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Contents

The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning

• The Principal as Leader: An Overview
• Five Key Responsibilities
• 
  
  • Shaping a vision of academic success for all students
  • Creating a climate hospitable to education
  • Cultivating leadership in others
  • A Profile in Leadership: Dewey Hensley
  • Managing people, data and processes
  • Improving School Leadership
  • Additional Readings

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 The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning

Shaping a vision of academic success for all students

Although they say it in different ways, researchers who have examined education leadership agree that effective principals are responsible for establishing a schoolwide vision of commitment to high standards and the success of all students.

Newcomers to the education discussion might find this puzzling: Hasn't concern with the academic achievement of every student always topped principals' agendas? The short answer is, no. Historically, public school principals were seen as school managers,5 and as recently as two decades ago, high standards were thought to be the province of the college bound. "Success" could be defined as entry-level manufacturing work for students who had followed a "general track," and low-skilled employment for dropouts. Only in the last few decades has the emphasis shifted to academic expectations for all.

"Having high expectations for all is one key to closing the achievement gap between advantaged and less advantaged students."

This change comes in part as a response to twin realizations: Career success in a global economy depends on a strong education; for all segments of U.S. society to be able to compete fairly, the yawning gap in academic achievement between disadvantaged and advantaged students needs to narrow. In a school, that begins with a principal's spelling out "high standards and rigorous learning goals," Vanderbilt University researchers assert with underlined emphasis. Specifically, they say, "The research literature over the last quarter century has consistently supported the notion that having high expectations for all, including clear and public standards, is one key to closing the achievement gap between advantaged and less advantaged students and for raising the overall achievement of all students."⁶

An effective principal also makes sure that notion of academic success for all gets picked up by the faculty and underpins what researchers at the University of Washington describe as a schoolwide learning improvement agenda that focuses on goals for student progress.⁷ One middle school teacher described what adopting the vision meant for her. "My expectations have increased every year," she told the researchers. "I've learned that as long as you support them, there is really nothing [the students] can't do."⁸

So, developing a shared vision around standards and success for all students is an essential element of school leadership. As the Cheshire cat pointed out to Alice, if you don't know where you're going, any road will lead you there.

Creating a climate hospitable to education

Effective principals ensure that their schools allow both adults and children to put learning at the center of their daily activities. Such "a healthy school environment," as Vanderbilt researchers call it, is characterized by basics like safety and orderliness, as well as less tangible qualities such as a "supportive, responsive" attitude toward the children and a sense by teachers that they are part of a community of professionals focused on good instruction.⁹

Is it a surprise, then, that principals at schools with high teacher ratings for "instructional climate" outrank other principals in developing an atmosphere of caring and trust? Or that their teachers are more likely than faculty members elsewhere to find the principals' motives and intentions are good?¹⁰

One former principal, in reflecting on his experiences, recalled a typical staff meeting years ago at an urban school where "morale never seemed to get out of the basement." Discussion centered on "field trips, war stories about troubled students, and other management issues" rather than matters like "using student work and data to fine-tune teaching." Almost inevitably, teacher pessimism was a significant barrier, with teachers regarding themselves as "hardworking martyrs in a hopeless cause."¹¹

To change this kind of climate - and begin to combat teacher isolation, closed doors, negativism, defeatism and teacher resistance - the most effective principals focus on building a sense of school community, with the attendant characteristics. These include respect for every member of the school community; "an upbeat, welcoming, solution-oriented, no-blame, professional environment;" and efforts to involve staff and students in a variety of activities, many of them schoolwide.¹²

Engaging parents and the community: continued interest, uncertain evidence 
Many principals work to engage parents and others outside the immediate school community, such as local business people. But what does it take to make sure these efforts are worth the time and toil required? While there is considerable interest in this question, the evidence on how to answer it is relatively weak. For example, the Minnesota-Toronto study found that in schools with higher achievement on math tests, teachers tended to share in leadership and believed that parents were involved with the school. The researchers noted, however, that "the relationships here are correlational, not causal," and the finding could be at odds with another finding from the study.¹³ Separately, the VAL-ED principal performance assessment (developed with support from The Wallace Foundation) measures principals on community and parent engagement.¹⁴ Vanderbilt researchers who developed the assessment are undertaking further study on how important this practice is in affecting students, achievement. In short, the principal's role in engaging the external community is little understood.

Principals play a major role in developing a "professional community" of teachers who guide one another in improving instruction.

Cultivating leadership in others

A broad and longstanding consensus in leadership theory holds that leaders in all walks of life and all kinds of organizations, public and private, need to depend on others to accomplish the group's purpose and need to encourage the development of leadership across the organization.¹⁵ Schools are no different. Principals who get high marks from teachers for creating a strong climate for instruction in their schools also receive higher marks than other principals for spurring leadership in the faculty, according to the research from the universities of Minnesota and Toronto.¹⁶

In fact if test scores are any indication, the more willing principals are to spread leadership around, the better for the students. One of the most striking findings of the universities of Minnesota and Toronto report is that effective leadership from all sources - principals, influential teachers, staff teams and others - is associated with better student performance on math and reading tests.

The relationship is strong albeit indirect: Good leadership, the study suggests, improves both teacher motivation and work settings. This, in turn, can fortify classroom instruction. "Compared with lower-achieving schools, higher-achieving schools provided all stakeholders with greater influence on decisions," the researchers write.¹⁷ Why the better result? Perhaps this is a case of two heads - or more - being better than one: "The higher performance of these schools might be explained as a consequence of the greater access they have to collective knowledge and wisdom embedded within their communities," the study concludes.¹⁸

Principals may be relieved to find out, moreover, that their authority does not wane as others' waxes. Clearly, school leadership is not a zero-sum game. "Principals and district leaders have the most influence on decisions in all schools; however, they do not lose influence as others gain influence," the authors write.¹⁹ Indeed, although "higher-performing schools awarded greater influence to most stakeholders...little changed in these schools' overall hierarchical structure."²⁰

University of Washington research on leadership in urban school systems emphasizes the need for a leadership team (led by the principal and including assistant principals and teacher leaders) and shared responsibility for student progress, a responsibility "reflected in a set of agreements as well as unspoken norms among school staff."²¹

Effective principals studied by the University of Washington urged teachers to work with one another and with the administration on a variety of activities, including "developing and aligning curriculum, instructional practices, and assessments; problem solving; and participating in peer observations."²² These leaders also looked for ways to encourage collaboration, paying special attention to how school time was allocated. They might replace some administrative meeting time with teacher planning time, for example.²³ The importance of collaboration gets backing from the Minnesota-Toronto researchers, too. They found that principals rated highly for the strength of their actions to improve instruction were also more apt to encourage the staff to work collaboratively.²⁴

More specifically, the study suggests that principals play a major role in developing a "professional community" of teachers who guide one another in improving instruction. This is important because the research found a link between professional community and higher student scores on standardized math tests.²⁵ In short, the researchers say, "When principals and teachers share leadership, teachers' working relationships with one another are stronger and student achievement is higher."²⁶

What does "professional community" look like? Its components include things like consistent and well-defined learning expectations for children, frequent conversations among teachers about pedagogy, and an atmosphere in which it's common for teachers to visit one another's classrooms to observe and critique instruction.²⁷

A central part of being a great leader is cultivating leadership in others.

