A network designed to connect new
principals with cohorts statewide to
discuss challenging common issues
relevant to their new role.
Links
to Content:
Demonstration Site:
The
Education Partnership
Target Population:
First to third year novice principals throughout the
state (some have asked and been allowed to stay beyond their
third year)
Need and Intent:
New principals need support as they begin to serve
as school leaders. Most districts offer little in the way of
mentoring to support new principals. Regardless of how good
the preparation, new principals frequently feel overwhelmed,
frustrated, discouraged and alone. The
Education Partnership realized it was not doing enough for
the newly appointed principals who were graduates of its leadership
preparation program,
Principal
Residency Network (PRN). For many, doing the job “alone”
came as a particularly harsh reality, especially after spending
the previous year of preparation in a cohort of support with
lots of direction. Many talked about a sense of loss and disconnectedness
and requested more formal opportunities to meet after graduation
from
PRN.
The
Education Partnership extended that invitation to new principals
across the state, as they assumed that these feelings of “aloneness”
were common.
The intent of The
Education Partnership’s Novice Principal Network and
its
Mentor
Training Institute for Principals (see the Institute’s
toolkit here) is to build on and expand the work of the
Principal
Residency Network by linking two components, preparation
and support in the first years serving as school leaders. One
of the most powerful ways a beginning principal can survive
and be effective is to find a mentor or network of “like-minded”
administrators to ease the transition into their first few years
as a principal. A second component was to begin to determine
the impact of the preparation program of the
PRN
on principals’ performance in the field. Beyond placement
rates for graduates, The
Education Partnership had no formal feedback on the effectiveness
of the training aspiring principals receive.
Implementation Process:
- Met with
PRN
graduates to determine needs for such a network.
- Sent invitation to join the Novice Principal Network (NPN)
to superintendents and principals across the state. (Used
Rhode Island
Association of School Principals listserv extensively
for communication).
- Met with group three times in the spring of 2005. These
were after school meetings. All NPN meetings used a combination
of text-based discussions and protocols;
consultancy
protocol; feedback from peers; and sharing resources.
Click
here to see agendas.
- Held a two-day summer retreat in August 2005 for novice
principals that was facilitated in part by the National
School Reform Faculty. (This format was far more successful
for both attendance and participation.)
Click
here to see agenda and invitations.
- Held three all-day sessions 05-06 (Principals suggested
that fewer all day meetings are better than several late afternoon
meetings.)
Click
here to see a sample agenda.
- Held monthly critical friends group meetings of 10-15 principals
who value sharing their work in a smaller setting where they
broke into 2-3 smaller groups to participate in activities
relative to selected themes/issues. The meetings are co-facilitated
by three principals. There is no agenda though protocols are
used (see below for list). Three novice principals are trained
coaches (through the Annenberg
Institute for School Reform) and handles the logistics,
including:
• Organizing the time and place;
• Determining who will be the co-facilitators; and
• Sending out a request for themes or issues people
want to talk about and asks people to be presenters (for example:
one novice principal brought in the school improvement plan
that he inherited from the previous principal of his school
for ideas and helpful prompts on how to move forward with
the work that came before him)
Tips for Implementation:
- All of the meetings should involve the use of protocols
to facilitate structured conversation and dialogue developed
by the National School Reform Faculty.
- Summer retreats are the best venue for large group professional
development.
- Intensive retreats are a good springboard for other meetings
so participants are more enticed to leave their buildings
to attend.
- There is a need to promote this opportunity as it was not
as easy to recruit novice principals who had not participated
in
PRN;
as that group already knew each other and felt comfortable
taking this next step together.
- Critical friends groups must build a culture of trust and
confidentiality.
• The network activities have to be about their own
daily work at school – timely, relevant and about universal
issues. Must avoid “sit and get” – meetings
have to be engaging.
- The meetings must be constructivist – participants
must have input into developing the agenda.
NOTE: The
Education Partnership will be sending two participants to
be trained as critical friends’ coaches (summer 2006)
at the
Annenberg Institute to perpetuate and grow the network.
The following is a list of topics the participants would like
the Novice Principal Network to focus on in the coming year:
- Using data to support instruction/move the vision/decision-making
- Creating a student centered environment in school
- Time-management strategies/Streamlining management responsibilities
so that more time is allocated for instructional leadership
– Breakthrough Coach.
- Resources for embedded professional development (i.e. how
to start a Critical Friends Group)
- Teaching adult learners
- Using teacher evaluations to improve instruction
- Written language resources
- Examining student work
- Special education as it connects to Response to Intervention
- Education laws and regulations
- How to run an effective TQP meeting and team
- Understanding
by Design – Grant Wiggins
- Consensus building
- Coaching
- Building capacity for a reform agenda
-
I-Planning
The following is a list of other ways participants would like
to work together through NPN:
- Site visitations to each other’s schools/peer observations
- Using other protocols
- Try to focus only on one or two areas per year (learn,
try out strategies, reflect, come back and share)
- Model specific strategies
- Peers act as coaches
- The
Institute for Learning's "Learning Walks"
- Perhaps a more active listserv correspondence would be
helpful for the group
Case Study:
One novice principal provided this reflection after an NPN meeting:
“Leaving school is always difficult.
This day was so worthwhile. First, I deserve this time to improve
my practice. Second, my school deserves the best leader possible.
The wealth of contribution from other principals continues to
amaze me. My participation, admittedly, is very selfish. I want
to become expert in my craft. We need to take care of our own
professional development. The consultancy protocol cuts to the
meat of an issue – you cannot solve a problem until you
define it. I wish we had more time to talk about professional
learning communities. It would help me focus some of the work
I am trying to begin at my school.”
Program Components and Materials:
Contact for More Information:
Name: Donna Vigneau-Carlson
Job Title: Vice President of Leadership
Role in Project: Directs all project activities
Phone: (401) 331-5222 x 107
E-mail: dvc132@cox.net
Address: 345 South Main St., Providence, RI 02903