A building-level education leader applies knowledge that promotes the success of every student by understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context through advocating for school students, families, and caregivers; acting to influence local, district, state, and national decisions affecting student learning in a school environment; and anticipating and assessing emerging trends and initiatives in order to adapt school-based leadership strategies.
Reflective Statement
The role of the principal certainly has changed in recent years. Gone are the days of the principal locking himself in his office and focusing on the paperwork side of the job. Instead, a principal must now insure that all teachers are "Highly Qualified" and that they are teaching all of the required state standards that will certainly be tested on the state's high stakes test. School funding may very well be dependent on these scores, so administrators are tracking student data more closely than ever. Not only do we now look at student data, but we now examine teacher performance with increasing scrutiny. The RISE evaluation, and its many variations, ask principals to evaluate the effectiveness of every staff member in their buildings. All members are now held to more rigorous standards, and it is up to the school principal to establish these expectations early on. With every change in legislation, administrators are asked to do more and more. For this reason, it is incredibly important for a principal to stay up-to-date with current legislation to have an idea of what's to come in the future.