Most principals would welcome hearing what one urban school administrator had to say about how team-based school transformation works at its best: "like a well-oiled machine," with results that could be seen in "student behavior, student conduct, and student achievement."²⁸

Improving instruction

Effective principals work relentlessly to improve achievement by focusing on the quality of instruction. They help define and promote high expectations; they attack teacher isolation and fragmented effort; and they connect directly with teachers and the classroom, University of Washington researchers found. ²⁹

Effective principals also encourage continual professional learning. They emphasize research-based strategies to improve teaching and learning and initiate discussions about instructional approaches, both in teams and with individual teachers. They pursue these strategies despite the preference of many teachers to be left alone.³⁰

In practice this all means that leaders must become intimately familiar with the "technical core" of schooling - what is required to improve the quality of teaching and learning.³¹

Principals themselves agree almost unanimously on the importance of several specific practices, according to one survey, including keeping track of teachers' professional development needs and monitoring teachers' work in the classroom (83 percent).³² Whether they call it formal evaluation, classroom visits or learning walks, principals intent on promoting growth in both students and adults spend time in classrooms (or ensure that someone who's qualified does), observing and commenting on what's working well and what is not. Moreover, they shift the pattern of the annual evaluation cycle to one of ongoing and informal interactions with teachers.

The Minnesota-Toronto study paints a picture of strong and weak instructional leadership. "Both high- and low-scoring principals said that they frequently visit classrooms and are ‘very visible,'" the researchers write. "However, differences between principals in the two groups come into sharp focus as they describe their reasons for making classroom visits. High-scoring principals frequently observed classroom instruction for short periods of time, making 20 to 60 observations a week, and most of the observations were spontaneous. Their visits enabled them to make formative observations that were clearly about learning and professional growth, coupled with direct and immediate feedback. High-scoring principals believed that every teacher, whether a first-year teacher or a veteran, can learn and grow.

Effective leaders view data as a means not only to pinpoint problems but to understand their nature and causes.

"... In contrast, low-scoring principals described a very different approach to observations. Their informal visits or observations in classrooms were usually not for instructional purposes. Even informal observations were often planned in advance so that teachers knew when the principal would be stopping by. The most damaging finding became clear in reports from teachers in buildings with low-scoring principals who said they received little or no feedback after informal observations."³³

It is important to note that instructional leadership tends to be much weaker in middle and high schools than in elementary schools.³⁴ Unlike their elementary school counterparts, secondary school principals cannot be expected to have expertise in all the subject areas their schools cover, so their ability to offer guidance on instruction is more limited. The problem is that those who are in a position to offer instructional leadership - department chairs - often are not called on to do so. One suggestion is that the department head's job "should be radically redefined" so whoever holds the post is "regarded, institutionally, as a central resource for improving instruction in middle and high schools."³⁵

As noted above, a central part of being a great leader is cultivating leadership in others. The learning-focused principal is intent on helping teachers improve their practice either directly or with the aid of school leaders like department chairs and other teaching experts.

Managing people, data and processes

"In the great scheme of things," noted one research report, "...schools may be relatively small organizations. But their leadership challenges are far from small, or simple."³⁶ To get the job done, effective leaders need to make good use of the resources at hand. In other words, they have to be good managers.

Effective leaders studied by University of Washington researchers nurtured and supported their staffs, while facing the reality that sometimes teachers don't work out. They hired carefully, but - adhering to union and district personnel policies - they also engaged in "aggressively weeding out individuals who did not show the capacity to grow."³⁷

When it comes to data, effective principals try to draw the most from statistics and evidence, having "learned to ask useful questions" of the information, to display it in ways that tell "compelling stories" and to use it to promote "collaborative inquiry among teachers."³⁸ They view data as a means not only to pinpoint problems but to understand their nature and causes.³⁹

Principals also need to approach their work in a way that will get the job done. Research behind VAL-ED (the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education tool to assess principal performance, developed by researchers at Vanderbilt University) suggests that there are six key steps - or "processes" - that the effective principal takes when carrying out his or her most important leadership responsibilities: planning, implementing, supporting, advocating, communicating and monitoring.⁴⁰ The school leader pressing for high academic standards would, for example, map out rigorous targets for improvements in learning (planning), get the faculty on board to do what's necessary to meet those targets (implementing), encourage students and teachers in meeting the goals (supporting), challenge low expectations and low district funding for students with special needs (advocating), make sure families are aware of the learning goals (communicating), and keep on top of test results (monitoring).⁴¹

Principals - and the people who hire and replace them - need to be aware that school improvement does not happen overnight. A rule of thumb is that a principal should be in place about five to seven years in order to have a beneficial impact on a school. In fact, the average length of a principal's stay in 80 schools studied by the Minnesota-Toronto researchers was 3.6 years. They further found that higher turnover was associated with lower student performance on reading and math achievement tests, apparently because turnover takes a toll on the overall climate of the school.⁴² "It is far from a trivial problem," the researchers say. "Schools experiencing exceptionally rapid principal turnover, for example, are often reported to suffer from lack of shared purpose, cynicism among staff about principal commitment, and an inability to maintain a school-improvement focus long enough to actually accomplish any meaningful change."⁴³ The lesson? Effective principals stay put.

IMPROVING SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

The simple fact is that without effective leaders most of the goals of educational improvement will be very difficult to achieve. Absent attention to that reality, we are in danger of undermining the very standards and goals we have set for ourselves. Fortunately, we have a decade of experience and new research demonstrating the critical importance of leadership for school principals and documenting an empirical link between school leadership and student growth. And we have the benefit of the professional standards developed by ISLLC and principal evaluation tools like VAL-ED.

Still, the lives of too many principals, especially new principals, are characterized by "churn and burn," as the turnover findings bear out. So what can be done to lessen turnover and provide all teachers and students with the highly skilled school leadership they need and deserve? In other words, how do we create a pipeline of leaders who can make a real difference for the better, especially in troubled schools?

