0.15 Stewart, s., & Tareilo, j. (october 2011). principal leadership  (Page 5/5)

Each one of the learned lessons represented skills and responsibilities for a principal as well as an instructional leader of a campus.

Comments from the qualitative data collected during the STEPS institutes revealed that the principal’s influence and involvement in supporting and assisting teachers and their teaching effectiveness shifts from being a bystander to being a co-learner with the teachers. Because of this, future considerations are planned that include a more engaging role for principals such as incorporating the CCRS standards into university leadership programs that assist principals in their preparation as effective instructional leaders.

With this grant and others like it, university partnerships in collaboration with curricular and instructionally-focused and knowledgeable principals will hopefully be able to address the needs of graduating seniors and work collectively to help prevent students from taking developmental math and science courses. This will allow pre-service teachers to focus their time and abilities on utilizing the College and Career Readiness Standards in their classes. All of the stakeholders involved in the success of a high school graduate must be included in the plan for that success. The STEPS grant has taken that into consideration and added the leadership piece and through this presentation, provides insight into the process that made it happen.

Conclusion

The role of the campus principal is essential in establishing expectations for curricular and instructional strategies that are directly tied to student success. Research supports the fact that principals no longer need to be seen as good managers, they must also be known for their knowledge and abilities to lead instructional endeavors on their campuses. These beliefs regarding the principal as an instructional leader includes their awareness of the CCRS and the assistance their teachers will need to impact student learning. The Educational Policy Improvement Center (2009) states that “according to research, over 80% of 21 ^st century jobs require some post-secondary education (p.iii). This understanding is one of the many reasons that necessitated the STEPS grant at Stephen F. Austin State University.

With this grant and others like it, university partnerships in collaboration with curricular and instructionally-focused and knowledgeable principals will hopefully be able to address the needs of graduating seniors and work collectively to help prevent students from taking developmental math and science courses. This will allow pre-service teachers to focus their time and abilities on utilizing the College and Career Readiness Standards in their classes. All of the stakeholders involved in the success of a high school graduate must be included in the plan for that success. The STEPS grant has taken that into consideration and added the leadership piece and through this presentation, provides insight into the process that made it happen.

Preparing students to be college and career ready requires active involvement by every person associated with the educational life of each student. This charge is one of crucial importance for those who serve as principals, especially principals who must lead instructional efforts for their schools and students.

References

• American Youth Policy Forum. (2009, December). Examining the role of Summer Bridge Program in promoting college readiness and completion: Lessons learned from Texas’ developmental summer bridges. Retrieved from http://www.aypf.org/forumbriefs/2010/fb120310.htm
• Educational Policy Improvement Center. (2009). Texas college and career readiness standards. Austin, TX: The University of Austin
• Herrington, C. D.,&Wills, B. K. (2005). Decertifying the principalship: The politics of administrator preparation in Florida. Retrieved from http:epx.sagepub.com/content/19/1/181
• Orr, M. T. (2006, March). Mapping innovation in leadership preparation in our nation’s schools of education. Phi Delta Kappan, 87 (7), 492-499.
• Stephen F. Austin State University. (2010). Systemic Texas Educator Preparation Site ( STEPS): Mid Point Executive Summary. Nacogdoches, TX.
• Tirozzi, G. N. (2011, April). Alternate paths to the principalship…for some other kid’s school. NewsLeader, 58 (8), 2.