a good principal essay

Essay on Principal

Students are often asked to write an essay on Principal in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

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100 Words Essay on Principal

Role of a principal.

The principal is the backbone of a school, guiding its academic and cultural journey. They oversee the school’s operations, curricula, and staff, ensuring a positive and enriching environment for students.

Principal’s Responsibilities

A principal’s responsibilities are vast. They include setting educational goals, hiring and managing staff, and interacting with parents and community members. Their role is pivotal in shaping a school’s ethos.

Impact of a Principal

A good principal can transform a school. They can improve academic performance, encourage student participation, and foster a culture of respect and inclusivity. Their leadership directly influences the school’s success.

250 Words Essay on Principal

The role of a principal.

The principal, often seen as the linchpin of an educational institution, is tasked with the responsibility of steering the school towards its mission. They shape the educational ethos, fostering a conducive environment for holistic learning.

Academic Leadership

A principal’s primary function is to provide academic leadership. They set high educational standards, develop curriculum, and establish performance objectives. They are instrumental in creating an environment that nurtures intellectual curiosity and critical thinking.

Administrative Duties

Beyond academics, the principal’s role extends to administrative duties. They are responsible for managing budgets, ensuring safety regulations, and overseeing daily operations. They also act as the liaison between the school and the community, government bodies, and parents.

Building Relationships

A principal’s effectiveness lies in their ability to build and maintain relationships. They need to connect with students, staff, and parents, fostering a sense of community. This involves understanding diverse perspectives, resolving conflicts, and promoting a culture of respect and inclusivity.

Professional Development

Principals play a significant role in the professional development of teachers. They encourage continuous learning, provide constructive feedback, and recognize outstanding performance. This not only improves teaching quality but also contributes to a positive school culture.

Challenges and Opportunities

The role of a principal is multifaceted and challenging. It requires a balance of educational expertise, managerial skills, and emotional intelligence. However, it also presents opportunities to make a profound impact on students’ lives and shape the future of education.

In conclusion, a principal’s role is pivotal in the functioning of a school. Their leadership guides the institution towards achieving its educational goals, making them the cornerstone of the academic community.

500 Words Essay on Principal

Introduction.

The role of a principal in an educational institution is pivotal, serving as the connecting link between students, teachers, staff, parents, and the broader community. The principal’s leadership and management skills directly influence the quality of education and the overall school environment.

The Multifaceted Role of a Principal

A principal’s role is multifaceted, encompassing administrative, pedagogical, and community-building aspects. Administratively, they are responsible for managing the school’s resources, setting and implementing policies, and ensuring compliance with educational standards and regulations. Pedagogically, they oversee curriculum development, teacher training, and student performance. They also play a significant role in fostering a positive and inclusive school culture, promoting student welfare, and maintaining strong ties with parents and the community.

Leadership and Vision

One of the principal’s most crucial roles is setting a vision for the school and leading its realization. This vision should align with the educational philosophy, societal demands, and the unique needs of the student body. The principal must inspire and motivate teachers and students to strive towards this vision, fostering a sense of shared responsibility and unity.

Building a Strong Educational Environment

Principals play a significant role in shaping the school’s educational environment. They must create an atmosphere that encourages learning and intellectual curiosity, while also promoting social, emotional, and physical well-being. This involves developing effective teaching strategies, creating supportive learning spaces, and implementing programs that address diverse learning needs.

Championing Professional Development

A principal is also a mentor and a coach to the teaching staff. By encouraging professional development, they ensure that teachers are equipped with the latest pedagogical skills and knowledge. This not only enhances the quality of teaching but also contributes to teacher satisfaction and retention.

Engaging the Community

Community engagement is another important aspect of a principal’s role. By fostering strong relationships with parents and community members, principals can create a supportive network around the school. This engagement can take many forms, from parent-teacher meetings to community service projects, and contributes to a sense of shared ownership and mutual respect.

In conclusion, the role of a principal is complex and demanding, requiring a balance of administrative acumen, educational expertise, leadership skills, and community engagement. As the backbone of the school, the principal’s effectiveness directly impacts the quality of education and the overall school environment. Therefore, recognizing and supporting the essential role of principals is crucial for the success of any educational institution.

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What Makes a Great Principal?

Great principals lead effective schools. Under their leadership, teachers thrive, students engage with core content and school administrative functions run smoothly. Conventional wisdom recognizes the value of school principals, and research backs it up. A report by the National Association of Elementary School Principals found that, of the most important factors affecting students’ academic achievement, leadership comes second only to instruction.

This finding makes sense as principals serve as the head of their schools, and their decisions affect school culture , parent involvement and overall community satisfaction. The level of influence a principal possesses, along with the benefits that can accompany the position, make it a post that many motivated educators aspire to hold. Not everyone has what it takes to execute the job effectively, however. Serving as a principal requires specific skills and characteristics that positively affect the school as a whole.

The Importance of a School Principal

Before considering the qualities of a great principal, it’s important to realize just how vital a principal’s role really is. Research published in the Hechinger Report showed that school principals account for 25% of students’ academic gains, and only teacher effectiveness had a greater impact. Researchers now believe that what makes a great principal also makes a great school. Setting clear direction, mentorship and investment in professional development – these things matter in the classroom, at the school level and at the district level.

An article written by The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement stated that leadership’s effects show the greatest impact in the areas where they are most needed. A troubled school, for example, is unlikely to turn around without an effective leader’s guidance. Increasing awareness of a school principal’s influence on student and teacher performance is reshaping how educational leaders and thinkers view school reform.

Rigorous testing, with its system of teacher-directed rewards and punishment, is being replaced by a growing consensus that the key to school reform lies in effective leadership. Districts and private schools are recruiting top-quality educational leaders and empowering them to create the educational changes the public demands. As leadership expert John Maxwell famously put it, “Everything rises and falls on leadership.” Since the evidence suggests this is as true in schools as it is in businesses and nonprofits, educators now have to ask, What makes a great principal? 

The 7 Priorities of a Great Principal

1. Collaboration

A great principal fosters a collaborative school culture. Education consultant Steve Barkley has identified six distinctive school cultures , three of which – toxic, fragmented and balkanized –clearly emerge from and perpetuate organizational dysfunction.

Another of the six cultures, contrived-collegial culture, enforces collaboration from the top down, which may be necessary in an organizational transition, but without teacher buy-in, forced collaboration rarely works in the long term. Instead, a truly collaborative school culture emphasizes working together within the common framework of strong educational values. The goal of a collaborative school culture is effective instruction, and great principals engender this kind of culture in their schools. 

2. Listening

Traditional models of leadership focus on a single charismatic leader who tells others what to do, but contemporary leaders listen to the people around them, consider a variety of ideas and then make their decisions. Great principals spend time listening to students, teachers, parents, other administrators and educational researchers.

This kind of listening goes beyond simply paying attention while others talk. It requires understanding a speaker’s motivations, listening for what they are not saying and asking powerful questions.

Be A Great Principal

Learn what it takes to be a great principal with East Central’s Online Master’s in Educational Leadership. This program will help you gain the confidence and skills necessary to carry out your new responsibilities effectively.

3. Leadership

When asked what makes a great principal, many teachers and parents may give their answer with a single word: leadership. Though definitions of leadership vary, their common thread is influence . A principal holds a title, and with it, the authority to implement their will on teachers and students. However, a great principal uses influence, as opposed to demands, to illicit the desired behaviors and attitudes from their team and students. People follow an effective leader because they want to, not just because they have to.

4. Visibility

Effective principals make it a priority to spend time in the classroom, the lunchroom, the hallway, the bus line and the main office. Essentially, they get out of the office. This approach used to be called management by walking around, or MBWA.

By simply walking around their workplaces, leaders can glean a lot from observing their team, resources, student behavior and how teachers respond to students in formal and non-formal settings. An article in Forbes said, “Companies (and schools) could benefit significantly if senior leaders would get out more — get away from their offices, the unnecessary meetings and the power lunches and see what’s going on elsewhere in the organization.”

5. Relationships

Nearly everyone wants to maintain relationships with other people, but meaningful relationships go deeper than maintaining. They have purpose. To build meaningful relationships, great leaders need to know how to set and respond to relational boundaries. They don’t isolate themselves or let their teachers hunker down in their classrooms all alone. But they also don’t force all teachers to act or teach alike.