A pipeline for effective leadership
Wallace's work over the last decade suggests such a pipeline would have four necessary and interlocking parts:

• Defining the job of the principal and assistant principal. Districts create clear, rigorous job requirements that detail what principals and assistant principals must know and do, and that emerge from what research tells us are the knowledge, skills and behaviors principals need to improve teaching and learning.
• Providing high-quality training for aspiring school leaders. Principal training programs, whether run by universities, nonprofits or districts, recruit and select only the people with the potential and desire to become effective principals in the districts the programs feed into. The programs provide the future leaders with high-quality training and internships that reflect the realities education leaders face in the field.
• Hiring selectively. Districts hire only well-trained candidates for principal and assistant principal jobs.
• Evaluating principals and giving them the on-the-job support they need. Districts regularly evaluate principals, assessing the behaviors that research tells us are most closely tied to improving teaching and student achievement. Districts then provide professional develop- ment, including mentoring, that responds to what the evaluations find for each individual.

Coordination of state and district efforts
Effective school leadership depends on support from district and state officials. Except for the most entrepreneurial, principals are unlikely to proceed with a leadership style focused on learning if the district and state are unsupportive, disinterested or pursuing other agendas.

As one of the major Wallace-funded studies reports, central offices need to be transformed so that the work of teaching and learning improvement can proceed.⁴⁴ That is to say central offices need to "re-culture" themselves so they focus less on administration and more on supporting principals to improve instruction. As for states: Through policy, accreditation and funding for principal training programs, and other levers, they have a major role to play in getting schools the leadership they need. If the states and districts can do the difficult work of coordinating their various efforts, so much the better.⁴⁵

Leadership and the transformation of failing schools
Armed with what we've learned about the potential for leadership over the last decade, we have cause for optimism that the education community's long neglect of leadership is at last coming to an end. We still have a lot to learn, but we have already learned a great deal. In the face of this growing body of knowledge and experience, it is clear that now is the time to step up efforts to strengthen school leadership. Without effective principals, the national goal we've set of transforming failing schools will be next to impossible to achieve.

But with an effective principal in every school comes promise.

THE PRINCIPAL-TEACHER CONNECTION: A SCHOLAR'S VIEW

Linda Darling-Hammond is the Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education at Stanford University. One of the nation's leading authorities on education policy as well as teachers and the teaching profession, Darling-Hammond has served on The Wallace Foundation's board of directors since 2009. She was interviewed in April 2012 by Lucas Held, Wallace's communications director. These are edited excerpts of the interview.

Lucas Held: What do we know about the link between effective teaching and good principals? You note in your 2010 book, The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future, that good principals are the number one reason why teachers stay in school.

Linda Darling-Hammond: That comes up in survey after survey. If you ask teachers, "What kept you in a school that you're in?" or "What caused you to leave?" administrative leadership and support is one of the most critical elements because everything the teacher does is framed by the way the leadership operates. It is possible to be an effective teacher in a poorly led school but it's not easy. That takes a toll. And it is possible to become an ever more effective and successful teacher in a well-led school. Teachers go into the profession to be successful with kids. If they are working with a leadership team led by a principal who understands what it takes to be successful with kids, how the organization should be organized, what kind of supports need to be there, how learning for teachers can be encouraged as well as learning for students, how to get the community and the parental supports in place, that lets the teacher do her or his job effectively and achieve the most important intrinsic motivation: success with kids.

LH: Is that connection generally known?

LDH: You would think it would be obvious. But in schools where there has not been much cultivation of leaders, there is often a hunkering down and just saying, "Well, there's leadership over [t]here and there's teaching over here." That misses the boat in terms of creating effective learning organizations.

LH: How do principals and teachers work together to create a collaborative focus on learning?

LDH: In thriving schools you have a professional learning community. If there isn't one, it's something that teachers and leaders have to build together, getting past the closed-door culture which is often inherited in schools: "We're all doing our own thing in our own classroom."

Leaders who are effective often have a distributed leadership approach. The principal functions as a principal teacher who is really focusing on instruction along with [and] by the side of teachers - not top down mandates and edicts. When principals are trying to help create such a culture, [they] begin to open the doors and say, "Let's talk about our practice. Let's show our student work. Let's go look at each other's classrooms and see what we're doing." Obviously the teachers who will benefit from that can facilitate [matters] by opening their doors and working with each other and bringing ideas to the table. One of the best practices that I've seen when new cultures are being planted is holding the faculty meeting in a different room every time and allowing teachers to talk about strategies they're using that are proving successful. Being willing to open your door and say, "Here's what's going on in my little kingdom here" is the beginning of planting seeds to create a collaborative culture where learning is always building on what teachers and leaders are doing together.

LH: Is it your sense that most schools are operating this way or does this remain the exception?

LDH: More and more teachers are willing and eager to collaborate with one another. More and more leaders are becoming aware of how important that is. But it is certainly not everywhere. There [was] an interesting survey not long ago, The Schools and Staffing Survey, which the federal government does. It asked teachers, "How many of you have the opportunity to collaborate with each other?" Something like 80 or more percent said, "Yes, I have that opportunity." But [when the survey] asked how many would strongly agree or would agree that there is a collaborative culture in their schools where people collaborate frequently, only 15 percent said that. What it says to me is that we have a little bit of collaboration going around everywhere, but we have a lot of collaboration going on in very few places.

One reason for that is that we design our schools in most cases still in the United States based on the factory model of 100 years ago, where the idea was that teachers are only working when they're in classrooms instructing children. If you look at schools in many countries in Europe and Asia, teachers have about 15 hours a week or more where they collaborate with each other on planning, to do action research, to do lesson study, to go into each other's classrooms and look at what they're doing, to meet with parents and students about issues that have come up or that they're trying to address. That differential use of time allows teachers to continually get better at what they're doing. We need to restructure schools to be able to do that.

LH: What you're saying, in a sense, is that a collaborative learning environment is so important that time needs to be carved out to focus on building that work.

LDH: That's right - and being sure that whenever somebody is doing something right, it's getting shared, and whenever somebody has a problem, they have people to go to to help them solve their problem. [There are] very interesting studies about gains in student achievement that have gone on in recent years, and a couple of them are particularly important. They find that there's much greater gain in student achievement in a school when people work collaboratively in teams and when teams of teachers stay together over a period of time and build their collective know ledge and collective capacity. The whole can be greater than the sum of the parts. That's one of the major jobs of good leadership.

LH: Do teachers need to understand what effective principals do?

LGH: I think so for many reasons. One is so that [they] know what to expect. [Another] is that there's increasing use of 360-evaluations, where everyone is inputting to perceptions about the effectiveness of their leaders. [It's important] also [to understand] how to work as a team, how to be supportive of one another.

