Education Week - May 15, 2013 - 23

EDUCATION WEEK

We Need a New Approach to
Principal Selection

Bob Dahm

MAY 15, 2013

www.edweek.org

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to change and an ability to execute will be a positive first step. If armed with a solid benchmarking
process, schools, including university schools of education, can screen applicants and ultimately hire a
new generation of more effective leaders, who are not
basing their work on the beliefs of the past. Building a program with candidates who possess these
job-related characteristics has proven to be crucial
for success in many fields outside of education. We
believe it is worthy of a chance within education. n

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Moving Beyond Punishment
won’t solve the problem. We need
to invest in programs that are
both fiscally sound and proven to
be effective in improving student
behavior, reducing unnecessary
suspensions and expulsions, and
creating a school climate that is
conducive to learning.
Of critical importance are pro-

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counselors, who must be aware of
the types of treatments that are
available in the community, and
how to effectively refer students
to them.
As a key first step, schools
and school districts should forge
strong partnerships with
juvenile-justice-system
representatives and
social-service agencies to develop a clear
understanding of how
therapies like the ones
described here can be
made available to students. We also encourage all schools to direct
troubled children into
therapeutic services that
meet their needs while
enabling them to remain
enrolled in school.
In addition, we want
schools to adopt initiatives that create safer
school environments for
all students, but we urge
iStockphoto.com/Zeljko Santrac
that resources be directed toward approaches
grams that address bullying.
that are evidence-based.
A joint U.S. Secret Service-U.S.
While we expect continued calls Department of Education study
for funding to put schoolwide pro- released in 2002 revealed that
grams in place, more money alone nearly three-quarters of the per-

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petrators of school shootings felt
they had been bullied or injured
by others.
Numerous studies have documented the effectiveness of programs such as the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program and
evidence-based behavioral-management programs such as Positive Action, a school-based
approach to social-emotional education that
teaches children that
their positive behaviors
can reinforce more positive actions by themselves and others.
Overall, the evidence
tells us that access to
mental-health treatment and safer school
environments will keep
more kids in class and
out of our juvenile- and
criminal-justice systems.
And that can mean not
only better outcomes for
youths, but also prevention of the tragic loss of
precious lives.
Through ongoing conversations with policymakers and partnerships with
the education community, that’s a
case we are ready and willing to
make. n

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 28

pal “talk.” Again and again, they could not describe
the job without embedding how they would do it. In
other words, they carved into the benchmark their
own personal biases, and the resulting benchmark
was a match with the traditional job of principal.
After reflecting on the failed process, a new group of
nationally recognized educators and a business representative was once again convened. This group was
also knowledgeable, but not as invested in the present educational system. Drawing from our experience
with the first group, we were able to drive home the
need to remove self from the discussion and let the
job talk. What we found was surprising. Instead of a
resistance to change, the assembled school leaders
freely talked about new ideas—ideas that could open
the doors to professional growth. The benchmark results were very different and quite revealing.
Together, this group generated 37 separate job-related areas, including 23 competencies needed from
the new-generation principal. It also revealed six motivations unique to this position, as well as eight particular behavioral traits that the job of an effective
school leader demands. For example, the key competencies include: personal effectiveness, leadership,
interpersonal skills, goal orientation, futuristic thinking, continuous learning, decisionmaking, persuasion,
and creativity/innovation.
We then turned to our database of assessments of
over 74,000 employed adults. We extracted and reviewed the results from the subset of those educators and found K-16 educators typically emphasize a
very different set of competencies. The new, objective
benchmark provided a novel job description that may
translate into greater job effectiveness and a muchneeded new approach.
We recognize hiring leaders with the right qualities still may not be enough for education reform to
take hold. But rethinking the roles of principals and
creating a new criterion that reflects an openness

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Education Week - May 15, 2013

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