Note: “She” is used for merely for convenience in this section (particularly in light of the fact that the current principals in all four CPN elementary schools are women). The masculine “He” can easily be substituted, and no bias is intended.
Ideal’s Leader and Principal is consistently recognized for superior performance, not only in Charleston County, but across the State via Palmetto Awards and Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence as well as throughout the nation. She consistently meets or exceeds the annual goals that are established as part of a regular (at least annual) review process and aligned with research-based standards for improving academic performance, local/state educational standards, and national professional standards.
She is a creative and entrepreneurial leader who gladly takes responsibility for student achievement and academic excellence.
She is well-respected and well-loved by Ideal’s students, parents, teachers, and administrative staff, as well as colleagues at other schools, with whom she collaborates regularly. Because of the pervasive team culture, low turnover rates for teachers, and high academic achievement of students, Ideal is considered a model elementary school and is regularly visited by teachers and researchers from communities throughout the nation so that these visitors can experience the Ideal difference first-hand.
Ideal’s Principal stays primarily focused on the school, though. As an instructional leader, she’s regularly inside classrooms observing teachers and students, and provides both individual and group mentoring and coaching to teaching faculty to ensure that a key focus on reading and math skill development is always present regardless of subject matter. She’s always on the lookout for ways to help teachers be more effective, and is respected by the teachers for her commitment to shared planning time and ongoing opportunities for professional development, and for rewarding outstanding teacher performance. Learn more about Ideal Elementary’s Teaching Faculty.
Ideal’s Principal is also a skilled communicator. When she speaks, everyone listens. School-Parent communication is a point of pride for the entire Ideal team, and Ideal’s Principal has a detailed communication plan designed to effectively target students, parents, teachers, and the community-at-large.
She’s regularly requested as a community speaker, and inspires volunteerism everywhere she goes. As a result, the school has a robust volunteer program that includes opportunities for classroom participation, lunch buddies, one-to-one mentoring, tutoring, speaking engagements, and more. Volunteers, including parents, act as reliable supplements to the teaching faculty and help provide enhanced opportunities for one-to-one instruction, skill-building and social development.
As a manager and administrator, Ideal’s Principal is budget savvy (frugal but not cheap), and skilled at identifying, seeking and receiving external public and private support from corporate and business partners, community philanthropists, and grant funders. Because she recognizes that evidence-based leadership is the only way to effectively catalyze success, so she regularly collects and analyzes data and uses it to bolster requests for funding and to drive strategic decision-making throughout the school in areas as diverse as transportation needs, attendance monitoring, teacher performance, and, of course, academic achievement.
References
National Board Certification for Principals: Redefining Educational Leadership for the 21st Century, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, last accessed online on 3/9/2011.
Evaluating School Principals, National Comprehensive Center for Teacher Quality, July 2010.
Review Find Principal-Evaluation Tools a Bit Outdated, Education Week; 1/6/2010, Vol. 29 Issue 16, page 8. (available by subscription only)