A lot of a principal's work can be invisible to teachers when they‘re in the classroom. I often use the metaphor of the conductor of the orchestra. We watch the conductor, we're in the audience and we say, "I could do that. Piece of cake. Right?" That's true of teachers' skill in the classroom; it's also true of principals' skill in orchestrating the collective, harmonious work of teachers. [The principal's work] includes organizational design and development. It includes instructional leadership and the development of learning opportunities for kids and teachers. It includes change management, moving an organization from where it is to where it needs to be. It includes outreach with various publics and communities that maintain support for the school - the school board, the parent community, others in the community who are resources to the work of the school.... It's important to understand those things, both to be able to expect and support them, and to also provide good feedback and evaluation.

LH: What advice would you give teachers to become part of the process of making their schools better places?

LDH: Obviously everyone works in their own vineyard, in their own classroom. Beyond that, it's important for teachers to learn from the beginning of their careers - and throughout their careers - how to be good collaborators and community members, how to reach out to others (both to offer to share ideas and thoughts, and to ask and learn from others), how to propose ways that collaboration may be able to take root, to sometimes reach out to the principal and say, "Can I help with this? Is there a way that I can facilitate some of this work getting done or enable you to be able to facilitate it?" There is still quite often this idea that each teacher is a lone agent and the principal is a lone agent, just like the superwoman or superman image, with the cape. And in fact, sometimes school leaders are alone and isolated and may not even realize that they can get help from the faculty to move an agenda forward.

LH: Sounds like a two-way street.

LDH: Absolutely. There actually is a lot to learn about how to be a good collaborator, how to manage differences of opinion, how to talk to each other in ways that will be productive and then get to a place where the conversations can be better and richer. In our efforts to develop the profession, we have to make sure that kind of learning is available to everyone.

LH: Let's talk about some of the features that distinguish high-performing schools from low-performing schools.

LDH: One of the features that we've talked about is lots of collaboration around good practice. That's built on a strong foundation of trust. Some really important research [has] looked at the relational elements of effective schools. It's not just focusing on data about the test scores and so on. It's also building trust between and among the professionals, seeing teachers as respected professionals, that is, people not to be mandated to or barked at but as colleagues who have expertise to be orchestrated and shared - and as professionals who want to continue to grow. Finding ways for the perspectives of teachers and other members of the school community to be shared - as a basis for problem solving, as a basis for school improvement planning - is really important.

In highly successful environments, efforts have been made to make it possible for teachers to be successful. That means making sure that they have the instructional resources they need - textbooks and other tools of learning (computers, good curriculum). [It means] that they are asked to work in ways that will allow them to be successful. For example, we know that when a teacher can either loop with the same students or stay in the same or similar grade level for a period of time, they become more skilled than if you say, "Oh, this year you're teaching kindergarten and next year you're going to teach fifth grade, and then I'm going to put you in the fourth and then maybe the seventh." That is, in a way, very disrespectful to teachers, but it also makes them less effective. We know that from research. Respecting the opportunities for teachers to be efficacious in their teaching by giving them the opportunities, the tools and the relationship time with students to be able to be successful [is very important]. That sometimes means reorganizing the school organization so that it supports the work in a more productive way.

Kind Regards,

Peter Smith

Principal

As summer draws to a close and children start heading back to school, family life can get pretty hectic. It's important to remember – and share with your children – some key tips that will help keep them safe and healthy throughout the school year.

Getting to School

Whether children walk, ride their bicycle or take the bus to school, it is vitally important that they – and the motorists around them – take proper safety precautions.

Walkers »

• Walk on the sidewalk; if there is no sidewalk and you must walk in the street, walk facing traffic
• Before crossing the street, stop and look left, right and left again to see if cars are coming
• Never dart out in front of a parked car
• Parents: Practice walking to school with your child, crossing streets at crosswalks when available
• Never walk while texting or talking on the phone
• Do not walk while using headphones

Bike Riders »

• Always wear a helmet that is fitted and secured properly
• Children need to know the rules of the road: Ride single file on the right side of the road, come to a complete stop before crossing the street and walk the bike across
• Watch for opening car doors and other hazards
• Use hand signals when turning
• Wear bright-colored clothing

Bus Riders »

• Teach children the proper way to get on and off the bus
• Line up 6 feet away from the curb as the bus approaches
• If seat belts are available, buckle up
• Wait for the bus to stop completely before standing
• Do not cross in front of the bus if possible, or walk at least 10 feet ahead until you can see the other drivers
• Get the facts on bus safety from Injury Facts

Drivers, Share the Road »

• Don't block crosswalks
• Yield to pedestrians in crosswalks, and take extra care in school zones
• Never pass a vehicle stopped for pedestrians
• Never pass a bus loading or unloading children
• The area 10 feet around a school bus is the most dangerous for children; stop far enough back to allow them to safely enter and exit the bus

Teen Drivers

Teen vehicle fatalities are on the increase, according to Injury Facts.Teens crash most often because they are inexperienced. They struggle judging gaps in traffic, driving the right speed for conditions and turning safely, among other things. As your teen becomes a new driver, learn more about what you can do as a parent to keep them safe.

Prevent Injuries at School

Following are more discussion topics and resources for parents of school-age children:

• Backpack safety
• Playground safety
• Concussion risk from sports
• Head up, phone down

Browse Seasonal Safety  /  School Safety

• Safety Topics
• Home Safety: Tools & Resources
• Get Involved
• Seasonal Safety
  • School Safety
    • Back to School Safety Tips for Drivers

Review Your Family's Safety Rules

Fall can be a hectic time, but safety should never take a back seat.

GET THE CHECKLIST

Hot Cars Kill Kids

Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, about three kids die each week in hot cars.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Get a jump-start on your career

A Specialist High Skills Major allows you to focus on a career area that interests you while you earn your high school diploma. No matter what education you plan to pursue after high school—apprenticeship, college, university or workplace training—a hospitality and tourism major can help you focus on a future career. 

Profile of the hospitality and tourism sector

The tourism industry presents many advantages for employees because it offers a selection of well over 400 occupations. Tourism jobs also tend to provide plenty of opportunities for advancement, widely transferable skills, and ongoing training.

