COMMENTARY
School principals are the key to reform
Our education system needs to be reinvented, and principals must be the conduit between theory and the realities of the classroom.
The University of Hawai'i at Manoa/Community Partnership (UCP) is a group of university faculty, administrators and community leaders who have met regularly since 1998 to discuss ways to enhance university and community relations and facilitate projects to benefit both the university and the community. Nearly three years ago we, the authors, noted concerns about Hawai'i's public education system and wondered what the university could do to best help the schools improve the quality of education. We noted some important advances in the university's overall effort to improve schools. For example, the College of Education received national accreditation for the first time in 2001, and the capacity of the college was increased through a new outreach program to the neighbor islands. But we found an important area of concern that had received less attention — the education of and support for school principals. Current participants on the UCP include: Momi Cazimero, Vernon Char, Joanne Clark, Joanne Cooper, Bruce Coppa, Lei Desha, Tom Dinell, Kit Dobelle, Mitch D'Olier, Dick Dubanoski, Peter Englert, John Griffin, Mike Herb, Randy Hitz, Kathy Jaycox, Stan Kawaguchi, Betty Ann Keala, Mildred Kosaki, Kem Lowry, Jim Manke, David McClain, Lillian Noda, Francis Oda, Catherine Payne, Diane Peters-Nguyen, Carl Takamura, Mary Tiles, Donna Vuchinich, Cathy Wood and Raymond Yeh.
Although Hawai'i's public schools were designed at the turn of the last century, they are better than they have ever been. The problem is that they are not the schools we need today.
Our schools must educate all students at higher levels and prepare them to thrive in and contribute to an information-rich and democratic society.
Since we have never had a system that met the education needs of all students, we cannot look to the past for answers on how to alter education. Neither can we look to the mainland for answers. Every state and every school district in the nation is struggling with the same difficulties.
Our education system needs to be reinvented rather than reformed.
In this context, the principal becomes increasingly important. The school is the focal point for change, and principals, as the leaders of the schools, must be visionaries with a service orientation, able to translate research and best practices into the everyday realities of the classroom.
They must also be able to work well with members of the community in order to facilitate creation of a shared vision and commitment to change.
Making a difference
In business, in education and in every other social system, leadership makes a difference. Education for our P-12 students does not take place in boardrooms or legislative hearings. It takes place in schools, where principals set the education climate and direction.
Principals work directly with teachers and parents to effect change and to provide the quality of education needed by each student. Principals hire teachers, evaluate them, and encourage and support their professional development. They also work with teachers to select the curricula that best meet the needs of their students.
Individual teachers make a difference, but it is the principal who can motivate and support all of the teachers in a school and who can facilitate the creation of coherent and meaningful educational programs and a school climate that is good for all students.
As more new administrators in the DOE are hired to address a growing shortage, greater numbers of educational leaders will be working with less administrative experience. This will lead to a greater need for ongoing staff development.
In addition, new state and federal mandates, such as No Child Left Behind or increased power over budgets and personnel, will require additional education and training in order for these school administrators to effectively carry out the new initiatives. Ongoing staff development for principals can provide them with the tools to be successful.
Research confirms this common-sense notion that leadership in schools significantly impacts student achievement. Numerous studies identify the principal as key to successful classroom instruction. Principals must have management and leadership skills and a grounding in state-of-the-art teaching and learning.
Exemplary teachers from around the country tell researchers that they flourish when principals give them license to move in new directions on behalf of students. When principals are able to provide appropriate supervision, teachers' competencies increase in four critical areas: purposeful instruction, perception of students, knowledge of subject matter and mastery of teaching techniques.
Research has found that schools led by principals who understand the complexity of their work, and are able to integrate the different aspects of leadership within their personal style, demonstrate increased gains in student achievement, self-direction and problem-solving.
Retaining principals
Like many other states, Hawai'i is experiencing a shortage of school principals. In 2003-2004, the DOE filled 64 vice principal positions with people who had not completed an administrator-preparation program. This means that 25 percent of vice principals are seeking to be fully qualified while serving as administrators.
There are simply too few qualified individuals willing to take DOE principal or vice principal positions. Based on current principal retirement eligibility, the DOE anticipates that anywhere from 42 to 53 new principals will need to be hired in each of the next four years.
Principals indicate that poor working conditions lead them to take retirement as soon as possible. Conditions and relatively low pay serve as disincentives for individuals who might otherwise be interested in assuming school principal positions.