Great principals establish high, reasonable and clear expectations that don’t keep teachers guessing. This approach creates trust, allowing teachers to be comfortable with taking ideas or problems to the principal. By creating meaningful relationships with parents and students, principals can often curtail problems or conflicts before they begin. In so doing, these principals keep teachers from having to manage too many emotionally draining situations on top of their regular work.

Many classroom educators leave the profession every year because they feel unsupported by their administrators. There’s even a saying: “teachers quit principals, not schools.”

Research backs that up. An article published by the Brookings Institution said great principals do an exemplary job of retaining effective teachers , but not ineffective ones. The article went on to say that the best principals practiced “strategic retention.” A great principal must be abile to discern between high- and low-performing teachers. They must be able to create an environment in which high performers flourish and low performers can grow and improve.

7. Learning

Great principals never stop learning. Common sense dictates that the best educators and leaders are also lifelong learners. Research from the National Education Association (NEA) revealed the same thing. According to the NEA’s landmark report, Great Teaching and Learning , educators can take charge of their professional development through a specific series of steps. They start by taking an initial self-assessment, setting career growth goals, working toward those goals and finally conducting a post-activity self-assessment.

For a principal, working toward a career growth goal might mean conducting and publishing research in an academic journal or assuming a leadership position in an educational or community organization. Teachers who aspire to serve as great principals can also set ongoing learning goals, such as obtaining additional formal education through an online master’s degree in educational leadership . This kind of advanced degree prepares teachers to transition out of the classroom and into administrative roles.

The online Master of Education in Educational Leadership program from East Central University will help you gain the confidence and skills necessary to carry out your new responsibilities effectively. Our program was designed with working teachers in mind, and because of the online format, its flexible to fit around your busy schedule.

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The Qualities of a Great Principal

Behind every great teacher is a great principal. In fact, principals are the most important factor in attracting and retaining high-quality teachers . A teacher impacts learning in one classroom, while principals influence high-quality instruction schoolwide. Some principals see consistent gains in their schools while others see pockets of excellence. What accounts for these differences?

In the past 20 years, New Leaders has trained 8,000 equity-focused leaders who impact over 2 million students in our K-12 system every year. We’ve seen first-hand what it takes to be a great principal. Our Transformational Leadership Framework™ identifies key leadership actions that drive sustainable school improvement, regardless of school size, location, or student demographics. And our alumni bring these practices to life in their schools each day.  

In honor of National Principals Month, here’s what we know—and what research confirms—to be the qualities of a transformational school leader:

A relentless focus on teaching and learning

It all starts with a vision of instructional excellence and academic success for all students. Many studies, including over a decade of Wallace Foundation-supported research , tell us that great principals have a laser-like focus on the instructional quality in the schools that they lead. Effective school leaders have a data-informed understanding of what's driving success for their students and encourage collaboration to move towards their vision. They know what’s going on in classrooms and can differentiate teacher support accordingly.

Effective principals zero in on equity. They promote a mindset in their staff that all children are capable of learning at high levels. They also ensure the curriculum is both academically rigorous and culturally responsive. And they remain resilient in the face of adversity, removing barriers to student success.

A high-expectations school culture

When leaders have high expectations of staff and students, they instill the confidence and agency needed to strive for higher levels of performance. Working together, they create a learning environment in which everyone feels safe, valued, cared for, and seen.

The first step to building a high-expectations culture and shared accountability? It all comes back to that vision of student achievement and learning for all students. From there, great principals define the values, expectations, and support that staff members need to realize their belief that all students can learn. This leads to our next point.

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Exceptional teacher support and shared leadership

Teachers play an important role in carrying out the vision. Great principals share leadership with their teams. In turn, teachers become more engaged, fulfilled, productive, and effective. New Leaders alum Felipe Jackson, reflecting on the impact of leaning on his team during the pandemic , explains: “What I realized is that the more I gave my team opportunities to lead and be a part of the process, the more I knew we were going to be okay.”

Great principals build and nurture trusting relationships when they have high expectations of teachers and communicate with them on a regular basis. To build more trust and motivate teachers, great school leaders prioritize coaching and provide constructive feedback in a timely manner. When feedback is consistent, frequent, specific, and actionable, the impact on teacher growth—and student learning—is much greater.

Great principals share leadership with their teams. In turn, teachers become more engaged, fulfilled, productive, and effective.

Self-reflection, passion and continuous growth

This is where the heart of the transformational leader lies. The secret sauce. The X-factor. Whatever you call it, it is cultivated when leaders remain focused on their vision and also dedicate time to reflect on their own practice and then move forward differently .

Personal leadership is further demonstrated when principals lead by example and gain the respect of their team. You can improve your personal leadership, no matter your role, by taking small actions to model the behaviors you’d like to see, even if it’s as simple as asking a student how they are doing on a given day. Great leaders gain respect by keeping students at the core of decision-making, remaining consistent, and communicating the reasoning behind their decisions.

Leadership is also synonymous with learning. The University of San Diego puts it well when they describe that the best leaders are “ humble in their knowledge, yet confident in their abilities .” A successful school leader is always pushing past personal boundaries to continue to learn and grow, which couldn’t be a better behavior to model for staff and students.

The structures for success

Great principals put the appropriate systems into place to achieve their vision. This includes systems that support teacher growth, distribute resources equitably, and create decision making processes that honor all voices. Great principals also keep their eye on school performance, working to convert pockets of excellence into schoolwide excellence. Systemizing collaboration, for instance, ensures that teachers are sharing best instructional practices. This positively impacts instructional quality and student achievement across the school.  

The qualities of a great principal share a common thread: they don’t work without a vision.

Commitment to the vision

After Hurricane Katrina, students were displaced across the country and many had fallen behind. Some standout principals, like New Leaders alum Karen Bryan-Chambers, led post-Katrina school communities to rapid success despite the circumstances. When asked what could be attributed to her student gains , Bryan-Chambers didn’t hesitate. “Our vision drove our work...we believed that it was the responsibility of every adult in our school to make sure our students achieved. Together, we did whatever it took to make that vision a reality for our children.”

The qualities of a great principal share a common thread: they don’t work without a vision. Without a vision, a leader doesn’t have the people. Leadership is hard work. It’s a lifelong journey. But when principals hold tightly to their vision and inspire others to get behind it, the rest falls into place with time and practice.

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What Qualities Make A Great Principal?

Updated: February 8, 2024

Published: April 23, 2021

Principals are to schools as CEOs are to businesses. This means that their leadership has a great impact on the success of the institution. Principals play a large role in how students, administrators, and teachers go about their day-to-day academic activities. Knowing what makes a great principal helps pave the way to success.

We’ll touch on the impact of a principal, why relationships are so important, and the top qualities that make a principal outstanding.

The Impact of a Principal

Second only to teacher effectiveness, school principals have been shown to account for 25% of students’ academic growth. 

This is because a principal serves as the top leader for an academic institution, by which all policies and attitudes stem from. A principal impacts the direction of a school, involvement in professional development, mentorship , and leadership.

A principal is often responsible for overseeing all administrative tasks, supervising and hiring teachers, planning academic calendars, creating school policies, designing programs, managing the budget, and disciplining unruly students. The decisions of a principal are both large and small. As such, it’s easy to see how a principal impacts all functioning within a school.

Why Relationships Mean So Much

Every day, a principal has to communicate with lots of people. Being good at building and maintaining relationships, as well as having strong communication skills, is a non-negotiable for a principal to possess. Principals work with other administrators, staff, teachers, students, community members, and parents.

Oftentimes, principals are approached with big problems that need solutions. Having to deal with varying emotions from good to bad, principals have to be open to talking to anyone that needs them.

Top Qualities of a Good Principal

When everything rests on the skills of a leader, it’s best to know what makes a leader skillful. Here are some of the top qualities that good principals should display:

Accept Responsibility

Principals will undoubtedly face both highs and lows. Good principals know how to tackle challenges and accept responsibility when things don’t turn out as planned. This means that they are adaptive and ready to try other solutions if their first approach doesn’t work. Additionally, because principals are at the top of the pyramid, when things fail that wasn’t their own doing, they still have to accept responsibility as the leader.

