Outstanding School Leaders

October is National Principals Month, which gives me a chance to squeeze in my appreciation with just hours to spare. Principals are indeed the linchpins in the education system. To the school district, they are the means for carrying out strategy, and for the students and teachers they are the leaders that can make or break instructional success in the classroom.

In recent weeks I have thought a lot about the role of the principal in the work of teachers and in improving schools. In looking up how principals are evaluated, I was pleased to see that Baltimore does include a 360 evaluation and other leadership criteria in its principal assessments (School Leader Evaluation). This means that teachers are at least given some voice in their principal’s assessment and development, though I wonder how honest they feel they can be in these reviews. Other leadership criteria are also used, such as providing a clear vision and selecting/retaining good teachers, though it is less clear how these criteria are measured (School Leader Rubric).

The Department of Education itself has recently named its National Blue Ribbon Schools for the year, and as part of National Principals Month it has also named 11 principals of these Blue Ribbon Schools who will receive 2018 Terrel H. Bell Awards for outstanding school leadership. I read about all 11 recipients, to see what the DOEd values in school leaders (Bell Awardees).

Overall, this seems like a dedicated group of leaders. Some have been through turnarounds, some helped to start their school, and some have seen their students through floods and hurricanes. Some have worked to create professional learning communities and empower teachers to innovate. Some have closed performance gaps. Many have worked to involve their communities as stakeholders, and most were cited for their strong visions for their schools.

These are all admirable qualities, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that selection was not based solely on test scores. However, in the eyes of the DOEd, there seemed to be another selection criterion as well. First, note that the overall profile of 2018 Blue Ribbon schools is:

349    Total

300    Public

7%      Charter (20)

10%    Magnet (31)

18%    “Choice schools” (n/a)

49       Private (90% Catholic)

Of the 11 honored principals, five are from charter, magnet, or “choice” schools. Virtually all are from states that are highly pro-charter, that receive top grades on charter school laws and contain the bulk of American charter schools (except notably California and Massachusetts, which received no Bell awards): Michigan, Colorado, Florida, New York, South Carolina, Texas, and Louisiana. One principal is from Ohio, which is lower-ranked for charters but has seen key voucher court rulings. The last principal is from Pennsylvania, which I cannot explain as a charter haven, but it is the only Catholic school that made the Bell list. See this link for charter law rankings.

What does this tell me about how the Department of Education is celebrating National Principals Month? It tells me that certain states are viewed more favorably than others, and that the department is working hard to tell good-news stories related to school choice. Also, while many of these principals lead schools with a large proportion of disadvantaged students, not one of them leads a school with even a plurality of African American students. Perhaps this is not part of the story the Department is focused on telling.

School facts from the 2018 Terrel H. Bell Awards for Outstanding School Leadership:

City	School Type	Demographics
Fort Collins, CO	Public elementary	82% White, 15% disadvantaged
Jacksonville, FL	Magnet school, choice school	44% White, 28% Asian, 15% Black, 15% disadvantaged
Miami, FL	Charter (math and Greek)	77% Hispanic 55% disadvantaged
New Orleans, LA	Public charter, Title I	57% White, 26% Black, 22% disadvantaged
Spring Lake, MI	Public Title I, choice school	79% White, 58% disadvantaged
Fresh Meadows, NY	Public middle	65% Asian, 66% disadvantaged
Cincinnati, OH	Public elementary	93% White, 16% disadvantaged
West Chester, PA	Private, Catholic	95% White
Taylors, SC	Public elementary	91% White, 50% disadvantaged
El Paso, TX	Public, Title I, choice school	85% Hispanic, 56% disadvantaged
Rosenberg, TX	Public Title I	84% Hispanic, 95% disadvantaged