A Specialist High Skills Major in hospitality and tourism offers:

• high school courses in grade 11 and 12 tailored to the career you want to pursue
• the chance to work with industry leaders and experience cutting-edge training in hospitality/tourism
• experience working in the sector you're interested in, while you're still in high school
• skills and work habits that are required in the hospitality/tourism sector, using tools connected with the Ontario Skills Passport
• recognition on your high school diploma

The hospitality and tourism major includes the following components:

In the hospitality/tourism major, you will take nine credits in grade 11 and 12:

• four hospitality/tourism major credits
• one English credit, one math credit and one credit of either science or hospitality/tourism, each with units focused on hospitality/tourism
• two co-operative education credits to gain workplace experience that helps you refine, extend and practice your business knowledge and skills
• experiential learning, career exploration and reach-ahead activities in business
• six sector-recognized certifications and training programs, including customer service, first aid, CPR and hazardous materials

Sector-recognized certification and training

As part of the hospitality and tourism major, you will earn six certifications, including the following four that are compulsory:

• customer service
• standard first aid
• CPR, level A
• hazardous materials - Workplace Hazardous Materials Information Systems (WHMIS)

Future career paths for hospitality/tourism majors

For hospitality/tourism majors, possible careers include:

• apprenticeship – baker, cook, chef, special events coordinator
• college – flight attendant, food service manager
• university – nutritionist, dietician, hotel/resort manager
• entry level workplace – hotel valet, bartender

Get more information

Call the guidance department at the following schools that offer the program:

Louise Arbour Secondary School, 905-793-5451

Rick Hansen Secondary School, 905-567-4260

Turner Fenton Secondary School, 905-453-9220

West Credit Secondary School, 905-858-3087

Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC) is excited to award this year’s research grant to Dr. Christine Molmenti from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research at Northwell Health and Heather Hampel from the University of Ohio.

Their research, titled “A feasibility study to determine history of advanced adenoma(s) among first-degree relatives of early onset colorectal cancer patients participating in the Ohio Colorectal Cancer Prevention Initiative” ultimately aims to determine the prevalence of advanced adenomas among first degree relatives of Early Age Onset (EAO) colorectal cancer (CRC) patients.

To better understand this landscape, investigators will initially study how easy it is to recruit 50 EAO patients, contact their first-degree relatives, collect medical data, and determine the accuracy of self-report colonoscopy results from first-degree relatives. This will serve as a jumping off point to inform a larger study in the future which will estimate the prevalence of advanced adenoma among first-degree relatives (FDR) in a larger early-age onset CRC cohort.

According to Dr. Dennis Ahnen from the University of Colorado Cancer Center and a steering committee member for the National Colorectal Cancer Roundtable (NCCRT), “this project arose out of discussions among members of the Family History and Early Onset CRC Task Group of the NCCRT and is a good example of the importance of collaborative efforts between organizations like the NCCRT, Fight CRC and researchers

WHY STUDY EAO?

Colorectal cancer has been declining in those over the age of 50 for the past three decades. Recently however, the incidence rates in those under the age of 50 have been rising–so much so that predictions expect colon cancer cases to increase by 90% and rectal cancer cases to increase by 124% in young adults by 2030.

WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT EAO CRC DEVELOPMENT

Although we don’t know why there is an increase in the number of EAO CRC cases, there are a few things we do understand that may help us better understand the disease, and how to best approach prevention and treatment.

It’s been established that the majority of EAO CRC cases arise from polyps, which are non-cancerous small clumps of cells that grow in the lining of the bowel.

Polyps can also be classified as adenomas, also known as adenomatous polyps. This type of polyp can have varying growth patterns, some more indicative of cancer than others.

An adenoma becomes classified as advanced when the polyp is larger than one centimeter, has a certain growth pattern, and has characteristics of high-grade dysplasia (looks like cancer).

It’s highly recommended that advanced adenomas be removed due to their ability to develop into cancer. This can be done during a colonoscopy. If adenomas are detected during a CT colonography screening, a follow up colonoscopy should be performed to fully remove the polyp.

This study will serve as a starting point to begin understanding the prevalence of advanced adenomas in the early-age onset CRC population.

FIRST-DEGREE RELATIVES

First-degree relatives (FDRs), defined as a biological parent, sibling, or child of individuals diagnosed with advanced adenomas are at a higher risk for developing colorectal cancer compared to those that do not have a first-degree relative, irregardless of the age at diagnosis. This risk increases with the number of family members diagnosed with advanced adenomas.

According to Hampel and Molmenti, “the prevalence of advanced adenoma among FDRs of EAO CRC patients is currently unknown, yet we suspect family history of advanced adenoma plays an important role in the development of early age onset CRC”.

The researchers state that understanding the familial link between advanced adenomas in EAO CRC cases is necessary to lowering the incidence and mortality.

CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH

Over the course of 12 months, researchers will contact and enroll 50 EAO CRC probands through the Ohio Colorectal Cancer Prevention Initiative (OCCPI).

A proband is the person who serves as the starting point in a genetic study.

They will then obtain contact information for the FDRs related to the initial person, enroll the FDRs in the study, and collect and verify colonoscopy results for those family members who had received a colonoscopy before the proband’s diagnosis.

The purpose of these efforts is to understand how feasible it is not only to obtain information from the primary patient (proband), but also their first-degree relatives ultimately equipping researchers with the necessary knowledge to be able to design a large-scale study.

On October 19-23, global leaders gathered in Munich, Germany for the 2018 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) conference to advance the science of cancer care, understand where the research currently stands, and disseminate knowledge within the oncology field.

ESMO is the equivalent of the American Society of Cancer Oncology’s (ASCO) annual meeting in the United States and attracts thousands of practitioners, oncologists, researchers, and patient advocates from across the world.

What’s new in Colorectal Cancer (CRC) research?

That’s a great question! This past week, there were a few promising (and not so promising) results from ESMO 2018.

Remember, just because a study isn’t promising for cancer treatment, doesn’t mean it isn’t contributing to the larger body of research. To know what works, we also have to know what doesn’t work.

Based on what we’ve heard from our patient advocate community, we’ve highlighted the top five research studies from ESMO that are important for the CRC community to understand as they continue to push for the best available treatments in the search for a cure.

