The gross dearth of effective administrative leadership is draining the teaching profession of potentially excellent and dedicated teachers. A great number of well-educated and heart-driven teachers are calling it quits prematurely and shortchanging the teaching profession, students and themselves. Though teachers cite a wide range of reasons for leaving, despite 4 to 5 years of preparatory schooling and the investment of many dollars of financial aid, many of these reasons have one point of origin—poor administrative leadership.
My research on this topic, though empirical, is not necessarily scientific by any stretch. I look back on the last 19 years of teaching and my direct association with at least 15 administrators as principals or assistant principals and the obvious positive correlation between effective leadership and teacher retention cannot be denied. When I make this observation known to veteran teaching peers I am usually told that I haven’t been struck with a ray of brilliance, but simply that I have a firm grasp on the obvious.
I remained at one particular school for an agonizing 16 years. Administrators came and moved on, though sometimes not quickly enough. Many teachers came and went during those years also. However, a large number of those teachers were young and experiencing their very first teaching assignment. Some of these young teachers and some of the new teachers were under the impression that what they were experiencing was normal and expected for a teaching environment today. Sadly, but not surprisingly, many of those young people moved on to other professions.
Administrators in charge of molding, guiding and nurturing beginning teachers were running them out of the profession at, what seemed to me, an alarming rate. Some of the administrators made unrealistic time demands on new teachers, were unsupportive in discipline situations, were negligent in providing resources or gave the impression of being inflexible or unsympathetic. These negatives from an administrator wear on a veteran teacher, but have the potential to cause new or young teachers to consider other professional options.
I am currently working on a Ph.D. in educational leadership and am doing a great deal of reading and research on effective leadership. Much of the course work involves readings, discussion, writing and research on effective leadership and leadership styles. I see in the scholarly literature and course texts a wide variety of characteristics of effective leadership. Many of the leadership characteristics are simply common sense yet many of them require careful consideration and reflection to appreciate.
I am excited, proud, and very fortunate to be working for an administrator now that personifies effective leadership. His concern for each teacher and staff member professionally and personally is obvious. He presents himself as a servant, ready to help each and every one of us and provide to us any resource necessary for the job. He is truly the embodiment of effective leadership. We do not work for him, we work WITH him.
I will never forget my first day teaching at this school. I walked out of the gym toward my office to grab a piece of equipment I needed for class. I was surprised by the Principal on my way. First, I was amazed that on the first day of school he found time to walk down by the gym and secondly, I was even more amazed at his remark to me. “Hello Coach Bradley, is there anything I can do for you”.
There can be no better teaching environment. We are supported in all discipline situations. We are routinely consulted on many issues and even in policy development when possible. None of our classroom teachers have duty outside of their teaching responsibilities. He, the four assistant principals and the coaches of the school assume all monitoring duties. We do not have unnecessary meetings, the meetings we do have are productive and often short, and meetings outside of an emergency are scheduled. He makes every effort to see that we are performing to his expectation, but at the same time, he makes every effort to see that we are content.
I recently spoke with a teaching peer who was still trying to endure the horrific teaching environment from which I escaped. I felt sadness for her and for the students. She asked how we made AYP and how did we win the governors cup (awarded to the high school in the State of Georgia that achieves the highest SAT point gain from one year to the next). It required absolutely no consideration. I proudly said, “Because we all love the job and morale is high”. We’re not just happy, we feel trusted, valued and secure in that we belong to a concerted effort.
Effective leadership can make or break a school or a teacher. Administrators possess as much power to mold and empower teachers as teachers possess to mold and empower students. With that said, it cannot be denied that administrators have a direct impact upon student achievement. I would even go so far as to assert that with effective administrative leadership at the helm, student achievement is almost guaranteed.
Katherine Bradley, A.B, M.ED., ED.S.