15 Ways for Principals to Increase

Student Achievement

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Principals have always had the most direct responsibility for the process of increasing

student achievement in their buildings, best accomplished by empowering teachers

and encouraging innovation. With the recent passage of new federal legislation that

promises an increase in local autonomy, an opportunity exists for schools to engage in

personalization of learning guided by educators and not politicians.

The conscious decisions school leaders make as ESSA implementation unfolds to

increase student achievement must include the reallocation of finite resources. While

that prospect is nothing new to any school principal, an examination of what has

worked in a variety of settings will maximize the effectiveness of any efforts to increase

the return on investment in people, programs, and products.

Admittedly, principals often must defer to central office administrators when investing in

new programs or initiatives. Making a case for those practices best positioned to

enhance student outcomes is a seminal responsibility of school leaders, and such

recommendations usually coalesce around either increasing revenue or reallocating

existing resources.

This series will examine the efforts principals can make in the most practical terms

possible to increase student achievement in their schools, beginning with three

reallocation ideas and the details behind them. Advocating for any or all of these

concepts will enable any school leader to deliver on the promise of continuous

improvement.

1. Class Size and Instructional Coaching

A considerable body of conflicting research exists on the impact of class size on

student achievement, a concept resistant to easy answers or any formulas for

success. While it may seem counterintuitive to advocate for larger class sizes, a

modest increase in class size for the specific purpose of gaining an instructional

coach trained and empowered to assist teachers with innovative practices is

one way to increase student achievement.

Most seasoned educators would posit that the quality of instruction is the single

biggest factor in prompting student achievement gains, trumping class size and

making the case for improving instruction as efficiently and economically as

possible as a critical first step in any improvement efforts. Non-evaluative, job-

embedded help for teachers to improve their innovative instructional techniques

is the most cost-effective way to accomplish that worthy goal.

2. Incentivizing Teachers to Embrace Innovation

Everyone can become more skilled at their jobs, and most professionals are

constantly improving or at the very least desirous to become more effective in

their work. Unquestionably, the prospect of using technology to improve the

delivery of instruction has been at the forefront of professional learning activities

for the past decade or more in education.

Some teachers embrace the opportunity to learn new techniques and use

technology as the tool it can be in that effort, while others inevitably lag behind

more eager colleagues. Principals who succeed in increasing the former and

decreasing the latter typically tap into the magic of allowing teacher-leaders to

drive the process, rather than relying on administrative fiat or “brute sanity” to

lead the way.

Another way to incentivize teachers to embrace technology is to remove the

fear that accompanies trying something new, fear often bred by the presence

or direct oversight of supervisors or administrators rather than colleague faculty.

During the predictable implementation dip in productivity as anything new is

attempted, teachers must know that they’re welcome to try, measure, fall short

of expectations, and repeat the process.

3. Giving Students a Voice

Experienced principals who have not forgotten the value of monitoring and

adjusting practice based on reliable feedback and the data it generates

welcome and seek input from students themselves. Whether in the more

formalized setting of scheduled meetings between school leaders and students,

or by less formal and more frequent classroom visits, gaining the perspective of

students as they are learning new things in new ways is invaluable in the process

of enhancing student outcomes.

The successes and frustrations of students, ideally measured by design to

generate regular and reliable data, is the best way to monitor effectiveness and

modify practice accordingly. Ideally, even the modification process should

include input by students, rather that solely relying on an adult prospective for

enhancing the delivery of instruction to adolescent learners, especially so at the

middle and high school levels.

The next item of this series will deliver three ways to increase revenue as a means of

enhancing student achievement, typically something driven more by the central office

than by building-level administrators. Nonetheless, the perspective of a principal is

invaluable in deciding how to spend finite resources. Just as student input should be

regularly solicited and examined, so too should the thoughts of principals be

considered when tough decisions can bring desired improvement in the operation of a

school.

As principals search for ways to increase academic achievement, consideration is

typically given to reallocating existing resources in new ways. Few things in any business

happen without an appropriate level of resource support, and public education is

certainly not immune from the need to identify funding sources when any new initiative

is undertaken.