Promote Collaboration

Schools are made up of many moving parts. Each school has a culture. In the best cases, a principal promotes collaboration between teachers, students, parents, and community members. By working together in support of the educational framework, schools that are collaborative in nature can benefit greatly.

Listen Well

When you think of a leader, it’s all too often that people think of one person who delegates tasks and may boss others around. But contemporary leaders are great listeners. They give time to every person to share their thoughts, feelings, and concerns. Besides just hearing the thoughts of others, they make an effort to incorporate the ideas of others into action. Great principals also ask all the right questions to better understand a contributor’s reasoning.

Get Involved

Good principals are involved in the day-to-day inner workings of their school. They spend time in classrooms, hallways, and the administrative offices to see how things are going. While they need to be in their office to take care of business, they should be visible around the school to show their investment in their team and students.

Build Relationships

Meaningful relationships are rooted in purpose. Principals build relationships with their teachers and students to achieve goals. They are able to clearly communicate expectations, provide actionable feedback, and talk to others without struggle. With strong relationships , principals are privy to problems before they blow out of proportion and can help to keep the school running smoothly.

Offer Support

One of the most crucial characteristics of being a good principal comes down to offering support to staff and students. In many cases, when a teacher feels unsupported, they may quit their job. This isn’t a reflection of the school, but rather the leadership. Principals need to bridge the gap between inefficient and efficient teachers and help guide professional development.

Continue Learning

Successful people tend to be endlessly curious with a strong desire to learn. When it comes to being a principal who wants to continue to learn, this could mean publishing research or taking on a leadership position in a community organization. It could also mean gaining more certifications or enrolling to earn a Master’s Degree in Education , if they don’t already have one.

Celebrate Big and Small Wins

The celebration of victories, both small and large, helps to boost school morale. Celebrating small wins is especially important because it recognizes teachers who are trying their best to help students. For example, a principal can celebrate a teacher who hasn’t missed a day of work or has witnessed a boost in their students’ capabilities.

Develop Leaders

Principals often become mentors for their teachers and students. As a leader, it’s important to give time and guidance to the teachers who have the will to better themselves. The job of a good principal isn’t over once they hire a teacher; in fact, it’s just beginning. Next comes the opportunity to offer advice, help them solve problems, and serve as a guiding light.

Have a Vision

Good principals have goals for their school. Not only do they set up a plan to reach their vision, but they share their vision with others so people can be on the same page. By having a strong vision and approach, good principals can guide their school to greatness.

Good Principals Follow Principles

Good principals are guided by their strong foundations, principles, and desire to achieve greatness. From being strong listeners to investing in their own growth, a principal plays a huge role in how a school is run. Their leadership is one of the most highly cited determinants of a school’s overall success.

Of course, it takes strong teachers and motivated students to do well, but the school’s culture and programs are often decided by the principal at the top.

The aforementioned characteristics are just a few examples of what makes a great school principal. While every principal brings their own style of leadership to their school, these characteristics help to sum up how a principal can go from being mediocre to great.

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The role of the principal covers many different areas including leadership, teacher evaluation, and student discipline . Being an effective principal is hard work and is also time-consuming. A good principal is balanced within all her roles and works hard to ensure that she is doing what she feels is best for all constituents involved. Time is a major limiting factor for every principal. A principal must become efficient at practices such as prioritizing, scheduling, and organization.

School Leader

A school principal is a primary leader in a school building. A good leader always leads by example. A principal should be positive, enthusiastic, have his hand in the day-to-day activities of the school, and listen to what his constituents are saying. An effective leader is available to teachers, staff members, parents, students , and community members. He stays calm in difficult situations, thinks before acting, and puts the needs of the school before himself. An effective principal steps up to fill in holes as needed, even if it isn’t a part of his daily routine.

Student Discipline Chief

A large part of any school principal’s job is to handle student discipline. The first step of having effective student discipline is to ensure that teachers know the expectations. Once they understand how the principal wants them to handle discipline issues, then her job becomes easier. Discipline issues a principal deals with will mostly come from teacher referrals . There are times that this can take a large part of the day.

A good principal will listen to all sides of an issue without jumping to conclusions, collecting as much evidence as she can. Her role in student discipline is much like that of a judge and a jury. A principal decides whether the student is guilty of a disciplinary infraction and what penalty she should enforce. An effective principal always documents discipline issues, makes fair decisions, and informs parents when necessary.

Teacher Evaluator

Most principals also are responsible for evaluating their teachers’ performance following district and state guidelines. An effective school has effective teachers, and the teacher evaluation process is in place to ensure that the teachers are effective. Evaluations should be fair and well documented, pointing out strengths and weaknesses.

A good principal should spend as much time in classrooms as possible. He should gather information every time he visits a classroom, even if it is just for a few minutes. Doing this allows the evaluator to have a larger collection of evidence of what actually goes on in a classroom than a principal who make few visits. A good evaluator always lets his teachers know what his expectations are and then offers suggestions for improvement if they are not being met.

Developer, Implementer, and Evaluator of School Programs

Developing, implementing, and evaluating the programs within the school is another large part of the role as a principal. A principal should always be looking for ways to improve the student experience at school. Developing effective programs that cover a variety of areas is one way to ensure this. It is acceptable to look at other schools in the area and to implement those programs within the principal's school that have proved to be effective elsewhere.

A principal should evaluate school programs every year and tweak them as necessary. If a reading program has become stale and students are not showing much growth, for example, a principal should review the program and make changes as needed to improve it.

Reviewer of Policies and Procedures

An individual school’s governing document is its student handbook. A principal should have his stamp on the handbook. A principal should review, remove, rewrite, or write new policies and procedures every year as needed. Having an effective student handbook can improve the quality of education students receive. It can also make a principal’s job a little easier. The principal’s role is to ensure that students, teachers, and parents know what these policies and procedures are and to hold each individual accountable for following them.

Schedule Setter

Creating schedules every year can be a daunting task. It can take some time to get everything to fall into its proper place. There are many different schedules a principal may be required to create including a bell, teacher duty, computer lab, and library schedule. The principal should cross-check each of those schedules to ensure that no one person has a load that is too heavy

With all the scheduling a principal has to do, it is almost impossible to make everyone happy. For example some teachers like their planning period first thing in the morning and others like it at the end of the day. It is probably best to create the schedule without trying to accommodate anyone. Also, a principal should be prepared to make adjustments to schedules once the year begins. She needs to be flexible because there are times that there are conflicts she did not foresee that need to be changed.

Hirer of New Teachers

A vital part of any school administrator’s job is to hire teachers and staff who are going to do their job correctly. Hiring the wrong person can cause huge headaches down the line while hiring the right person makes the principal's job easier. The interview process is extremely important when hiring a new teacher . There are many factors that play into a person being a good candidate, including teaching knowledge, personality, sincerity, and excitement toward the profession.

Once a principal has interviewed candidates, she needs to call references to get a feel for what the people who know them think they would do. After this process, the principal might narrow the choices to the top three or four candidates and ask them to come back for a second interview. This time, she can ask the assistant principal , another teacher, or the superintendent to join in the process to include another person’s feedback in the hiring process. Once completing the process, she should rank candidates accordingly and offer to position to the person who is the best fit for the school, always letting the other candidates know that the position has been filled.

Public Relations Point Person

Having good relations with parents and community members can benefit a principal in a variety of areas. If a principal has built trusting relationships with a parent whose child has a discipline issue, it will be easier to deal with the situation. The same holds true for the community. Building relationships with individuals and businesses in the community can benefit the school greatly. Benefits include donations, personal time, and overall positive support for the school.

Many leaders by nature have a hard time putting things in others' hands without their direct stamp on it. However, it is vital that a school principal delegate some duties as necessary. Having trustworthy people around will make this easier. An effective school principal does not have enough time to do everything that needs ​to be done by himself. He must rely on other people to assist him and trust that they are going to do the job well.

