In an effort to understand the journey I am undertaking, I’ve been reading voraciously. I don’t know that this strategy has helped ease my anxiety, or even given me a clearer picture of what to expect, as I do not think that can happen until I begin. Each school is different. Each principal is different, and the neighborhood that I serve in will determine much of my education.
Yet this article has given me pause. The author, principal of Columbia (SC) High School, wrote from her own experience of mentoring a principal apprentice during her first year as a principal. The article enumerates numerous benefits to the principal: immediate feedback, confidence building, and support. The district benefited by increasing the pool of skilled, trained principals and a new way to view mentoring. Lastly, the protégé benefits from being a “quasi-administrator,” finishing the year with a “clearer picture of what to expect during a principal’s first year” (page 28).
As a protégé, I am grateful that I am not assigned to a first year principal. I remember my first year teaching, when I was unsure of how to effectively plan a lesson that catered to all of my students, or manage the numerous behavior issues that arose. Now an aspiring leader, I have the opportunity to shadow effective principals for one school year. Next year, I plan to lead a school in collaboration with a team of teachers and other staff. While it may be beneficial to see how a principal works through the numerous challenges of their first year, I’d prefer to see how an expert manages a school.
I live in an era of educational reform, with principals possessing greater ability to make decisions within the school and increased accountability. The school system is continually changing and growing. Scientific theory states that an experiment should have a “control” group, where we minimize the variables to fully explore how matter will reaction to a new ingredient. The same should hold true in education– if we minimize the variables, we can more clearly see the impact of our decisions and action.
I agree with Ms. Prince that there are numerous benefits to the principal and the district with regards to a mentoring relationship during the first year. Is this benefit at the expense of the aspiring leader? Are they spending their time in a way that will benefit them the most in the next five, 10 or even 20 years as a school leader?