1. Checkmate 142: Immunotherapy may become first-line treatment for some.
   Back in July 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of nivolumab (Opdivo) in combination with ipilimumab (Yervoy) for patients with microsatellite instability high (MSI-H) or mismatch repair deficient (dMMR) metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) who have progressed on a previous treatment of fluoropyrimidine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan. This approval was based on positive findings from the Checkmate142 study, of which updated results were presented at ASCO 2018. Now, researchers are observing positive results in patients who haven’t received any prior treatment for MSI-H CRC. This could be the first time an immunotherapy combination is a first-line treatment option.
2. Preoperative Treatment with Nivolumab and Ipilimumab. Along these lines, another study presented at ESMO investigated whether neoadjuvant treatment (a treatment given before the primary mode of treatment) with nivolumab (Opdivo) and ipilimumab (Yervoy) in MSI-H patients would show response rates. Fourteen patients with early-stage CRC were treated with ipilimumab and nivolumab before surgery. Of the seven patients with dMMR CRC, 100 percent had a pathological response, meaning cancer could not be detected in tissue samples.
3. Phase II STARTK-2, Phase 1 STARTRK-1, and Phase 1 ALKA-372-001.Personalized medicine continues to make headlines as the future (or not so future) of cancer treatment. In this study, entrectinib shrank tumors in 57.4 percent of people with neurotrophic tropomyosin receptor kinase (NTRK) fusion-positive solid tumors. TRK Fusions are a biomarker we’re keeping an eye on. Briefly, it’s a genetic abnormality that occurs when one of the NTRK genes connects to another, unrelated gene, leading to uncontrolled TRK signaling and the potential for cancer. Because of the study results, entrectinib has been granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) by the FDA to treat NTRK fusion-positive, locally-advanced or, metastatic-solid tumors. Specifically, to treat those patients who have either progressed following prior therapies or have no acceptable standard therapies.
4. Nuc-3373 Results: Researchers presented findings from a Phase I study investigating a drug called Nuc-3373, which also had data presented at ASCO 2018. Of 36 patients with metastatic cancer in the study, three achieved stable disease. This drug may have the potential to control the growth of cancer even in patients whose cancer has progressed on prior treatment with a fluoropyrimidine such as 5-FU or capecitabine. Additionally, researchers are hopeful that it will have administration advantages over 5-FU.
5. Reovirus with FOLFIRI/B in KRAS mutation: Original findings from this phase I study were presented at ASCO 2018, now researchers conducted a dose escalation study investigating a reovirus (Reo) in combination with FOLFIRI/B (irinotecan, flluorouracil, leucovorin, plus bevacizumab) in patients with KRAS mutations. Out of those that received the maximum tolerated dose of FOLFIRI/B and the reovirus, 50 percent had a partial response. The progression-free survival, or the length of time that the cancer didn’t grow, was 65.6 weeks and the overall survival, or the length of time individuals survived is 107.5 weeks. These findings exceeded researchers expectations.

Other notable highlights:

• Barriers to early clinical trial access for adolescents and young adults still exist.
• Taiho’s drug Lonsurf, which is approved for metastatic colorectal cancer, showed clinical benefit in metastatic gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer patients.
• Challenges for cancer awareness and screening: Zorana Maravic from the Digestive Cancers Europe presented on the benefits and barriers of CRC screening.

Did you know Zorana was a panelist on global leadership at Fight CRC’s Call-on Congress this past year?!

BY DEVON REEHL | Q&A THURSDAY, TALENT

After college, I worked as a full-time touring drummer. I designed websites on the side as a way to supplement my income.

When I got to the point of leaving my work as a drummer to pursue a web design career full time, I moved to New York City. I quickly developed some good relationships and began to form some solid business partnerships. As a result, I saw a spike in growth. Eventually, one of these relationships led to me absorbing another agency.

While exciting, this rapid growth forced me to take a hard look at my business systems. I realized I needed to bring on more people with skill sets complementary to my own (and vice versa).

Finding the right fit with a new team member is important. But having a personality is not enough. You have to ask the right questions to make sure everyone is set up for success from the get-go.

Here are a few things I’ve learned when it comes to working with someone new in a partnership capacity.

What is your sales process? How do you sell? And how do you scope work?

It’s important for both of you to lay out your entire sales process. Then you can see if they align.

How many calls do they have with a client? How much time do they invest up front? What does discovery look like? Discuss every step they go through, start to finish.

Good or bad, this doesn’t have to be a deal breaker. When you’re both able to get all your cards on the table, you can identify problems that may crop up.

Then, make your decision based on whether your sales processes lines up, not whether you like sipping coffee with each other.

Who are your target customers?

If they can’t answer this questions or identify the type of people they like to work with (do they have any criteria?) this could be a red flag.

The way they define their target customers is going to affect the size of their business, their revenue, and their goals. Once you partner with them, their clarity will also affect your business in the same ways.

You may need to have them define this before moving forward with the partnership.

Who is going to manage this project?

They have their developer hat on, and you have your designer hat on, but there’s a third hat that needs to be worn: Project Manager.

I’ve seen projects drag on for years. And it was because of one reason: project management wasn’t addressed up front.

For starters, it’s critical that both of you recognize project management as a hat that someone needs to wear. You can’t just team up and hope project management works itself out.

If you decide that you’re going to take on project management, you have to ask yourself if you are you the best equipped to handle that role. Is it your strength? If not, perhaps your partner should handle it.

Also, when deciding who is going to take on the role, you need to decide how to compensate for the extra workload. The project manager should receive an additional 20% of the project fee.

If you brought on an outside project manager, you’d pay roughly this amount to them. So make sure you build that additional 20% project management fee into the scope of your work and then pay yourself or your partner accordingly.

What’s the next step for the client?

Which of you will support the client after the project? Who’s going to provide marketing services? Who will drive the relationship out of the garage once the car is built?

It’s not enough to hand your client a tool (website) and expect them to know how to use it properly.

Asking this question will allow you to address your client’s needs after you’ve completed the project. You might discover they have an in-house marketing person. Maybe they have a contractor they work with. Maybe you can make a recommendation for them.

Don’t just leave clients with a shiny new website. They won’t see the results they’re looking for.

It would be like having a garden shed full of shiny new tools, but not knowing how to use them. There will be no harvest.

Set Yourself Up for Success

Whether you use these questions or not, it’s important for you to ask a handful of questions that are most important to making your business run professionally.

If you’re looking for a short-term relationship with a contractor, these questions may not help you. But if you need to develop a long-term working relationship, these big questions are essential to getting it right.

If your business partner or the freelancer you’re teaming up with doesn’t have the same sales philosophy, it will lead to problems down the road.

Be willing to have the tough conversations up front. They will save you time, save your relationships, and potentially save your business.

What essential questions do you ask when partnering? Let me know if the comments. Your questions might give other readers a leg up in their own business.

From 14 year old girls championing diversity on their local beaches, to innovative programs run by some of Australia’s biggest banks to support diversity in the workplace, last night’s 2018 Recognition Awards run by Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) provided the perfect showcase for the talents and extraordinary abilities of a community that is often isolated and misunderstood.

Over 100 people, including the Hon. Scott Farrow MLC and John Doyle (from Roy and HG fame), attended the evening which saw six awards presented to people, families, carers, professionals and corporations whose efforts, skills or projects highlighted or addressed issues facing the autism community.

“The 2018 Recognition Awards aim to celebrate the incredible achievements happening within our autism community,” Aspect’s CEO, Adrian Ford, said. “Whether it’s providing inspiration, support or addressing significant issues, the awards celebrate our diversity, creativity and resilience.