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An Essay Sample on A School Principal

• Author Writer

School principals are among the most vital leaders in our society as they mold our children’s education. A principal holds a crucial role in the functionality of any school since it can enhance the education standard in the institution. Additionally, school principals are the topmost-ranking administrators in elementary, middle, or high schools. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, a school principal connects teachers, learners, their parents or custodians, the education system, and the community. Moreover, principals can contribute to a student's academic achievement by influencing the school's organization, the atmosphere in the school, teachers, and the teaching process. In the United States, for one to become a school principal, one must meet various qualifications. However, a successful principal should possess several comprehensive skills and perform their duties and responsibilities effectively.

Most states in the U.S. require those seeking employment as school principals to have a license. Different states have distinct licensure requirements, but the general essentials include experience as a professional teacher, one must have graduated from a state-certified principal preparation program, and a passing mark on a nationally accredited licensure test. However, school principals' qualifications have been the topic of significant debate in the last decades of the 20 th century as pressure intensified to make schools more responsible for success. The national bodies representing various school administrators, such as principals, have enthusiastically discussed suitable qualifications for principals in elementary, middle, and high schools.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals, also known as NASSP, undertook a dynamic role in ascertaining principal qualifications in the 1980s via establishing an evaluation procedure. This technique focuses on leadership abilities that significantly influence a school principal's capability to lead and manage their schools efficiently. Additionally, the assessment process is based on a task analysis carried out in collaboration with the American Psychological Association. The skills evaluated through the NASSP Assessment Center comprised judgment, leadership, motivation, problem analysis, variety of interests, certainty, managerial capability, sensitivity, stress tolerance, educational values, and verbal and written communication. Afterward, the National Association of Elementary School Principals formed an assessment program that evaluated similar skills.

The National Policy Board for Educational Administration, also known as NPBEA, reviewed the principal qualifications in the mid-1990s. The NPBEA comprised several significant national bodies representing professors who prepare education administrators and schooling administrators such as principals and superintendents. One of the NPBEA's affiliates, the Council of Chief State School Officers, also known as CCSSO, took the initiative to create a set of codes for education leaders. The CCSSO created a group with representatives and associations from thirty-seven states, which determined a new set of requirements for school administrators. This set of standards sought to influence the grounding of principals, lead states in developing their principal standards, and act as a device for licensure or assessment. This group, known as the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC), designed the standards to address a principal’s requirement to promote every student’s success.

Besides meeting the set of standards, school principals must be versatile leaders. The principal can be a public relations representative, curriculum advisor, manager, budget specialist, disciplinarian, and intermediary on any regular school day. Fundamentally, a principal has to run all facets of school life, such as evaluating teacher performance, managing and creating the curriculum, disciplining students, scheduling classes, and controlling the school budget. Therefore, every school principal should possess a wide range of skills and proficiencies to execute such tasks effectively. Some aptitudes include leadership skills, IT proficiency, a capability to adapt and innovate, communication skills, and problem-solving competencies.

Since principals act as mediators between teachers, students, and their parents, they must be strong leaders for the learners, parents, and school staff to listen and respect what the principal says. Additionally, school principals should have past experiences in several teaching management roles, such as organizing a co-curricular event or being head of departments. Secondly, for a principal to become innovative and uphold the teaching styles and curriculum’s relevancy, they must familiarize themselves with the latest technology. Thirdly, practical communication skills will help the principal communicate appropriately with different people within a school setting and the education sector (Teacher Academy). Operative communication skills help to update all parties about the school activities.

Fourthly, the vital skills that any principal can possess are problem-solving abilities. Principals face many problems, from financial issues to students' home problems, which require an advanced level of analytic aptitudes. Lastly, principals and other educators should have the ability to adjust and be innovative. Flexible and inventive principals can embrace changes and transform the curriculum and teaching styles (Wallace Foundation). Some of the duties and responsibilities that school principals should perform include handling all staff and faculty at a learning institution, overseeing and managing a school's performance, supervising hiring decisions, and deciding how to spend school finances.

School principals are the highest-ranking leaders in elementary, middle, and high schools. Various states in the U.S. follow a specific set of standards that outline the qualifications of anyone aiming to work as a principal. However, regardless of the differences in the selecting criteria, ILLSC established a set of standards that form the basis of principals' qualifications. Additionally, successful principals perform their duties effectively and possess exemplary leadership, problem-solving, and communication skills.

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. "School Principals.” OECD.org , 2021.

Teacher Academy. "The 10 Essential Skills of a Good School Principal.” Teacher academy .Eu , 2021

Wallace Foundation. "Five Key Responsibilities - The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning.” Wallacefoundation.Org , 2021.

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What makes a great principal?

by: The GreatSchools Editorial Team | Updated: July 4, 2023

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The classroom teacher is the most visible person in your child’s life at school, but it is the principal who is responsible for providing a high- quality education for all students there.

What makes a great principal?  Principals vary in strategy, temperament, and leadership style, but the great ones have four characteristics in common:

• Great principals take responsibility for school success.
• Great principals lead teaching and learning.  
• Great principals hire, develop and retain excellent teachers.
• Great principals build a strong school community.  

GreatSchools.org talked to several San Francisco public school principals who illustrate these qualities. The principals spoke about leadership and how they meet the real-life challenges of their jobs.

Great principals take responsibility for school success

Great principals believe that the problems of the school are their problems, and they never stop trying to solve them. If a student is having trouble learning, a successful principal knows it is her job to figure out why, whether it is a learning disability, trouble with attendance, or gang involvement. Great principals are also creative in their problem-solving and approach challenges with an entrepreneurial attitude. They find ways to implement good ideas, rather than accepting the status quo.

Questions to ask at your school

• Ask your principal: What challenges does the school face?
• Ask your principal: What is the plan to meet those challenges?
• Ask your child’s teacher: How does the principal get involved when a student is having trouble?

For example, most schools today have very limited budgets, making it difficult to pay for innovative new programs. When Margaret Chiu, principal of Galileo High School, finds a new program she thinks will benefit her students, she doesn’t waste time lamenting the lack of funding. She gets busy. She immediately begins thinking of who in the community she can ask to help support and pay for the program. She has created partnerships with businesses, local colleges, and health care professionals that help enrich her school’s curriculum.

Whatever challenges they face, great principals don’t make excuses for why their schools can’t succeed. Instead they make it their top priority to figure out how their schools can excel, and do everything they can to make that happen.

Great principals lead teaching and learning at their schools

Principals at successful schools understand the strengths and needs of their students and they know what is happening in the classrooms at their schools. These principals play an active role in planning and supporting instruction that is appropriate for their students, and they ensure that school time and resources are focused on student achievement.

• Ask your principal: What are our school’s main academic goals?
• Ask your prinicipal: What steps are being taken to achieve those goals?
• Look up your school’s achievement data on GreatSchools.org and ask your principal: How is the school addressing weaknesses or gaps in student achievement?

Nearly 60 percent of Moscone Elementary School’s students are English language learners, but Principal Patty Martel is determined that all of her students will be proficient in reading in English by the time they move on to middle school. In support of this goal, she allocates money from her limited school budget to pay for an early intervention literacy program as soon as a student begins struggling with reading. She also requires that all programs at her school include an element of literacy. Reading and writing are integrated into art, science, and everything else the students do.

Principals must also understand what test scores and other data say about their students’ learning and use the information to help teachers set goals and improve instruction.

When test scores at Alvarado Elementary School showed that some groups of students were not reading and writing as well as others, Principal David Weiner helped teachers develop a new plan. Teachers across the school coordinated their reading and writing instruction, so that struggling students could receive direct instruction from a literacy specialist in addition to the classroom teacher.

Successful principals must constantly evaluate what is working and what is not, and use that information to make improvements.

Great principals hire, develop, and retain excellent teachers

One of a principal’s most important roles is ensuring that every student is taught by an excellent teacher. Although it can be time-consuming, principals must actively recruit good teachers to their schools. Principals can visit teacher education classes to find promising new teachers; they can open their schools to student teachers and try to hire the good ones; and they can talk to teachers and other principals to find quality experienced teachers who might be looking for new positions.

Principals must also support and develop the teachers they have. Research shows that principal leadership is a key factor in a teacher’s decision to stay at a particular school. Much of a principal’s time should be spent in classrooms observing teachers, complimenting their strengths, and offering specific suggestions for improvement. If a teacher is struggling with a particular issue or group of kids, the principal should be in the classroom as often as possible, watching and helping the teacher develop more successful strategies.

