Most principals will agree that every school is different since school climates are affected by differing factors, such as location, cultures, and life circumstances. This explains why urban education varies from rural and suburban education. As an urban principal, here are the top steps you need to take to fulfill the needs of your school.
Focus on Becoming an Influential Leader
According to a report by the Wallace Foundation, strong school leadership is a top priority for any school system that wants to boost student achievement. Studies show that it’s virtually impossible for a school to take its student achievement to the next level without talented leadership at the helm. Urban schools require strongly influential leaders that can easily circumvent common challenges.
For instance, urban schools constantly deal with low student achievement, disorganized business operations, and a lack of instructional coherence. Being an influential leader will enable you to turn around a failing and low-performing school and make a huge difference in students’ and teachers’ lives.
When you focus on becoming an influential leader, you can widen your sphere of influence to such an extent that you easily attract talented teachers to your school and reduce the degree of turnover. High-performing teachers value effective leadership, and together you can transform even the most challenging schools for the better.
Keep Investing In Professional Development
Your professional development should be a continuous endeavor because even the best urban principals never stop learning how to better versions of themselves. Fortunately, it’s now easier than ever to invest in your professional development with online master’s programs. For instance, the Master of Arts In Urban Education program is designed with urban principals, assistant principals, and central office administrators in mind.
Overall, this program will take your administrative and decision-making skills to the next level. The program comes with a concentration in principal preparation to acquaint you with the various leadership styles needed in PreK-12 urban school environments.
Understand the Reality of Being a Principal
Qualifying for a principalship and understanding the job requirements are good. However, it’s crucial to realize that you won’t just be a principal on paper. The question is how you fare when you find yourself in a typical, high-stress environment where angry parents are at loggerheads with you, and other curveballs keep coming at you.
Being an effective urban school principal means you’ll live for such days because they provide an excellent opportunity to refine your leadership and management skills. It’s all in a day’s work for competent principals that are passionate about what they do. The key is to juggle your responsibilities smoothly by knowing which responsibilities to prioritize and when to delegate.
Strive to Make an Impact on Student Achievement
To be an effective principal in an urban school, it’s essential to realize that you need to master management practices and be an educational leader at the same time. While it’s true that a principal’s job description includes tasks like managing school logistics and budgets, building maintenance, and public relations, successful school leadership also means that student achievement should be your biggest priority.
Effective principals strive by all means to improve achievement by connecting directly with teachers and students. They focus on the core business of teaching and make an effort to boost the quality of instruction while creating the ideal conditions for effective teaching and learning.
Engage In Multicultural Preparation
An effective urban school principal also needs to be a multicultural leader. This implies that you need multicultural preparation to help set you up for success when dealing with a school population that’s culturally diverse. The majority of American urban schools have a diverse student body comprising many members of minority groups, immigrants, and refugees.
Principals need to be knowledgeable about diversity to create fair and inclusive policies that promote equality and eliminate cultural sensitivities, discrimination, and prejudice. In your role as a multicultural leader, it’s essential to incorporate work that promotes cultural activities in your daily operations. For instance, you can set up meetings with parents to better understand your students – where they come from, who they are, and their values starmusiq .
In conclusion, applying these tips will help you cultivate the leadership qualities that urban schools need.
