Successful School Principals Know Their Students
2009 March 06 by: Scott
Principal Competency: The Missing Competency, Know Your Students
There is interesting news for school principals from the MN State Board of School Administrators as they have reduced the number of leadership competencies in which we are expected to “demonstrate knowledge, skill and disposition.” Most of us are familiar with the 21 competencies in which we completed our licensure for becoming school principals.
This number has been reduced to 13 Core Leadership Competencies and three Principal Competencies. For those who are excited about this change and see it as a simplification, make sure to read the fine print as the number of sub-competencies has actually increased from 97 to 101.
Missing within either list of competencies is perhaps the most important key to being a successful school principal: you must know your students. Knowing your students may be a daunting task considering all of the other roles of an instructional leader, but no other competency can lead to greater school success. Here are six ways to ensure you know your students that will lead to greater success as a school leader.
- Be present as your students enter your school. Being present as students enter school means to be physically there as students get off the bus, enter the building or head to their classes. No other activity during the day gives a principal better insight as to what may lie ahead for the day. Students who had something bad happen at home or on the bus wear that experience on their sleeves or at the least, their friends will let you know that something is up. Likewise, students who experienced recent joy need the opportunity to share that happiness with someone they admire — you.
- Listen to what teachers say about their students. Regardless of what we may think, our teachers most often know their students better than we do. Teachers have the best interest of kids in mind and even if they bring personal emotions into discussions about their students, teachers are usually just trying to express to us, “Here is what is going on, what do you think?” It is very important that we listen carefully to what teachers have to say in these instances because it lets us gain more knowledge for serving these students not just immediately, but for the long term.