Patricia Gray, principal at Balboa High School, says that she spent two to three hours a day observing in classrooms and talking with teachers during her first several years as principal. Principal Weiner notes that many teachers initially objected to the hours he spent observing in classrooms at Alvarado, but he quickly found that the best teachers were eager to work with him to improve their teaching.

• Ask your principal: How do you recruit new teachers when there is an opening?
• Ask your child’s teacher: How much time does the principal spend oberserving in your classroom?
• Ask your principal: How are great teachers at our school recognized or rewarded?

Providing meaningful opportunities for professional development is another way principals can help teachers improve instruction. The principal should make sure that workshops and other development activities are related to the goals of the school and will help teachers better serve their students.

Marcia Parrott, principal at Miraloma Elementary School, pulled her staff out of a time-consuming teacher training program that was not meeting their needs. The techniques taught in the training program were not compatible with the reading program used at the school and the program instructors were not able to help the teachers integrate the two programs. Although she had to defend her decision to the school district, she was adamant that her teachers not spend their time on a program they could not use to help students.

Principals must keep good teachers professionally satisfied by showing them that their efforts are valued and supported by the principal and other teachers. Principal Martel joked that she keeps teachers at Moscone by doing all the yard duty herself. Although her comment was lighthearted, it reflects the respect she has for teachers and her recognition that the teachers at her school work hard.

Providing time to plan with other teachers is another way principals can support their teachers and treat them as professionals. One of the first changes Principal Chiu made at Galileo was to change the school day schedule to allow time each week for teachers to meet and plan together. Adelina Aramburo, former principal at Daniel Webster Elementary School, made sure her school’s tight budget included a few hours of extra pay each month for teachers. She believes this showed teachers that the time they spent meeting and planning together outside their official work day was recognized and appreciated.

Great principals build a strong school community

For a school to be successful, the administration, teachers, parents, students and support staff must work as a team. Principals

must work with the staff to make school a welcoming place for all students and their families.

Principal Parrott at Miraloma holds a monthly parent-principal chat, an informal time when parents can come to ask questions and give input. She also schedules meetings and events at times when parents are already at the school picking up their children, for example, when the after-school program closes for the day.

• Ask your child: Do you feel safe at school?
• Ask your child: Do you think school rules and consequences are clear?  Are all kids treated fairly?
• Ask your principal: How can I get involved at the school?

A great school community is one where students feel safe and know they will be treated fairly. It is the principal’s job to create that safe atmosphere where children can learn. The first year she was at Balboa High School, Principal Gray was concerned about a gang presence at the school. Although it meant she had to work many evenings and weekends, she met personally with the parents of every single student who got in trouble that year. Principal Gray believes her action sent a strong message about her commitment to creating a safe learning community at Balboa.

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School Principals as Leaders

Introduction, synthesis of key ideas.

Nowadays, researchers actively discuss the role of a principal as an effective school leader because of the overall tendency to reconsider leadership practices that can contribute to students’ achievements. The Wallace Foundation (2012) presented five critical functions performed by school principals that are associated with their leadership: forming a vision of academic success, creating a positive climate, stimulating leadership in other people, improving instruction, and managing resources to improve performance. However, in spite of formulating these five responsibilities as major ones, it is almost impossible to limit modern school leaders’ roles in educational organizations only to these specific tasks as today they have the potential to serve as transformational leaders and role models for both teachers and students.

From this perspective, school leaders can directly influence the academic achievements of students and support is an important component of a positive climate. Additionally, leaders need to inspire professional communities as they promote the change and effectively manage resources. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why school principals, who focus on performing five key responsibilities, should be viewed from a wider perspective of transformational leadership.

In spite of teachers’ impact on students’ achievements, school principals can have even more influence on others as transformational and visionary leaders indicating a standard level for students and educators and creating a positive atmosphere. According to the report by the Wallace Foundation (2012), “developing a shared vision around standards, and success for all students is an essential element of school leadership” (p. 6). Furthermore, principals can contribute to changing a school climate to a positive one in order to promote learning through avoiding teacher isolation, negativism, and creating a welcoming environment (The Wallace Foundation, 2012).

As a result, a leader in a school can serve as a role model for teachers to know what standards to follow and for students in terms of identifying paths to success. The current tendency of referring to principals as influential leaders make them responsible agents in improving diverse students’ learning in an appropriate environment.

Principals as leaders are expected to stimulate leadership in others and inspire professional communities, creating change in instructions and effectively managing available resources. Thus, “Principals play a major role in developing a ‘professional community’ of teachers who guide one another in improving instruction” (The Wallace Foundation, 2012, p. 7). As a result, leaders create a group of followers around them who can influence the realization of necessary changes in a school environment.

Additionally, effective leaders work to improve instructions and effectively manage data to assess outcomes and propose action steps, supervising changes and inspiring others to act. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that principals as real leaders need to perform even more tasks in order to achieve an effective transformational change in their organization.

Currently, I can assess my progress as a leader positively in relation to the following tasks: creating an appropriate climate for teaching and learning, improving instruction, and managing resources, such as people and data, to reach goals. However, I cannot state that my skills in creating a vision of academic success for all students and promoting leadership in others are developed enough. From this perspective, the areas of improvement I can identify at the current stage are the work on formulating and promoting expectations regarding students’ academic success with reference to diverse children and students with disabilities as I need to research and practice this aspect.

Furthermore, I need to work on building my image of an influential leader who can stimulate the professional development of educators in the context of acting in professional learning communities. To complete these tasks, I can refer to the information from the report by the Wallace Foundation (2012) and determine the areas for further examination and analysis to develop my potential as a leader. Consequently, I will identify other areas that I need to improve in order to perform as an effective educational leader.

The important implications of the discussed report for my practice are that principals are the most influential leaders in the sphere of school education. In addition, a climate viewed as hospitable to learning should be not only adjusted for students’ needs and safe but also supportive to promote students’ positive experiences in interacting with educators. Moreover, it is important to set high expectations for all students in order to guarantee their higher achievements, as is noted in the literature on the problem.

Principals today should be viewed as influential leaders oriented toward changing the organization while promoting more opportunities for students to achieve academic success and for teachers to develop professionally. Although researchers determine five key tasks of a school leader, it is possible to identify even more critical responsibilities. However, to guarantee to achieve success on the path of school leadership, it is necessary to perform these activities: form a vision of academic success for students, create a positive and supportive climate, promote leadership in other educators, improve instruction, and manage people and resources to improve performance. These steps will help principals to develop as effective transformational leaders.

The Wallace Foundation. (2012). The school principal as leader: Guiding schools to better teaching and learning . Web.

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The 10 Essential Skills of a Good School Principal

As a teacher, you most likely already possess many of the strong leadership qualities required to be a principal, but what are the most important skills required to become a good principal?

Written by Andrea Merlo

Course Director in Florence

The role of a principal

Before discussing what skills are needed to become a good principal, let’s first discuss what the role of a principal is.

The definition of a school principal, according to OECD , is: the link between teachers, students and their parents or guardians, the education system and the wider community.

A principal essentially has to oversee all aspects of school life, including but not limited to:

• Class scheduling
• Management and creation of the curriculum
• Evaluating teacher performance
• Managing the school budget
• Disciplining students

What skills are required to be a successful principal?

1- leadership skills.

As a principal, you are in charge of a large team of staff, as well as a huge number of students and you are the mediator between students, teachers, and their parents. Therefore, as principal you must be a strong leader so that students, staff, and parents respect you and listen to what you say.

It can be useful for principals to have previous experience in various other teaching leadership roles, such as head of a department or organizer of a co-curricular activity (many principal postings will require you to have this previous experience anyway). This gives you the opportunity to develop your leadership skills by managing a smaller team before taking on the role of principal where you are in charge of everyone in the school.

2- An ability to adapt and innovate

One of the skills that all educators, not just principals, should have is the ability to adapt and innovate. We live in a world where technology is constantly evolving and there are constantly new teaching techniques emerging. Principals have to lead by example and must not be afraid of change but rather make changes to the curriculum and teaching style as these new trends and techniques emerge.

