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JUNE 2004

Editorial
How Many Good Principals are there in NYC?
by J. Kirsten Busch

If I had a thousand dollars for every time someone asked me how many good principals I think there are in New York City, I would be, if not a rich woman, at least a lot closer to paying off my graduate school loans. Yet, while I can see that question coming at me before it leaves home base, I never want to catch it. Because from where I sit, evaluating effective leadership should not be reduced to a third grade mathematical equation that begins or ends in the number 1200.

We urge our teachers to avoid doling out generic feedback to their students. “Great job” and “good work” will not help little Johnny to understand what he is doing well or what he can do better. Yet, when it comes to evaluating some of the City’s most important V.I.P.s, why do we persist in dumbing down the debate to a four-letter word?

I do not intend to minimize the value inherent in understanding where we stand with respect to our city’s school leaders. Knowing what is and is not working are steps A and B of any good reform plan. But perhaps we need to work a little harder at redirecting the conversation towards points C, D and E. Namely, which principals are effective at what activities? What support do principals need to develop in other areas? And how will we, as a system and a society, provide this support to best meet their needs?

At the Cahn Fellows Program for Distinguished New York City Principals at Teachers College, Columbia University, we are conducting a study on effective leadership in the principalship entitled Effective Leadership: Distinguished New York City Principals in Action. While still a work in progress, the current taxonomy of effective principal practices we have identified number well into the hundreds.

Self-practices exhibited by the principals in the study range from “interacting with students regularly by teaching a class” to “playing the guitar during a meeting with students to break down barriers between students and the administration” to “handling a crisis situation immediately and decisively”. So when someone asks how many good principals are there in New York City, are they asking how many principals are good teachers, musicians and emergency management personnel? Or are they asking how many principals have the current or potential ability to move their students forward using a range of different leadership and management techniques? Perhaps we need to disaggregate the question we are asking before we scramble to assign simple conclusions to a topic as multifaceted and important as the leadership of our city’s schools.#

J. Kirsten Busch is Director of The Cahn Fellows Program for Distinguished New York City Principals at Teachers College, Columbia University.

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