The Harvard Gazette has a report on a panel discussion marking the 30th anniversary of The Principals’ Center at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The discussion was titled “The Future of Leadership: Perspectives on the Principalship.” Among the takeaways:
• Education leaders need to take action to curb the punitive learning atmospheres now prevalent in schools.
• Principals would be well-advised to share more leadership responsibilities with teachers, in part—in the words of one participant—to “unlock the tremendous overabundance of underutilized talent that gets left in the parking lot every day.”
• Principals need to get behind efforts, such as those being conducted by the Gates Foundation, to identify “what great teaching looks like,” and—while they’re at it—to “protect” great teachers.
• School leaders should not overlook the potential value of having mentors of their own.