3- IT skills

Furthermore, in order to remain innovative and keep the curriculum and teaching styles relevant, principals must feel confident with the latest technology. As with everything that principals do, they must lead by example because if they don’t try to use this new technology, they cannot expect their teachers to.

Are you interested in improving your IT skills for the classroom but not entirely sure where to start? Check out our course ‘ ICT​ ​as​ ​a​ ​Tool​ ​for​ ​a Student-Centered​ ​Classroom ‘

4- Communication skills

As a principal, you come into contact with many different people: parents, students, and staff members. You therefore need to make sure that you communicate any necessary information to them, and in an appropriate way- the way that you would address a student would be different from how you would communicate with a parent or staff member.

The most important thing is that you keep all parties informed about what is going on at the school. To communicate with parents, for example, you could send out a weekly newsletter, outlining events happening at the school and student achievements for the week. If you are especially interested in building a strong parent-teacher collaboration , check out our course and dig deeper on this topic.

To communicate with staff you could send out a weekly bulletin with any relevant information they may need to know about students.

5- An ability to delegate

There is a common misconception that a good leader is someone who is able to do everything themselves. Whereas, in fact, the best leaders (and therefore the best school principals) know when they should delegate a certain task to someone else . There might be some tasks which other staff members would be better equipped to complete, or sometimes a principal may simply have far too much work to complete themselves and requires help from other members of staff to get everything done. This is where being able to delegate specific tasks to other members of staff comes in very handy!

Are you interested in helping your teaching staff become their best version? Check out our course on coaching and mentoring your educators and learn to lead them towards excellence.

6- Be decisive

Another essential quality for a school principal is that they are decisive. Being decisive gives the impression to both staff and students that you know what you are doing and you are confident in your abilities. This, in turn, increases their confidence in your ability to lead the school. In addition, usually, if you act decisively and therefore quickly, it means that the issue which you are trying to address is also solved more quickly.

7- Problem-solving skills

Problem-solving skills are arguably one of the most important skills for a principal to have, since on a daily basis, principals are presented with a range of problems from funding issues to students’ home issues. If anyone (staff or students) has any kind of problem then the principal is the person that they will go to in order to help them solve it.

If you wish to develop your problem-solving skills, among other fundamental competencies, check out our course on 21st Century Teaching Skills and learn about innovative approaches and techniques to be applied in your school.

8- An ability to prioritize

Following on from the previous point, while a principal hears about many different issues even on the same day, they are not all equally as important. Therefore, it is absolutely essential that a principal is able to prioritize the most important issues so that they can be dealt with as swiftly as possible.

9- Be sensitive and empathetic

Throughout a school, there will be students, parents, and staff from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds and situations at home. As a principal, you have to be able to empathize with people even though you may not have experienced what they are experiencing. You need to be able to listen actively and give advice and solutions to help them. A kind, empathetic school principal also comes across as far more approachable. You want staff and students to feel like they are able to come to you with any issue.

10- Be visible

It is extremely important that principals are seen in the corridors and that they directly interact with students, staff, and parents. This once again makes a principal seem far more approachable to both staff and students. It is also extremely valuable for the principal, as it gives them the opportunity to get to know the community that they serve and allows them to better understand them and their needs.

In order to become a good leader, and therefore a good principal, you should not only ensure that you have good communication and IT skills. But that most importantly, you are approachable . Staff and students should feel that they can come to you about any issue and that you will react efficiently and appropriately.

If you have any other skills which you think would be useful for a principal, share them with us in the comments!

Do you want to learn about how to be a successful principal or school leader? Check out our course ‘ Leadership and Management in Schools ‘ to find out more!

17 thoughts on “ The 10 Essential Skills of a Good School Principal ”

Learned a lot of insights. Very informative Thank you so much

Very valuable information regarding the principal role.

Very Nice and educational topic on leadership skills for principals. Worth reading for a educator.

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Great article! Aside from the aforementioned skills, I would like to offer 3 attributes that make a strong principal: energetic, positive attitude and passion. If a leader has those attributes, they will be very successful.

Educative and informative to enhance supervisory skills

Excellent information for a person who want to become a Principal .

Great article! I would add that a good school Principal must also possess the ability to build respectful and trustful relationships.

It behoves on Principals to exhibit the afformentioned characteristics without losing sight of assertiveness and resilient leadership style.They must be able to rally the people towards achieving the goals of the institution through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation by recognising the effort of the staff.

Very useful information for those who wants to become principal.one more thing that should be added in quality of principal is integrity and attribute, objectivity.

A good effective principal spends time daily in individual classrooms. He offers feedback to students and staff. He observes and comments on student work that is posted in the hallways and in the classrooms. He is present in the hallways at the beginning and end of the school day. The hallways tell a lot about what’s happening in the classroom.

Very useful Informations for them who wants to be a School principal.

Thank you very for this insight. This will serve as an aid to those who want to be school principals or even to those who want to take any leadership role.

Very insightful. Principals will also need to be bold and courageous. Must be honest and disciplined.

Good principle skills for leadership development article

Absolutely, the skills outlined here are crucial for a school principal to excel in their role. Effective school leadership requires a combination of these essential skills for a positive impact on the institution and its students. Thanks for sharing this valuable information

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Q&A with 2024 spring graduate, Pauline Ho

On May 10-11, UW–Madison and the School of Education will celebrate its latest cohort of talented graduates with 2024 Spring Commencement celebrations. Ahead of this big weekend, we reached out to a few of our graduating students to learn more about their accomplishments, time at UW–Madison, and future plans.

Pauline Ho, who is graduating with a PhD in Educational Psychology, is one student who agreed to share their thoughts with us. Ho’s path to earning her doctorate has not always been easy: 

“When I started this program, I had just $3,000 in my bank account, no background in psychology, and English was my fourth language,” she says. “As a first-generation college student, neither of my parents had finished elementary school.”

Though she has encountered numerous challenges, Ho has shown a remarkable ability to turn those challenges into opportunities and mentor first-generation college students like herself.

Her research focuses on identity development, and she notes that this interest stems from her own quest to answer the questions: “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?”

Read on to learn more about Ho:

Where are you from, and what brought you to UW–Madison? I grew up in a rural area in Vietnam and immigrated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles when I was 12, with no knowledge of English. I completed my undergraduate degree in education sciences and social policy and public services at the University of California, Irvine. My involvement in educational research dates back to my freshman year at UC Irvine when I focused on instructional practices within classrooms and their impact on the educational experiences of underrepresented students.

I applied to UW–Madison’s Ed Psych program primarily due to its top-ranked status and my interest in understanding how individual development influences educational experiences. Another significant factor in my decision to come here was its full funding package; I was fortunate to receive support for my PhD studies from both the WCER Fellowship and the School of Education’s Graduate Research Scholars (Ed-GRS) program.

Your research focuses on identity development. Can you share a bit more about this work, how it came about, and why it’s important to you? When I started this program, I had just $3,000 in my bank account, no background in psychology, and English was my fourth language. As a first-generation college student, neither of my parents had finished elementary school. Additionally, this was my first experience at a predominantly white institution, and I was grappling with the challenges of being a survivor of depression — struggling with self-doubt, low self-esteem, and constant worries about others’ perceptions of me. The identity crisis hit me hard during my first two years at UW–Madison, leading me to take a break from school in my second year due to depression again.

My interest in identity development stems from my quest to answer the questions, “Who am I?” and “Who do I want to be?” Determined to find answers, I returned in my third year. I chose to focus on ethnic-racial identity for my master’s thesis and professional identity for my dissertation, as both have been personally significant to me in recent years.

Born in Vietnam, raised in Chinese culture, and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, I often feel like I don’t fully belong to any one group; I am unable to completely relate to any culture. Existing theories fail to fully explain my situation, motivating me to explore how people come to understand their ethnic-racial identity and its diversity.

I also struggled with defining who I wanted to be and what I wanted to do, prompting further exploration of this topic when considering my dissertation. For my dissertation, I’m focusing on professional identity development, specifically in nursing. The pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to study how nursing students develop their professional identities within a shared context that affects everyone.

