-performing faculty.  But a close look showed the most significant gains were at two schools run by veteran principals who had a track record with urban schools,  Suzanne Gimenez at Devonshire Elementary and Nancy Guzman at Sterling Elementary.

Just months before Gorman left,  Berryhill was added to the strategic staffing program.  Gorman and the board had just decided to close troubled middle schools and move those students to eight elementaries,  including Berryhill.  Instead of bringing in a new principal,  Gorman kept Pratt but provided money for recruitment bonuses as he sought middle school staff.

Pratt was blunt when I asked if strategic staffing had helped Berryhill succeed:  "No."  He hired his new teachers through normal channels,  he said,  and used the extra money to award bonuses to the teachers who had stuck with the school.

Every five years or so,  CMS searches for a  "superman"  with the charisma, energy and vision to rally our diverse community around public schools.  We need those leaders,  and the superintendent's job demands extraordinary skills.

But it's good to remember the work being done by all those Clark Kents outside the spotlight.