Another facet of resource support targeted to increasing student achievement, in

addition to reallocating current funds, is the possibility of generating new sources of

income. The active pursuit of untapped financial resources can make a finite budget

less so, provided the process is carefully designed to include active support from the

central office, ideally from the very outset of the effort.

Presented herein are three ideas for principals to consider in their attempts to use

creative instinct as a means to providing more funds for advancing student

achievement. When principals, sometimes alone and often with colleagues within a

district, work with the central office for the specific purpose of causing measurable

gains in academic achievement by increasing funding, the results can more than justify

the effort.

4. Outsourcing/Privatizing

This topic is sometimes viewed as the third rail in any consideration of school

funding sources. The emotions surrounding any suggestion that existing

employees may be replaced can be fierce, pervasive, and debilitating to a

district. If such an approach is considered, full transparency of the reasons for the

endeavor must be presented every time the topic is discussed in public.

Long before any public discussion, however, principals and their central office

counterparts should have a clear conception of how any additional funds will be

spent, along with how the results of the initiative will be measured and reported.

Making the case for outsourcing positions in a district is never for the faint of

heart, and consideration of this step is sometimes best undertaken during a

particularly difficult budget cycle, for obvious reasons of economy and

efficiency.

Many things in a school district are subject to privatization efforts, and any school

or district leader who has taken on this task is likely to have encountered the

inherent difficulty of trying to save money by eliminating personnel, a task made

less unsavory when the approach is tied directly to the educational benefits

anticipated. Cultivating majority board support, privately and early in the

process, is also critically important if the effort is ultimately to succeed.

5. Economizing Transportation

In districts that own and operate their own fleet of buses, the savings to be

derived from abandoning that model and hiring a private company can be

considerable. Bus purchases, maintaining the fleet, and replacing buses

according to stringent federal guidelines are just some of the many things that

disappear when a transportation system is privatized.

If support does not exist and cannot be secured to privatize the entire operation,

an incremental approach can sometimes represent an acceptable compromise

position. Privatizing only athletic bus runs, for example, eliminates concerns about

having strangers responsible for the children on a bus. Coaches always

accompany their teams on athletic runs, leaving the operation of the bus to be

handled in the most cost-effect manner possible.

6. Economizing Custodial Services

Parents often equate school safety with having district employees serve as

custodial staff, in most cases resulting from a long tradition of employing familiar

faces while children are present each day. Most of us can still recall the friendly

custodial staff of our own school experience, likely making this a contentious

prospect.

There is a compromise position, however, that can save substantial sums of

operating capital each year that can then be used for increasing student

achievement. The companion to privatizing only the athletic runs of a district is to

privatize only the evening custodial services in a building. This approach, while

saving less money than a more comprehensive approach, nonetheless

eliminates concerns about student safety.

Principals who suggest ways to save operating funds for the purpose of using those

savings to increase student achievement must work with the central office and,

tangentially, with the board of education. They must also be armed with a clear

conception of and concrete explanation for how the savings will be used, including a

plan for generating data and using it to guide future decisions on any initiative.

Part 3 of this series will revisit the prospect of reallocating existing human and capital

resources to increase student achievement. Principals who are always thinking of ways

to improve their own practice, especially in the area of spending funds targeted

directly toward increasing student achievement, can make a substantial difference in

the lives of their teachers and the success of their students.

Principals make decisions every day that are intended to improve student outcomes

and enhance academic achievement, often involving the reallocation of existing

human or financial resources as part of the process. The human resources of a school

building represent the best that public education has to offer to students, the caring

adults who regularly change the lives of children and help them to succeed in school

and in life.

Spending finite discretionary resources in ways likeliest to increase academic

achievement of students is the natural companion to making wise personnel decisions.

Even the best programs and products will fail without great teachers to implement

them, a fact that provides the best argument possible for recruiting outstanding

teachers and for the commitment to provide continuous professional learning for them

in a climate of innovation.