My work in identity development emphasizes the diversity and uniqueness of people’s experiences and stresses that individuals are the active agents of their own development. I not only live this belief, but it is also my mentoring philosophy when I work with others. For example, when I have worked with undergraduates (20 so far), I always provided the opportunity and encouraged them to reflect on their experiences and find their passions. Some of my current undergrads will be attending graduate schools next fall at Harvard, UPenn, Vanderbilt, and Columbia. I recently received the Award for Mentoring Undergraduates in Research, Scholarly and Creative Activities , and am the first graduate student to receive this award in the School of Education.

Can you share some challenges you’ve encountered during your path, and how you’ve worked to overcome them? Given my starting point, this journey has been undoubtedly challenging. Over the past few years, I’ve faced 15 rejections across various domains including grants, awards, scholarships, fellowships, and journal submissions. However, in most cases, I persisted by reapplying and ultimately succeeded. During my time at UW–Madison, I have been awarded approximately $25,000 for research grants, awards, and scholarships, totaling 12 in number. Both my work and the work of my undergraduates have been honored with Best Research Awards at international conferences.  

One notable example is my experience with my master’s thesis in 2018. Initially lacking a strong understanding of theories, the project did not yield the desired results. Upon returning, I reworked my proposal and relaunched the research. After two years, I successfully defended my master’s thesis and submitted it to a journal, only to face a desk rejection due to sample-size constraints. But I opted to redo the study, which consumed another 1.5 years. Finally, it is set to be published in Developmental Psychology, a top-tier journal in my field that rarely publishes qualitative work. Although the project demanded 4.5 years of dedication, it documented my growth as a scholar — being grant-funded, recognized with conference accolades, and on the verge of publication.

What have been some meaningful experiences at UW–Madison? My advisor, Brad Brown, the WCER program, and my research collaboration during the pandemic have been especially impactful.

• Advisor: I vividly recall a moment during my first year when we were hanging out at Brad’s house, and everyone was playing ping-pong. I was scared to join in because I was afraid of messing up and revealing that I wasn’t good enough. Then, Brad approached me and said, “You can’t learn if you don’t try.” This message has stayed with me until today, influencing every facet of my life. Brad is known to be a very challenging professor with an incredible understanding of theory. I, on the other hand, used to dislike theories. In his theory class, I received the lowest grade on the exam. In the past seven years, he has always challenged me with difficult questions, but he’s also always there for me when I need support and encouragement, especially when applying for opportunities.
• The WCER Fellows program holds a seminar every Friday, bringing together all fellows to discuss research, graduate school, and life. During my first two years, this served as a valuable safety net or safe space for me to openly address my imposter syndrome and seek answers to questions about graduate school and research. I also recall presenting our research ideas during these seminars and having the opportunity to receive supportive feedback from each other.
• COVID-19 Communication Task Force : In the spring of 2020, I joined a group of interdisciplinary researchers, outreach specialists, and practitioners who came together to encourage Wisconsin residents to adhere to physical or social distancing guidelines using evidence-based public health recommendations and communication and behavior change best practices. It was amazing to see how diverse the team was and how willing everyone was to work together to tackle this challenge. This was also my first experience witnessing the Wisconsin Idea in action from beginning to end. Our collaborative efforts not only resulted in practical recommendations being implemented but also led to my first authored publication. This experience truly underscored the value of interdisciplinary work and the importance of addressing real-life problems through research.

What’s next for you? What are your plans for the future? I will be a visiting assistant professor in developmental psychology at Reed College. One major aspect of my responsibilities at Reed will be to mentor undergraduates in conducting their senior thesis research. My ultimate career goal is to secure a tenure-track faculty position at a research-intensive university like UW–Madison.

Thinking about the principle of the Wisconsin Idea , how will you use what you have learned at UW–Madison to influence other people’s lives or positively impact our world? Looking ahead, I aim to continue leveraging what I’ve learned at UW–Madison to positively influence others’ lives and contribute to our world. I intend to apply the principles of the Wisconsin Idea by engaging in collaborative research and outreach initiatives that address pressing societal issues and promote healthy identity development.

Whether through mentoring, teaching, or conducting research, I strive to empower individuals to recognize their potential, find their unique identities, and effect positive change in their communities.

As a scholar, my long-term goals are: 1) to conduct meaningful research that positions individuals as active agents in their development, 2) to advance our understanding of the complex relationship between human development and educational experiences, and 3) to generate recommendations aimed at fostering healthy development and creating equitable, inclusive learning environments.

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Guest Essay

Government Surveillance Keeps Us Safe

By Matthew Waxman and Adam Klein

Mr. Waxman served in senior national security roles in the George W. Bush administration. Mr. Klein served as the chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2018 to 2021.

This is an extraordinarily dangerous time for the United States and our allies. Israel’s unpreparedness on Oct. 7 shows that even powerful nations can be surprised in catastrophic ways. Fortunately, Congress, in a rare bipartisan act, voted early Saturday to reauthorize a key intelligence power that provides critical information on hostile states and threats ranging from terrorism to fentanyl trafficking.

Civil libertarians argued that the surveillance bill erodes Americans’ privacy rights and pointed to examples when American citizens got entangled in investigations. Importantly, the latest version of the bill adds dozens of legal safeguards around the surveillance in question — the most expansive privacy reform to the legislation in its history. The result preserves critical intelligence powers while protecting Americans’ privacy rights in our complex digital age.

At the center of the debate is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Originally passed in 1978, it demanded that investigators gain an order from a special court to surveil foreign agents inside the United States. Collecting the communications of foreigners abroad did not require court approval.

That line blurred in the digital age. Many foreign nationals rely on American providers such as Google and Meta, which route or store data in the United States, raising questions as to whether the rules apply to where the targets are or where their data is collected. In 2008, Congress addressed that conundrum with Section 702. Instead of requiring the government to seek court orders for each foreign target, that provision requires yearly judicial approval of the rules that govern the program as a whole. That way, the government can efficiently obtain from communication providers the calls and messages of large numbers of foreign targets — 246,073 in 2022 alone.

Since then, Section 702 has supplied extraordinary insight into foreign dangers, including military threats, theft of American trade secrets, terrorism, hacking and fentanyl trafficking. In 2022 intelligence from 702 helped the government find and kill the Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, one of the terrorists responsible for Sept. 11. Almost 60 percent of the articles in the president’s daily intelligence briefing include information from Section 702.

Although Section 702 can be used only to target foreigners abroad, it does include Americans when they interact with foreign targets. Not only is such incidental collection inevitable in today’s globalized world; it can be vital to U.S. security. If a terrorist or spy abroad is communicating with someone here, our government must find out why.

Some of what is found via Section 702 is therefore sent from the National Security Agency to the F.B.I. The F.B.I., which investigates threats to national security in the United States, can then check that database for Americans under investigation for national security reasons.

We agree that those queries raise legitimate privacy concerns. And those concerns are especially acute for public officials and journalists whose communications with foreign officials and other potential intelligence targets may be sensitive for political or professional reasons.

It is also true that the F.B.I. has broken the rules around these 702 database checks repeatedly in recent years. Agents ran improper queries related to elected officials and political protests. The wiretaps of Carter Page, a former Trump campaign adviser, also involved numerous violations of FISA rules. The Page wiretaps involved traditional FISA orders, not Section 702, but the bureau’s many errors there raised understandable doubts about whether it can be trusted to comply with other FISA rules.

Fortunately, there are ways to prevent abuses of Section 702 without compromising its critical national security value. The bill passed by Congress contains numerous reforms that will dramatically improve compliance. It sharply limits the number and ranks of F.B.I. agents who can run 702 queries, imposes strict penalties for misconduct and expands oversight by Congress and the courts.

Some of the bill’s critics argued that the F.B.I. should be required to obtain a warrant from a special FISA court before using the information collected under 702 when investigating Americans who may be involved in terrorism, espionage or other national security threats. But requiring such a warrant would have been unnecessary and unwise.

Getting a FISA court order is bureaucratically cumbersome and would slow down investigations — especially fast-moving cybercases, in which queries have proved especially useful. It would cause agents to miss important connections to national security threats. And because this information has already been lawfully collected and stored, its use in investigation doesn’t require a warrant under the Constitution.

Another problem is that the probable cause needed for a warrant is rarely available early in an investigation. But that’s precisely when these queries are most useful. Database checks allow an agent to quickly see whether there is a previously unnoticed connection to a foreign terrorist, spy or other adversary.