“This year we saw extraordinary people overcoming incredibly personal hurdles to become advocates for themselves and others.

“People like Nathan (Uluru) Phillips who identifies as an Aboriginal, transgender man in a small regional community, and who wasn’t diagnosed with autism until late in life.

“Prior to 2016 he lived in situations where his behaviour, anxiety and stress went unnoticed and unsupported, but since moving out of home Nathan has gone on to achieved incredible things in such a short period of time, and is now a passionate advocate for people in similar situations to himself,” Mr Ford said.

“And Dane Waites, who competed in the Dublin 2003 Special Olympics winning a Bronze medal, who recently completed a run across Australia from Perth to Pambula to raise awareness and funds for people on the autism spectrum.

“Running the equivalent of a marathon every day, Dane shared his message of awareness, understanding and acceptance of autism from Perth to Pambula, meeting every challenge with his huge, contagious smile and raising over $120,000.”

Mr Ford went on to say that the night, which was filled with extraordinary achievements, also saw a clear theme emerge.

“Three out of six award recipients were people or organisations working to improve employment prospects for people on the autism spectrum,” Mr Ford said.

“Many people on the autism spectrum struggle with the transition into paid employment, so these types of initiatives are incredible important for our community.

“Representatives of SunPork Farms, Commonwealth Bank and the ANZ all took home awards for programs that encourage and support people on the autism spectrum in their workforce.

“Many organisations talk about the importance of diversity in the workplace but still hold very limited views of what diversity actually looks like.

“The types of programs we have heard about at last night’s awards are breaking new ground and creating new and innovative ways to think about diversity in the workplace.

“I am proud to say that Aspect is leading the way with diversity in the workplace, with a mentoring program offering guidance and advice to assist adults on the spectrum move into the world of work with ease and confidence, training for employers to understand the contribution employees on the autism spectrum can make to your workplace and a recruitment support service.

“I would like to see a different brilliant in every workforce – where the strengths and interests of people on the spectrum in every organisation are celebrated,” Mr Ford said.

Now in their 12^th year, the Autism Spectrum Australia Recognition Awards celebrate extraordinary people in the autism community.

The 2018 Recognition Award recipients include:

• David Foster Appreciation Award - Kiara Summers – for her work with the Elouera surf lifesaving club where she volunteers each Sunday morning to help run the yellow fins nippers program – a nippers group designed to support children on the autism spectrum and with other disabilities to learn important lifesaving skills.  
• Above and Beyond Award - Sandeep Joshi – for developing and driving an internship program at the Commonwealth Bank for people on the autism spectrum, which has so far seen 6 candidates successfully selected for employment at the bank.
• Advancement Award - SunPork Farms and Autism CRC – for a world-first initiative that is employing autistic adults in professional stock caring roles in intensive agriculture systems.
• Parent Carer of the Year Award - Matt Ormiston – for developing the ANZ Spectrum Program - a commitment by ANZ to recognise the talents of people on the spectrum by shaping a workplace in which they can thrive. 
• Inspiration Award for Individual Achievement (Youth) – Nathan (Uluru) Phillipps – for surpassing many personal hurdles to become a passionate advocate for people on the spectrum in similar situations to himself.
• Inspiration Award for Individual Achievement (Adult) – Dane Waites – for his inspirational run from Perth to Pambula to raise awareness and funds for people on the autism spectrum.

The Autism Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) has published Australia's first National Guideline for the assessment and diagnosis of autism.

All Australians who require assessment for autism spectrum conditions are entitled to an early, affordable and comprehensive diagnostic process. The Guideline provides an opportunity to ensure a nationally consistent and equitable experience across the lifespan for families and individuals seeking a diagnosis.

"Everybody deserves to receive a consistent and professional service throughout their diagnosis journey regardless of where they live in Australia" states Paul Micallef, autistic Co-Chair of the Australian Autism Alliance. "The National Guideline is the first step in achieving that goal and the Autism CRC should be congratulated".

Establishing a diagnosis should ensure a pathway to services, supports and information that empowers individuals to participate in their communities.

Terry Burke, Co-Chair of the Alliance says "We will support the NDIA Autism Advisory Group in reviewing information on barriers to implementation and implications for eligibility. However, there are also broader considerations such as interfaces with other systems, funding, affordability and the capacity of diagnosticians to deliver on the Guideline".

The Australian Autism Alliance is one strong voice for autism. We will seek to work collaboratively with the Autism CRC, the NDIA and other relevant government departments to establish a national governance framework for quality monitoring.

Current problems with diagnosis means that the enormous potential of autistic Australians is not being realised.

Adequate resourcing for effective implementation and evaluation across different service systems and across States and Territories is vital.

Here you will find Centrecare’s Ten Top Tips for dealing with issues you may be experiencing in your relationships or with work colleagues, teenagers, young children or extended family. These tips can also help you to manage anger, separation/divorce or problems with gambling or drugs plus many more issues that you may be faced with.

These tips are designed to provide you with some ideas to consider about how you could approach a situation that you, your family members or friends may be dealing with. However, these tips are not to be considered as an immediate or final solution to problems, but rather a resource you can draw from.

Counselling

We would recommend that you seek counselling or other support services if you are not able to resolve your problem or would like to find out more about how you can apply some of these tips to your situation.

Please click the links below to open or download the PDF's.

when being a parent of a small child is not easy
when dealing with drugs and teens
when living with an unhappy teen
when talking with your teenager 
when living with teenagers
when teens want to improve communication with their parents
when coping with a critical or traumatic incident
when you have experienced a loss
when women want to reclaim control over their lives
when men want to stop being abusive towards their partners and families
when you want to control your anger
when people in relationships want to communicate more effectively
when you want to get along better with other people
when resolving conflict
when you want a better body image
when you want a healthy spiritual life
when you want healthy relationships
when you're feeling down
when you need to manage stress
when you have a gambling problem
when you need to manage and survive separation and divorce
when you want to remain in your rental accommodation
when we need to bring out the best in workplace colleagues
when dealing with challenging patients - GPs
when dealing with challenging patients - Nurses

What's the story?

Chris Jericho return to New Japan Pro Wrestling was thought to be another one-off scenario, but his latest victory has raised a lot of questions.

Only Sportskeeda gives you the latest Wrestling News, rumors and updates.

In a complete shock to wrestling fans the world over, Jericho defeated Tetsuya Naito to capture the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at DOMINION 6.9 in OSAKA-JO HALL.

In case you didn't know...

Y2J made his return to NJPW back in January when he wrestled Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

Jericho left the company shortly after the event but came back to reignite his feud with Naito.