DOE vice principal and principal pay is based on their teacher salary and the size of the school in which they work. This means they may earn less than many teachers in their own schools. The modest pay increase is not adequate to motivate teachers to take on the considerably greater responsibilities and workload that come with the administrative role.
To make matters worse, public school principals in Hawai'i are employed for just 10 months each year, though many report that it is necessary to work through the entire calendar year in order to do justice to the work that needs to be done.
Poor pay, working conditions
In 1999-2000 the average principal in Hawai'i earned slightly less than $70,000. Hawai'i principal pay ranks in the middle of the nation when cost of living is not taken into account. When adjusted for cost of living, the Hawai'i principal pay ranks near the bottom. The ratio of principal pay to teacher pay is quite low in Hawai'i, and our national ranking in this area places us in the bottom third. This is particularly noteworthy given the relatively low pay of our teachers.
Working conditions, in addition to low pay, also serve as disincentives for school principals. In general principals have a lot of responsibility but little authority. They find it difficult to hire the teachers they want and replace teachers they do not feel are effective.
Principals report that many needed repairs languish for years because principals and the DOE cannot get approval or attention from various state agencies. In recent months, the situation has been made worse by required approval of contracts by more layers from within the state bureaucracy.
School principals also have little budgetary authority. In general, 85 to 90 percent of a principal's budget is predetermined as it goes to salaries and other items over which the principal has little or no control.
Successful principals we interviewed said that their success came in spite of state bureaucracies rather than because of support from them.
Poorly understood role
Principals frequently indicated that their role is poorly understood by people outside the profession. In fact, members of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa/Community Partnership (UCP) frequently referred to principals as chief executive officers, a title they assumed was complimentary. Principals tended to reject this label because they do not feel they have the authority or compensation that other CEOs need and enjoy.
Most people understand the principal's role as a manager of facilities and people. Few understand the important role principals play in curriculum decisions and overall educational leadership.
Still fewer people appreciate that principals at times must serve as fund-raisers, community liaisons, substitute teachers, family counselors, social workers and playground supervisors.
Recommendations
The UCP does not presume to have all of the answers to improving the principalship. We are convinced, however, that the principal's role is key to educational improvement in Hawai'i. We have gained some insights that we think may be useful to policy makers who are seeking ways to improve education.
• Better salaries are not sufficient for addressing the shortage of highly qualified principals, but they are a necessary step. Principal pay should be for 11 months each year and commensurate with their considerable responsibilities, their heavy workload and with salaries of school administrators in other states.
While an across-the-board increase in salaries for school administrators is probably warranted, we also believe that the compensation should include greater incentives for working in larger and more complex schools, and it should include rewards for excellent performance.
• We must create working environments that enable principals to succeed. Simply put, principals should have authority commensurate with their responsibilities. Principals should have more budgetary authority. As much as possible, decisions for allocation of resources should be made at the school level.
More autonomy
In this regard, policies such as student-weighted formulas have potential for changing school budgets. But simply giving school principals more budgetary authority is insufficient. Principals also need more control of hiring and replacing teachers and other staff and they need relief from unnecessary bureaucratic regulations and barriers.
Some administrators we spoke with suggested that they need business/building managers. These business managers may or may not have professional education backgrounds, but they could be very capable of handling many of the management functions, thus allowing the principal to focus on educational leadership, including teacher professional development and education curricula.
The UCP views the development of School/Community-Based Management councils as a positive move that fosters greater community involvement in the schools and has potential to positively impact student achievement. Effective SCBM councils provide important insights for principals to consider, and they offer helpful feedback on school performance.
In order to maximize the potential of SCBM councils, principals need to be prepared to work with them in positive ways. Similarly, the council members themselves need to be provided opportunities to better understand their role so that they support the principal rather than try to micromanage. Conflict resolution support needs to be in place for principals and SCBM councils experiencing difficulty in their working relationships.
The final authority
Having said all of this, we strongly believe that SCBM councils must be advisory and that final decision-making authority remain with the principal.
Principals, like other professionals and other leaders, must be nurtured if they are to reach their full potential. And since principals are first and foremost educators, they should be able to go back into classroom teaching just as academic administrators in universities can smoothly return to teaching from their administrative positions.
Since principals are key to improving education in our P-12 schools, we must make all of our principals principals in fact and not just in name. In order to maximize their potential as leaders, the state must provide appropriate education, compensation and working conditions.
By providing principals and teachers the resources they need to succeed, we ensure that our children, the next generation, will be prepared to thrive and to contribute to our democratic society.
