Education Week - January 19, 2022 - 11

wide as they shifted from in-person learning to
remote instruction to hybrid instruction over the
course of a few months because of the coronavirus
pandemic.
" Everything is virtual ... I remember just being
scared out of my mind, " she recalled.
But having the hands-on experience and working
with her mentor-coach, Sarah Foster, the principal
of North Linden Elementary School, put Perry on
much firmer footing to start the principal's job during
the pandemic, Perry said.
" I already have the answers, because a lot of the
questions that were asked are things that we dealt
with last year, " she said. " I can't even imagine if I
would have had to come back this year, first year as
a principal, and not have had that whole year to basically
practice. "
Perry learned important lessons about school
leadership, including forging strong community
partnerships and communicating effectively
with parents and communities amid a public
health crisis. She has used some of those lessons
to establish community support networks
for students at Fairmoor.
But one of the things she treasures was that
although Foster was shadowing her, critiquing
her performance, and offering her feedback, she
wasn't trying to mold Perry into a facsimile of herself.
Instead, she was encouraging Perry to be the
leader she wanted to be.
" If she is trying to be me, that's not her authentic
self, " said Foster, who is now in her sixth year as a
principal and participated in the internship seven
years ago. " And in order for her to be successful,
she needs to build her own leadership style. "
Principals in training
Principal-interns spend the first few months shadowing
their mentor principals.
As the principal-interns' aptitude increases, they
shoulder more responsibilities and special projects.
That can include facilitating grade-level or contentlevel
meetings, overseeing student orientation, and
reviewing and updating the school's safety protocols.
Foster describes it as " on-the-job training, where
you gain real knowledge of all of the moving parts "
of school leadership.
" You can never really imagine what all of those
parts are until you're the the one making the decisions
about all of them, " she said.
Goals over the first few months include understanding
how the principal makes decisions, what
to consider before responding to an issue in the
buildings, observing classroom teaching through
the eyes of a principal, and learning how to provide
verbal and written feedback to teachers to help
them improve.
During the second half of the semester the program
interns learn about having difficult conversations,
how to de-escalate situations with students
and adults, and how to use school and district data
to make informed decisions.
On a typical day, the interns often arrive at the
school before the mentor principal, consult with
the mentor on the day's priorities, review staff absences
and school activities, and provide support
to the principal where needed.
And like the world of school leadership, every day
holds something different for principal-interns.
" Every day, there is a new situation they don't
teach you in school, " Matthew Holmes, an assistant
principal at Columbus Scioto 6-12 high school who
spent a year in the program, said about the difference
between standard principal-prep training and
the hands-on work during the leadership internship.
" This program allows you to talk to somebody
every day, bounce ideas, replay situations with
them, and also just talk about what your goals are
and where your weaknesses are, " he said.
Interns are floored by the constant movement,
Foster said.
" They always laugh at my to-do list because I
have the most enormous Whiteboard, and as soon
as everything is crossed off [the list], I start a new
one, " she said. " Every year, there's probably been
a conversation about, 'How do you know how to do
that, instead of that?' "
Real-world experience meets professional
development
The program is also geared at helping future
principals develop competency around management
and communication.
That can include knowing whom to call when
there's a problem with facilities, human resources,
and safety and security- the kinds of things Moser
describes as the " how-to of the principalship " that
teachers don't think about in the classrooms.
Even the district's legal counsel runs a session
for principal-interns, reinforcing what they may
have learned in their principal-licensure program.
That can include, for example, the legal and procedural
policies related to students who are being
served in special education. Principals also learn
about identifying students for gifted and talented
programs.
The district was " able to tailor the PD [sessions],
so they were meaningful and relevant to what we all
needed at that specific time in our lives, " Perry said.
Learning to make use of data
The sessions on disaggregating data were extremely
beneficial to Holmes, who works in a
school that serves only students with emotional
challenges and where every student has an individualized
education program.
It's an environment that's heavy on data use, so
being able to give teachers a quick synopsis of students'
data, what they know, and where gaps exist
to ensure they are placed in the correct classes is
important, he said.
The sessions on teacher evaluations also helped
Holmes shore up an area of weakness.
" I have been certified to be able to do it, but I've
never ever actually had to give somebody their
teacher rating, " he said. " I feel the PD really focused
on that; so we were prepared to be able to
give accurate information to staff ... rather than
going in there and without any idea- just kind of
thrown to the wolves. "
Principal-interns spend the first year in one
school, and the second year in another school,
and they also get to serve as substitute principals
when a principal is out.
" We do give them a chance to experience standing
on their own, " Moser said. " It gives them a
great view of the district as a whole. As a teacher,
they may have served in only one neighborhood
in the city...[A] substitute gets them into all six regions
of the city...and to serve at different levels. "
Moser said she believes that time spent as an
intern was instrumental to her success and the
difference between principals who succeeded and
those who struggled in the district.
" When someone didn't have the same opportunity,
but rather moved quickly from a classroom
position into the role of principal, they struggled,
and the outcomes were not as strong, " she said.
Despite the success in Columbus, the program
may not be replicable in every district because
of the staffing required to back up teachers taking
leave from their classrooms, Moser said. For
example, teachers who participate are relieved
from their classroom assignments and placed in
another school during their internships. Smaller
districts and cash-strapped systems may not have
the funds to hire another teacher to cover the classroom
duties of the principal-in-training. There's
also a small outlay to cover the cost of professional
development.
But Moser sees the investment as worth it.
" We retain about 90 percent of our leaders, " she
said. " So, while there is a cost and [investment of]
time, we continue to believe that this is making a
tremendous impact on the quality of our leaders. "
Former interns report that they continue to
draw on what they learned and rely on their mentor
principals and coaches.
Foster's mentor is one of her best friends years
later, and Foster continues to be a resource for
Perry, providing guidance and assistance that can
help save the new principal valuable time. One recent
example was sharing with Perry the template
Foster uses for scheduling and organizing her
teacher evaluations-something she developed with
her mentor and has tweaked over the years.
" There's no reason for you to be out there on an
island by yourself, " she said.
Holmes also said the program helped ready
him for one of the biggest challenges any school
leader has had to face: the pandemic.
Holmes said he would have been " spending all
night just going over stuff, just running myself in
circles, " without the year in training.
" Now I am able to act, and I am not spending all
night sitting there second-guessing. I can knock it
out, " he said. " If I don't have the answers, I know
whom to contact now. "
Coverage of principals and school
leadership is supported in part by
a grant from the Joyce Foundation,
at www.joycefdn.org/programs/
education-economic. Education Week
retains sole editorial control over the
content of this coverage.
EDUCATION WEEK | January 19, 2022 | www.edweek.org | 11
From left, Katina Perry and
Sarah Foster, principals in
Columbus, Ohio, and Matthew
Holmes, an assistant principal,
talk with Kathryn Moser who
runs the district's principal
internship program.
http://www.joycefdn.org/programs/education-economic http://www.joycefdn.org/programs/education-economic http://www.edweek.org
Education Week - January 19, 2022

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