Post 2- Prelude to the Research: What is the Role of an Administrator

I think that we can probably all agree without providing a mountain of research that the job of an administrator is to ensure the deep, long-lasting learning of every student in their care.  Sure, there are other things that must happen too like buses arriving on time, formal teacher evaluations completed, open houses running smoothly, and football games being won.  But all of these things are secondary to student learning.  At Starbucks, they have to order sugar, wipe down tables, and interview new baristas, but that is all secondary to selling coffee.

So, if we agree that ensuring student learning is the ultimate job of the school and therefore the principal, then how does a principal do that?  One word . . . teachers!  There is a mountain of independent research that comes to the same conclusion, nothing has a greater impact on student learning than the adult standing at the front of the classroom . . . teachers!

Mortimore and Sammons concluded that teaching has 6 to 10 times the impact of ALL OTHER FACTORS COMBINED (caps added as emphasis, of course).  Marzano repeated a similar notion when he says that in the same school, one teacher can achieve 27% success and another 72% success with no other major differences than the adult at the front of the room . . . the teacher!  Eric Hanushek showed that 5 years of instruction from an above average teacher can completely eliminate the achievement gap.  These researchers showed the the impact of one factor can overpower the impact of ethnicity, family, poverty, schools . . . the teacher!

So, then, the role of the principal should be to do whatever it takes to hire, retain, train, and motivate great teachers.  This blog will be about the latter, how to motivate . . . the teacher!