Teachers who are eager to continue their own professional learning are those most apt

to increase student achievement, ideally supported by principals who encourage them

to take risks and who model that philosophy in their own professional practice. What

follows are three specific ideas principals can adopt and adapt in their buildings to

ensure that innovation and personalization characterize professional practice in their

schools every day.

7. Leadership Training for Teachers

Principals who have not forgotten what it was like to teach every day are also

those most likely to invest in developing the leadership qualities of their teachers.

Few principals began their administrative careers without the active interest of a

former principal in their own advancement, and are often eager to pay forward

that interest by helping others to reach their professional goals.

For those teachers who are interested in making the transition to administration,

leadership opportunities provided while they are still in the classroom are

invaluable in helping them along. Successful principals understand the obligation

to cultivate the leadership abilities of their teachers, whether by sharing

scheduling tasks, budgeting procedures, or any other responsibilities that

comprise an administrative role.

8. Creative Scheduling Practices

Principals at every level have some connection to scheduling. Although creating

a master schedule at the high school level may technically be a function of the

guidance department, oversight is critical to ensure that the educational

priorities of the principal are embedded within the final product. At the

elementary and middle school levels, the process tends to involve the more

direct participation of principals at all stages.

Principals who are sensitive to what teachers prefer in a final schedule are

careful to ask for those preferences long before the scheduling process begins,

and in so doing they evidence a level of concern that teachers universally

appreciate. While it is certainly true that not every preference can be

accommodated, the mere fact that teachers were asked for input and that

input was considered during the scheduling process can predictably result in

better morale among teachers.

Organizing an elementary schedule to include common planning time among

grade level colleagues is an excellent way for best practices to be shared

organically. The same can be said for middle schools that engage in creating

teams of teachers and a schedule that supports regular, daily meetings of team

member colleagues.

High schools represent a larger challenge in scheduling common planning time,

given the mixed grade level nature of many high school classes. Every

opportunity for scheduling efficiencies at the high school level, however, should

be embraced for the same reasons of collaboration that exist elsewhere in a

district.

9. Reinvent the Faculty Meeting

Few things encourage the simmering resentment of teachers more than faculty

meetings that feature too much administrator-talk and too little colleague-

interaction. Regular faculty meetings may either be an embedded expectation,

a contractual obligation, or more typically both. Having a meeting, and having

a meeting not dreaded by teachers, are two very different realities often

occurring within the same district but at different buildings.

For principals who have not yet adopted an “Ed Camp” model for faculty

meetings, an investigation of this approach in any number of online sources is

one sure way to make faculty meetings more meaningful for teachers. While a

true Ed Camp happens during otherwise free time and is completely voluntary

for attendance purposes, the aspect that includes teacher-experts presenting to

colleagues is a part of the Ed Camp philosophy that is readily adaptable for any

purposely redefined faculty meeting.

Principals who memo staff with what they would otherwise say at a faculty

meeting, and instead of talking create a sign-up sheet for teachers who

volunteer to present on a topic of professional interest to them, are taking the

wise and productive step to reinventing the faculty meeting in ways that will

assuredly enhance innovation more than the old and tired meetings of days long

past.

Using technology to meet virtually is another innovative practice that

demonstrates for teachers the kind of risk-taking in which principals often wish

their teachers would engage. At any level, department or grade level meetings

can also be accomplished using available technology, again demonstrating a

commitment to the future rather than an adherence to the past.

Part 4 of this series will present an additional set of revenue generating ideas that

principals can either champion or implement themselves, in the continued interest of

increasing student achievement. The opportunities to innovate for the purpose of that

noble goal are limitless, especially for principals who understand their obligation to lead

by example.

Gains in student achievement as the result of targeted administrative action are

typically the result of the efforts of many people, including instructional staff, parents,

and students themselves. Rarely do gains happen without the concerted activity of all

three groups, and even more rarely without the resource support they require.

