There was a time when schools did not have principals.  Teachers were the only adults in the school house.  Successful principal leadership today should be founded inthe reasons schools required a principal in the first place.  Good principaling has not changed with time; there always is a need for the principal teacher.

A brief history lesson is necessary for our background knowledge.  The establishment of public schools followed the creation of territorial and state governments.  A provision for public education was at the top of each new constitution and authorized local communities to form a school district as a legal entity.  By statute, a district required election of a school board and the board was authorized to employ a superintendent and teachers.  Voila!  A school with teachers.  No principal.

The concept of principal began when a county or district superintendent worked the circuit of county or district schools, often in widespread and distanced communities.  The circuit schedule meant that teachers in a school supervised themselves, for weeks if not months, between superintendent visits.  Teaching practices and curricula evolved and governmental mandates piled up in those early years.   The question arose in the community and at the school – who at the school was the superintendent’s contact or the person who helped all teachers do the work the superintendent charged them to do between circuit visits?  If everyone in the school was a teacher, who?  Hence, the creation of a principal teacher.  The first principal was a lead or head or principal teacher.  Voila, again!  A teacher became a principal. 

This is where we need to stop the story and focus on what the principal is.  The principal is a teacher first and foremost.  Read it again – the principal is a teacher.  The expanded concept is that the teacher as principal no longer has a classroom of children to teach but a school as a teaching responsibility.  The school is the principal’s classroom and the principal teacher’s responsibility is to teach and assist all teachers in the school to be effective teachers for all children.   There are key words here – school as a classroom and to teach and assist.  Not to tell or expect without teaching and assistance.  The qualities of an effective teacher are demanded in the qualities of an effective principal.  Effective principaling has not changed since its inception.  The principal is the principal teacher.

Back to the story.  Principaling is the same work in a school of 4,000 children as it is in a school of 200 children.  Enter the concept of classroom size or scope of effectiveness.  While we understand there is a reasonable number of children a teacher can effectively and efficiently teach each day, there is a reasonable number of teachers for whom a principal can act as a principal teacher.  Once again, Voila!  Assistant or vice principal-teachers.  The additional number of school assistant principal teachers does not change the function – principals are principal teachers assigned to teach and assist teachers.

How does a principal teach teachers, one may ask?  The need for a teacher’s continuing education begins the first day of their hire.  Completion of a baccalaureate and teaching license says the teacher is trained in how to teach as a beginning teacher – again, a beginning teacher.  The degree does not prepare a teacher for the specifics of a job assignment – district curriculum, school policies and procedures, and student policies.  These specifics differ school to school.  The principal is responsible for each teacher’s new and continuing education to assure that all children benefit from quality classroom instruction.  Once hired, curriculum review cycles present new curriculum on an annual cycle.  Professional understanding of child psychology and learning theories present new teaching strategies.  The advancement of school technologies alone is a constant challenge.  Teachers are constantly engaged in professional learning.  A principal teacher needs to be side-by-side, either teaching teachers or learning along with teachers.  Principals as teachers are constantly engaged in professional learning. 

We too often think of the principal as the supervisor and evaluator of teachers.  In fact, the statutes assign principals to this role or to Effective Educator evaluation in Wisconsin.  This gets too much attention, partly because it can be contentious.  Supervision and evaluation is important but it is like a stripe on a highway that only gives the traffic a direction now and again.  The highway of heavy traffic in a school is daily teaching and this should be the interface between every teacher and a principal constantly.

It sounds like this. 

Principal: “How’d it go today?” 

Teacher: “Pretty good, I think.” 

Principal: “I watched a little bit from the doorway.  Tell me about what went pretty good, please.”  Teacher: Describes the lesson, what she did, and what children did.

Principal: “What clues tell you that the lesson worked for your children?”

Teacher: Describes her observations, handed in student work, and formative conclusions.

Principal: “What did you learn from this lesson?  Anything that helps in what comes next?”

Teacher:  Picks out one or two aspects she might adjust to improve or polish or will be sure to repeat.

Principal: “I enjoy watching you work.  Your children are learning.”

Five minutes, maybe less, is all it takes for a frequent conversation that can take place every week.  The result of a principal looking in, a teacher acknowledging that the principal is looking but not evaluating, and the personal, professional conversation builds relationship.  And, relationship between principal teacher and teacher is what advances teaching and learning in every school. 

Perhaps this gets added to the conversation.

Principal: “I saw that you were using (something from the last PD session).  How is that working?”

Or, more personally “Is there anything I can help you with?”

There are many other events and tasks that build relationship.  Too often we consider the assistant principal or principal to be the school disciplinarian.  Actually, the principal only supports every teacher as the disciplinarian of last resort.  The most important aspect of every classroom rule takes place between a teacher and students; the work of the principal teacher assists when help is needed.

As we think of teachers in a classroom, we think of the principal in the school office.  A principal should be aware of everything that happens in a school, hence there is a ton of information and data and schedules and communications that a principals handles regularly.  And, that chain of communication  between the school and the superintendent or district office requires time and effort.  That work load needs to be balanced against the first responsibility – the school is the principal’s classroom – and most of a principal teacher’s time is spent in classrooms, hallways, libraries, studios, shops, gyms, and around the campus. 

Teaching and assisting teachers to teach is not same as teaching children.  There are other skill sets and dispositions that help a principal to do a quality job as principal teacher.  But, teaching is always foremost.  It also is the common lynchpin that builds teacher and principal professional respect.  It does not always follow that a high quality teacher should be a principal teacher.  Classroom teaching is professionally and personally very highly rewarding.  Just as we want teachers who are “called” to be teachers by inner wants and needs, we want principals also who answer a “call” to be principal teachers.

You can take the principal out of classroom teaching, but teaching remains the organizational focus of the principal teacher now and ever more.