The heart of the matter

Jericho started the match by attacking Naito before he could get his suit off and he beat him down with every weapon available at ringside before Naito collected himself and began his assault on the former WWE Superstar.

The match was more of a back and forth effort when the wrestlers entered the ring and it seemed like Naito was headed towards victory, but the turning point was when Naito attempted the Destino.

As Naito went for his finisher, Jericho pushed the referee out of his line of sight and hit Naito below the belt with a swift kick to the groin.

Jericho followed up the low blow with a Codebreaker to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship - marking the first championship with the promotion.

What's next?

With Naito being one of NJPW's most popular superstars, the decision to have Jericho go over could indicate that Y2J will be wrestling for NJPW exclusively for the next few months.

The next event Y2J is likely to appear at is the G1 Special in San Francisco on Saturday, July 7 - five days before Jericho's band, FOZZY resumes their tour on July 12.

NJPW has been full of surprises and this will make things a lot more interesting going forward.

As for Naito, losing the match to Okada at Wrestle Kingdom and losing to Jericho at Dominion would mark some embarrassing losses for one of NJPW's biggest stars.

This sources are from Sportskeeda

Not everyone is meant to become a school principal. Some educators make the transition well while others figure out that it is more difficult than one might think. A school principal’s day can be long and stressful. You have to be organized, solve problems, manage people well, and be able to separate your personal life from your professional life. If you cannot do those four things, you will not last long as a principal.

It takes a remarkable person to deal with all the negatives that you are forced to handle as a school principal. You listen to constant complaints from parents, teachers, and students. You have to deal with all kinds of discipline issues. You attend virtually every extra-curricular activity. If you have an ineffective teacher in your building, then it is your job to help them improve or get rid of them. If your test scores are low, it is ultimately a reflection of you.

So why would someone want to become a principal? For those that are equipped to handle the day to day stresses, the challenge of running and maintaining a school can be rewarding. There is also an upgrade in pay which is a bonus. The most rewarding aspect is that you have a greater impact on the school as a whole. You are the school leader. As the leader, your daily decisions impact a larger number of students and teachers than you impacted as a classroom teacher. A principal who understands this reaps their rewards through daily growth and improvements from their students and teachers.

For those who decide that they want to become a principal, the following steps must be taken to reach that goal:

1. Earn a Bachelor’s Degree – You must earn a four-year bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. In some cases, it does not have to be an education degree as most states have an alternative certification program.
2. Obtain a Teaching License/Certification – Once you have earned a bachelor’s degree in education then, most states require you to get licensed/certified. This is typically done by taking and passing a test or series of tests in your area of specialization. If you do not have a degree in education, then check your states’ alternative certification requirements to obtain your teaching license/certification.
3. Gain Experience as a Classroom Teacher – Most states require you to teach a certain number of years before you are able to become a school principal. This is extremely important because most people need classroom experience to have an understanding of what goes on in a school on a day to day basis. Gaining this experience is essential to becoming an effective principal. In addition, it will be easier for teachers to relate to you and understand where you are coming from if you have classroom experience because they know you have been one of them.
4. Gain Leadership Experience – Throughout your time as a classroom teacher, look for opportunities to sit on and/or chair committees. Visit with your building principal and let them know that you are interested in becoming a principal. Chances are they will give you some increased role to help prepare you for being in that role or at the very least you can pick their brain concerning principal best practices. Every bit of experience and knowledge will help when you land your first principal’s job.
5. Earn a Master’s Degree – Although most principals will earn a Master’s degree in an area such as educational leadership, there are states that allow you to become a principal with a combination of any master’s degree, the required teaching experience, along with passing the license/certification process. Most people will continue to teach full time while taking master’s courses part time until they earn their degree. Many school administration masters’ programs now cater to teacher’s offering one night a week courses. The summer can be used to take additional classes to expedite the process.  The final semester typically involves an internship with hands-on training that will give you a snapshot of what a principal's job actually entails.
6. Obtain a School Administrator License/Certification – This step is remarkably similar to the process for getting your teacher license/certification. You must pass a test or series of tests related to the specific area you want to be a principal in whether that be an elementary, a middle level, or a high school principal.
7. Interview for a Principal’s Job – Once you have earned your license/certification, then it is time to start looking for a job. Do not be discouraged if you do not land one as quickly as you thought. Principal’s jobs are intensely competitive and can be difficult to land. Go into every interview confident and prepared. As you interview, remember that as they are interviewing you, you are interviewing them. Do not settle for a job. You do not want a job at a school which you do not genuinely want with all the stress a principal’s job can bring.  While searching for a principal's job, gain valuable administrator experience by volunteering to help out your building principal.  More than likely they will be willing to allow you to continue on in an internship type of role. This type of experience will boost your resume and give you terrific on the job training.
8. Land a Principal’s Job – Once you get an offer and have accepted it, the real fun begins. Come in with a plan but remember that no matter how well you feel you have been prepared, there will be surprises. There are new challenges and issues that arise each and every day. Never get complacent. Continue to search for ways to grow, do your job better, and make improvements to your building.

Working in conjunction with professional psychologists and trainers, Apprenticeships Support Australia’s partner, Skillsroad, has put together a suite of classroom-ready tools to help guide your students to make informed career choices.

CLASSROOM RESOURCES

Finally, real help is at hand!

Working in conjunction with professional psychologists and trainers, Apprenticeships Support Australia’s partner, Skillsroad, has put together a suite of classroom-ready tools, including fully-downloadable lesson plans, and videos, to help guide your students to make informed career choices on topics such as career planning and preparing for job interviews.

Don't forget to take a look at our 'Professional Development Resources' which include a series of Teacher and Career Advisor webinars.
 

REGISTER FOR FREE ON SKILLSROAD TO GET YOUR STUDENTS STARTED

You can also encourage your pupils to Register so that they can access the following applications and resources:

• Career Quiz – a brand-new mobile and tablet-friendly Career Quiz app, designed by a psychologist, generates a personalised report with career recommendations based on the student’s strongest skillset, helping to guide students on potential career opportunities. 
• Explore Careers – a space where students can explore information and videos on over 350 careers, including long-term career projections and earning potential
• Job-Fit Test – this test takes students beyond school to examine their readiness for the workplace and suitability for different career options
• Resume Builder – where job seekers can build resume step-by-step, including a cover letter
• Jobs Board – a live listing of entry-level jobs (including apprenticeships) across a variety of industries
• Preparing for Work –tips and pointers to guide students through the job application process and getting ready for work

Skillsroad also hosts regular webinars for those working in the careers advisory space. Be sure to make sure you check back in regularly to get access to the latest teaching news, tools and resources – and keep an eye out for our Careers Advisors newsletter!