As I mentioned previously, if one element of successful school improvement design can be finger pointed, an element, if missing would guarantee school improvement failure, it would be school leadership.
This is not to say that school principals are solely responsible for school improvement and that if an executed school improvement plan fails, they are responsible and somehow inadequate to accomplish the task. What can be said, and is revealed in the research, is that without committed, positive, accountable and sustained school leadership - school improvement will not take place.
Throughout the literature, successful and sustained school improvement has been accomplished when school principals have been at a school-site over a number of years. This tells us that successful and sustained school improvement plans are successful when a school principal knows his staff, students and community and relationships are established. Relationships drive the change process – and – have to be (good and) in place for the process to be successful.
The Link to Teachers' Success...
Dr. Kathleen Salzano, Ed.D.
