At some point in your career, you needed someone who had been in this role and would tell you the truth about it. Not the polished version. Not the professional development version. The real one — what it actually demands, what it actually costs, what you actually need to survive it and lead it well….
Part of our complete guide: How to Become a Principal. The word networking makes most educators uncomfortable. It sounds like something that happens in hotel ballrooms at conferences, with business cards and elevator pitches and conversations that are obviously about what you can get from the other person. Most teachers and APs — people who…
Part of our complete guide: How to Become a Principal. You are thinking about making the move. You have been running the math in your head — not the noble version of the math, not the version you say out loud in a principal interview when you talk about your passion for student outcomes. The…
Part of our complete guide: How to Become a Principal. You are not asking this question because you are having doubts about your commitment. You are asking it because you are serious enough about the decision to want an honest answer before you make it — not the answer that is designed to get you…
Part of our complete guide: How to Become a Principal. You are doing the visible work of the transition. You are building your leadership experience — the committee chairs, the grade level leadership, the PD facilitation, the district work that gets your name in front of the people who make hiring decisions. Your resume is…
Part of our complete guide: How to Become a Principal. You have the credential. You have the experience. Your resume shows leadership roles and measurable outcomes and the right combination of instructional and operational evidence. You have been a finalist twice and have not gotten the offer. And you are trying to figure out what…
I want to tell you about the gap. The one between what the educational leadership program gives you and what the principalship actually requires. It is not a small gap. It is not a gap that better professors or updated curricula would close. It is an intentional gap. And understanding why it exists is the…