Principal Walk-Throughs a Waste of Time? Maybe So

Today, I stumbled an interesting article from Education Week I feel I must share and comment upon. The article, "Principals Pressed for Time to Lead Instructional Change" by Leslie Maxwell, adds an interesting wrinkle to the focus on principals getting into classrooms and conducting walkthrough observations.

Apparently, if you're doing it to raise test scores, you might be wasting your time. Here's some interesting points from the article:

• "In a study published late last year in the journal Educational Researcher, researchers found that the amount of time principals spent on a broad range of activities related to instruction was not associated with gains in student performance, as measured by standardized tests."
• "Walkthroughs were negatively associated with student performance, especially in high schools."

Apparently, the study and this article make some important points about principals and using classroom observations and walkthroughs to improve instruction.

• First of all, I have always thought this to be true, though there are those who think differently: Principals must be teachers themselves. I would add that they must have extensive classroom experience to even credibly coach another teacher to improve classroom practice. The idea that someone who has not taught or who has little classroom experience coaching teachers makes little sense. School leaders must have more than a textbook knowledge of teaching and learning to even hope to help someone improve instruction.
• Secondly, like any strategy employed to improve instruction, none will work in isolation. There is nothing magical about a principal's presence in the classroom that is going to make teachers get better. As the article indicates, for classroom walkthroughs and observations to work, there needs to be follow-up and coaching as well as feedback. Improving teaching and learning takes a broad approach with a range of strategies.

Perhaps the real answer lies in what Michael Fullan, the author of the new book The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact. He argues that the whole problem lies with the currently defined role of "principal as instructional leader." It just doesn't work because trying to improve teachers one at a time is a time-wasting approach. Instead, principals should be "Learning Leaders" or "Lead Learners." In that role, according to Fullan, principals should work to develop community and collaboration. They should work to develop the expertise of the whole group, not focus on one teacher at a time.

This study once again illustrates how education so many times gets things wrong. There is no one single strategy for improving teaching and learning, despite what all the vendors and snake oil salesmen selling such wares tell you.

Advice for the New Administrator & Educator Using Social Media

During a conversation today, I was asked, "What advice would you give to the new administrator just beginning to use social media in his or her new role?" Becoming an administrator is a challenge in itself, which means there are enough issues to deal with without making mistakes using social media. Added to these challenges is the fact that most often new principals or assistant principals are left either with no mentor, or the mentor they have probably doesn't know a great deal about technology in general much less social media. This means the novice administrator is often left to her own devices when it comes to engaging stakeholders in social media.

As an administrator and experimenter with social media for most of the last six years, I have learned a few things about it, mostly by trial and error but also from others. Right now, I would place these five suggestions at the top of the list for new administrators and educators engaging in social media use in their new roles.

1. Think before you post. There is a bit of common sense in this suggestion, but with all the news stories about educators getting into trouble because of some careless posting on a blog or on Twitter, it is certainly worthwhile to repeat and emphasize it. Crafting a social media message for your school or district should be a deliberate process. Careful thought should be put into Twitter statements or Facebook posts. Reading the post from the perspective of your reader or the community is vital. That Twitter message might only have 140 characters, but a lot of damage can result from those characters if worded improperly.

2. Know the limitations of social media. Social media is an excellent way to engage stakeholders, but it isn't always the best way. It is vital that you take time to think about the message and whether the message you want to deliver is suited for your school's Facebook page or a Twitter post. Some announcements still might need to be made through your school's automatic phone messaging system or through a meeting with your parents. Social media is a relatively easy way to deliver a message, but it can leave a lot of room for interpretation, and there are times when all that interpretation is not wanted.

3. Be aware that you may still have to use a blended approach to communication that involves using social media and other media too. It has been my experience that not all parents are plugged in yet. This means I have to make sure stakeholders that aren't using social media, get the message too. Also, it might mean we also have to provide training for parents and community members too so that they can get plugged in and receive the benefits of being connected through social media.

4. Make sure the message fits the medium. This is an old time adage about communication in general, but in some ways, social media is much more powerful, and that means that not everything that needs to be said needs to be done through Twitter or Facebook. Delivering bad news or serious news is probably best left to the older media such as phone messaging systems or even a more formal press release. Be careful of trying to communicate sarcasm or humor. These don't often translate well in social media.Administrators and educators would do well to be very careful with making sure media and message are the best match.. After all, as Erik Qualman, author of the book Digital Leadership writes: "Keep in mind there's no hiding from anything in the new digital world. Your best course of action is to assume whatever you post will eventually be seen by millions." Post only those things you wouldn't mind your mother seeing.

5. Set up school-based and personal-professional social media accounts separately. If you are going to be communicating with others as your own agent, then you need a separate account. Any accounts set up with the name of your school implies that your are speaking as an agent of the school. Whether it is a Twitter account or a blog, if you give it the appearance that you are speaking in your role as principal or teacher, then any posting that you do may be perceived as posts from an agent of the school or district. By having separate accounts, there is no implied relationship. Still, even with separate accounts, it is important to think and post prudently.

Being an administrator is a challenging job and using social media effectively can mitigate some of those challenges. That means engaging in social media in effective ways. New administrators and educators can take advantage of the power of social media by keeping these suggestions in mind.