Are educators motivated by coping with the challenges they face? Or do they want to transform their environments into something better?
A recent commentary in Education Week examines those questions specifically regarding school principals. What motivates them? And which type of principal is better for struggling schools, a coper or a transformer?
“The contrasts in how these two groups talked about being a principal were often stunning,” writes Jean Johnson, the author of the article and the executive vice president of Public Agenda and the head of its Education Insights Division. The commentary is based on Public Agenda’s latest work on school leadership, a series of focus groups with principals in high-needs public schools conducted for the Wallace Foundation.
How would you characterize yourself as a educator? Coper or transfomer? A hybrid? Or maybe it just depends on the challenges of the day.