Leadership in education has a wide variety of dimensions and definitional issues that it is extremely elusive, and it has become more complicated because the involvement of business and political communities. Principals had for some time served as managers of schools, however in the last 10 or fifteen years there has been a sea improvement in their responsibilities. Now, at long last, the focus is on instructional leadership. But the problem facing principals is the fact that their preparatory institutions did not offer courses in curriculum programs before the mid-1980s, and many principals are not prepared with this new role; they need crash programs in instructional leadership. They now are also being asked to produce contacts with community leaders and also in some cases state legislators to garner support for schools and programs. It really is impossible for principals, along with superintendents, to undertake adequately the managerial, instructional, and political dimensions regarding the job. It isn't surprising that these multiple demands are creating a shortage of educational leaders. It now takes 8-14 months to fill superintendency positions, in place of 3-5 months in decades past; and 85% of principals are scheduled to retire within 10 years.
What exactly do we do? We must find new forms of team ways to the job. We need to rethink the role and rethink who is the best equipped to provide certain kinds of leadership. It is critical to keep in mind that while change occurs from the top down-business and political leaders are pushing change-it also has to come from the bottom up. Unless the teachers, principals, and frontline people "buy in," not very much will happen. So one of several challenges is to build connecting mechanisms from top to bottom. Leadership will span these boundaries.
The problems of authority and accountability should be addressed by schools wanting to restructure. To be successful, school-based decision making too must certanly be characterized by coherence in its authority structure and accountability system.
Citizen accountability facilitates the accountability of educators and students. And authority for change must include students, must focus on them as vehicles for change, not merely objects of change. Educators and parents need to acknowledge that students have a task in change and should even be regarding the board for school-based decision making. Establishing coherence is the key to leadership throughout an educational structure; it creates a system of checks and balances, with all the community and state united in working towards a common goal: the students' academic success. All the vision on earth won't result in much without coherence. Furthermore, before restructuring will start, educators must be keenly alert to two principles: Cooperation and collaboration are necessary since they are key to establishing coherence in an educational system; and all students can learn at higher levels. Finally, schools need certainly to focus on beliefs, standards, assessment, and accountability and now have a method of change, incorporating in a coherent way a few of these factors which are valued. Most likely, in the long run, successful education systems are about values. Schools just need the courage to maneuver and lead.
Education reform now involves high-stakes accountability. If schools are asked to have accountability to the degree, then the schools should be in control. School accountability involves schools having the capacity to implement their own policies, which means that school-based decision making. Stability in the schoolhouse is critical, and the principal may be the agent for change-but for the reason that comes no security. Yet, the key is charged to rally teachers, who possess total security and who possess little reason to attend to the vision of somebody who holds a tenuous appointment. The principals are finding that the illusion of power is worse than no power at all. Successful school reform necessitates an amazing interweaving of responsibility, accountability, and authority. Intrusive behavior is a board member's act of interfering with a school administrator's assigned operational task(s) that exceeds the board of education's delegated responsibility. Intrusive behavior can substantially hinder consistency in leadership, that is very important to organizational health. The issue with such intrusive behavior is that people into the educational framework become confused and wonder, "that is the boss?" and "Who do I tune in to?" leading to a monumental problem with role conflict and role ambiguity. This confusion wastes precious time that might be allocated to matters pertaining to educating children. Rather than inspecting school facilities or instructing superintendents and principals on the best way to perform their duties, boards of education need certainly to focus on student achievement.
Too often, board members do not have a clear comprehension of their role and exactly how these are typically to enact it unless they are specifically educated about that role. In a nutshell, working out of board of education members before they lay on a board should be mandated, plus they should be contractually educated, not only taught. Enough time used on training must be measured not in hours each year, however in amounts of issues covered into the training.
In a unique survey, superintendents indicated principal shortages in every types of districts; there were not really many applicants when it comes to positions available. Reasons cited for this principal shortage included the annotated following:
- Compensation is not enough.
- Too much time is required.
- Board interference makes the job too stressful.
Since 2004, the main's role has changed dramatically. Now, the scope regarding the principal's role is exploding, and principals are expected to battle many new responsibilities. Principals have now been taught to be managers in the place of instructional leaders, but they are now being asked to fulfill that duty as well-along with increased involvement in litigation, in special education, and in preventing school violence.