Balances struck between security and privacy need continual refinement. Recent years have shown Section 702’s great value for national security. But they have also revealed lax compliance at the F.B.I. The latest reauthorization boosts privacy without blinding our country to threats in today’s dangerous world.

Matthew Waxman is a Columbia University law professor who served in senior national security roles in the George W. Bush administration. Adam Klein is the director of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas, Austin, and served as the chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board from 2018 to 2021.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips . And here’s our email: [email protected] .

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Opinion Dogs are our greatest creation. And we might be theirs.

Tommy Tomlinson is the author of “ Dogland .” He lives in Charlotte with his wife, her mother and a cat named Jack Reacher.

The dog is humankind’s greatest invention. The wheel, the lightbulb, concrete — all amazing. Top of the line. But nothing in human creation has been as essential and adaptable as the countless descendants of the ancient gray wolf.

How did we do it? I spent three years following the traveling carnival of American dog shows — like a Grateful Dead tour with Milk-Bones — in search of the answer. My journey culminated in the dog world’s most prestigious event: the Westminster Dog Show. Show dogs are bred from the purest stock, culled from litters at just a few weeks old, trained with the dedication of Olympic gymnasts — and groomed like supermodels. They’d be unrecognizable to their ancient kin — and to ours.

The American Kennel Club, arbiter of bloodlines, now recognizes about 200 breeds, while tracking crossbreeds like goldendoodles, and even mutts. From the most massive mastiff to the tiniest teacup chihuahua, all dogs trace back to the same common ancestors.

Scientists think this weird and powerful companionship of humans and dogs might have started somewhere between 15,000 and 30,000 years ago. Humans of that era were mainly hunters traveling in camps. They ate meat by the fire. The cooking meat attracted wolves who were drawn to the aroma but stayed safely out of range of the flames. Every so often, a human would fling a bone into the darkness. The wolves gnawed on the bones. They trailed the humans to the next campsite, still keeping their distance. There was an unspoken arrangement. The wolves alerted the humans to intruders, and the humans fed the wolves well.

Over time the wolves crept closer. One fateful night a curious wolf came all the way into the firelight. The humans didn’t chase it off.

Slowly, the humans mingled with the wolves. After days or months or generations or centuries, a wolf curled up at a human’s feet. Maybe got its belly rubbed. That was the first dog.

As far as we can tell, dogs are the first animals that humans ever tamed. The wolves that hung out with humans found themselves changing inside and out. They developed shorter muzzles and smaller teeth. Their instinct to run became a desire to stay close. With time, dogs were manufactured through breeding to meet different human needs. We made huskies to pull sleds and Newfoundlands to pull fish nets and dachshunds to catch badgers.

Dogs taught humans the early science of designer genes. In the mid-19th century, as we moved off the farm and into the factory, we created dogs we could bring indoors at the end of a workday. And we created dogs we could bring to work: French bulldogs (now the most popular breed in America ) started out as literal lap dogs for lace-makers in France. We molded dogs to be friends, companions, playmates and unofficial therapists.

So dogs are not just humanity’s greatest invention but also its longest-running experiment.

That’s one way to look at it.

Now switch out the frame. Swap the subject and the object. Change the verbs.

Here’s another view:

Around the time early humans evolved, Neanderthals also walked the planet. At some point — roughly 40,000 years ago — humans started to thrive while Neanderthals died off. And this is about the time when those first curious wolves began to evolve into dogs. Some scientists believe the timing is not a coincidence. Maybe the dog was the key advantage in the triumph of humankind.

Dogs enabled humans to settle down and stop their endless wandering. Dogs protected humans at this vulnerable transition from nomadic to settled life. Dogs did work that humans did not have the strength or stamina to do: guarding, herding, hunting, pulling sleds. They created time for humans to build and think and create without having to focus every moment on the next meal or the next threat.

We domesticated dogs, and they domesticated us.

Today, dogs provide not just companionship but also an uncomplicated kind of love in an ever more complicated world. And for those restless souls wandering from town to town, chasing job after job — nomads again — a dog can be an anchor, something to hold on to on a lonely night.

From the gray wolf by the ancient fire to a coifed Pomeranian prancing around the show ring, dogs have been with us nearly as long as we have been human.

They might be our greatest creation. And we might be theirs.

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Principals, You Aren’t the Only Leader in Your School

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As a teacher, I worked directly with kids. As a school leader, I work on behalf of kids. My days aren’t spent entirely in the classroom. My job is no longer 120 students in one classroom but 1,800 students, 200 staff members, and a community that needs me, too. So, yes, the adage that administrators are disconnected from the classroom has truth, but the reality that administrators are also more connected to the school community is true, too.

I learned that lesson my first week as an assistant principal. I was determined to be a supportive administrator; so, when a teacher reported a student concern to me, I worked quickly to solve it. I worked with the student’s counselor and even endured a particularly passionate parent meeting. I let the teacher know I had fixed her problem—I wasn’t one of those unsupportive administrators.

The teacher, with whom I had a decadelong positive working relationship, did not agree. She told me that she felt “unsupported by admin .” The response was odd to me. My longtime work colleague was now calling me admin, not as an endearing nickname but as some newly trending swear word.

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Stunned, I said, “By admin, you mean me, Shayla. Does it feel true that I wouldn’t do my best to support you?”

She responded, “Of course not, but how would I know?”

The question “how would I know” left me silently reflecting and, then, apologizing. I never shared all the steps I had taken to support her and I never asked her what support she needed. I simply communicated a solution. My failure was not treating the teacher like a school leader, too—letting her see the organizational view of the problem. When I shared my vantage point of the situation, the conversation changed.

I had found myself at a leadership cliff, that gap between my global understanding of the school and the teacher’s view of her classroom. On the top of the cliff, I sat with my knowledge of the school community, and at the bottom sat my teacher with her knowledge of the classroom. I had taken her viewpoint and then left her in the dark, never allowing her to see beyond her classroom and lead with me.

I learned another truth that first week in the principal’s office: Great principals are ladder builders. They share systems-level knowledge and decisionmaking with teachers. Teachers, in return, share classroom-level knowledge and decisionmaking with principals.

Leaders who do not invite their teachers up to see the organizational view can never truly grow teacher leadership. And leaders who never spend time in the classroom with teachers can never truly know what is best for students.

To truly support students, everyone in a school building must operate as both leaders and practitioners, seeing all angles of their school’s landscape.

So, how do principals build ladders? The first step is obvious—but the hardest to accomplish. All parties must recognize that no one person has the right answer. Just because someone from a classroom or principal’s office believes a decision is best for kids doesn’t mean that’s true. Yes, even principals who see “the full picture” or teachers who “see the student every day.” The decision of the team that represents a variety of viewpoints will feel most true.

To partner with teachers, principals must get off the cliff and model intentional listening. Instead of walking into a meeting with an answer, they must first listen to understand.

As a new leader, I often asked my mentor what decision I should make, desperate to check off a task and clear a slice of mental space. His response was, frustratingly, always the same “I would seek to understand.” Hours sitting in classrooms later, I usually found he was right: There was a lot I didn’t understand about the situation, even when I thought I did.

While listening to educators is important, principals cannot stop there. Teachers who are relied on for their knowledge, but never invited to decisionmaking conversations, are not treated as leaders—and they know it.

Teachers also must be allowed to seek to understand. Although I recognize some information is confidential, sharing appropriate information prior to decisionmaking allows teachers to be decisionmakers, too.

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As a leader, I want to value my team in demonstrable ways. So, after listening to understand, I often say things like, “Here is what I know; what would you want to see happen?” or “Here are my options; what would you do?”

While I cannot always enact every recommendation, I have gained solutions from teachers that I would not have found on my own. Conversely, my teachers see the complexity of situations that are sometimes unsolvable.

The assumption that teachers can’t see the “larger picture” or that “they can’t see outside their classroom” is not a truth but a symptom of ineffective leadership. Principals and building-level leaders who are serious about teacher leadership and supporting all students must check their egos at the door and get intentional about building ladders between the classroom and the principal’s office. Because both perspectives are valuable, but neither can operate alone.

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