Kate Barker, Kourtney Ferrua, & Rachael George PRINCIPALed—The Educator’s Survival Guide
Several years ago, I attended a national principal’s conference. Wandering away from the standard provided lunch for attendees, I ventured outside for fresh air and time to process multiple presentations. Walking the streets of an unfamiliar city, I ran into Kate, Kourtney, and Rachael. All of us are Oregon administrators and have attended similar conferences in our home state and were familiar with one another. Always warm and gracious, they invited me to lunch with them.
Listening to their banter back and forth and even finishing each other's sentences as they spoke of sessions they attended, I must admit I was a little awe-struck. I vividly remember wanting to take out my note-taking journal during lunch but knew it would have been awkward amidst a warm meal and tight quarters. Gratefully, their wisdom and insights they shared over lunch are what I found in their book PRINCIPALed The book is written in four parts; Reflect, Focus, Connect and Care, and impressively with high praise from the well-respected researcher, John Hattie.
If you are a principal new to the role or with several years of experience, the book is a go-to guide and resource for professional growth or for planning purposeful next steps. Chapter by chapter you will smile as you relive their personal stories and daily antics only a principal would understand. There are questions to consider to help you stretch your growth and potential as a leader. The book will inspire you to be and become the principal who continues to not only survive but thrive in a way that prioritizes students, staff, and your community. Here are some of my favorite insights.
Rachael reminds principals to focus and engage in a deep dive into the school’s data with all staff starting “at the thirty-thousand level, and we look at the overall health of the school” and then “dive back into subgroup data” (p, 61-63). “Our students need us to develop both culture and academic achievement goals, and they can’t spend years waiting for you to shore up one at the expense of another. Strong leaders do both, simultaneously and with intention.”
Kate encourages principals to constantly connect with students, each with their own story. At her school, “We encourage all our staff to focus on two students per week and spend a few minutes asking them questions that give insights into their world.” In staff meetings, they share the highlights of their conversations while participants view the child’s photo (p. 101).
Kourtney motivates principals to create systems to sustain our relentless focus on learning. She reminds principals our actions large or small should be purposeful and as a reminder of the goals, we have jointly developed. For example, Kourtney shared. “Everyday part of my routine is to email out the staff absences. One email, every day. I decided to take advantage of that daily point of contact to add a month of instructional focus and weekly reflection” (p. 150). Brillant!
Finally, in the last chapter, the authors remind the reader, “We all know that we could stay busy in our office with the door shut for eight hours every day. Resist the urge! One of the most important strategies that will improve almost every facet of your job is visibility. People need to see you. They need to know that you care enough to show up and see them in their environment” (p. 201). Our role and responsibility are never easy, but it is always worth our relentless effort.