Human and financial resources, marshaled by design to include measurement of

outcomes and analysis of data, can cause specific gains in student achievement.

Principal leadership is a critical component for success, and effective principals either

reallocate existing resources or develop new streams of resource support when they

tackle new projects or implement new programs.

Any revenue generating idea implemented at the building level needs the early and

active support of those in the central office. With that proviso in mind, presented herein

are three more ideas for principals to either champion or implement themselves in the

pursuit of gains in student achievement.

10. Fees

During difficult budget cycles, districts often institute a fee structure for aspects of

the total school program that in times of financial abundance are absorbed in

the operating budget. Technology fees, sports participation fees, and

club/activities fess are three common sources of additional financial support for

the daily operation of a district.

Rather than implementing such fees to weather a difficult budget, some districts

choose to implement fees and target the resulting income for a specific

purpose, none more noble than increasing student achievement. The ability to

show tangible increases in specific student outcomes can often ameliorate the

initial ill will that fees can generate, especially if those gains represent a persistent

area of concern within a given district or school.

11. Technology Device Procurement

Districts have been grappling with the need to provide access to technology in

a cost effective manner for many years, and the methodology of putting

devices in the hands of students typically varies between one-to-one device

initiatives and a version often described as a “bring your own device” approach.

In less affluent districts, the need to provide devices for students is often

unmistakable. No student should be denied the daily use of current technology

by an accident of birth circumstances, and the purchase of devices in such

districts can occupy a significant portion of a finite budget. The proliferation of

Smartphone technology, however, has begun to change the landscape even in

the poorest districts.

Students who arrive to school each day with a Smartphone in their pockets carry

with them a device that can help them learn, and progressive schools and

districts are constantly developing new ways to manage student use of their own

devices for legitimate educational purposes. School should never have been the

only place where students don’t have the right to use their Smartphones to learn

new things.

Affluent districts that continue to buy devices for their students, many or most of

whom would if given the option prefer to use their own, are squandering an

opportunity to use device money for the purpose of increasing student

achievement. Such districts continue to implement a 20th century model of

technology use in a new century, often citing absurd reasons of standardization

or control in defense of this outdated practice.

Courageous school leaders, if they tread lightly and arm themselves with facts

devoid of hyperbole or emotion, can and should lead their buildings steadily into

the direction of a BYOD approach. Every dollar not spent on buying or replacing

outdated devices is a dollar that can instead be spent on increasing student

achievement. This is a fight with taking on, especially when armed with a specific

plan for how to spend money saved by not purchasing devices less powerful

and sophisticated than the ones students often have sitting in their pockets while

at school.

12. Textbooks

Textbooks are expensive. Anyone who has gone to college or pays for someone

currently enrolled can testify to the outrageous costs associated with the

purchase of printed books that have changed little in the last several decades,

books that began the path toward their own obsolescence the day they arrived

at school.

Digital textbooks are often less expensive and carry with them several

advantages over their antiquated printed counterparts, not least of which is the

ability to include regular updates to content as events warrant. Digital sources of

academic content, initially something textbook publishers often “included” with

the purchase of printed texts, are overtaking old methods of providing content

to students.

School leaders who are comfortable negotiating the best possible financing

options for digital texts, and who are adept at encouraging teachers to see

them as the rightful future of content delivery, can use savings derived from

buying fewer consumable textbooks for targeted efforts to increase academic

achievement. Part of the transition from printed to digital texts must include

efforts to bring all stakeholders along for the ride. Highlighting anticipated gains

in student achievement is an excellent way to frame the debate.

The last item in this series will capture three additional ways to either reallocate existing

human and financial resources or create new sources of revenue for the purpose of

increasing student achievement. Targeting as many district resources as possible

specifically on advancing student achievement is one sure way to gain the active

support of teachers, board members, parents, and students themselves in this worthy

endeavor.

Principals are routinely responsible for virtually everything that happens in their schools,

part of the comprehensive nature of the position that is both a joy and a challenge.

Especially at the elementary level that typically lacks layers of guidance services or a

full time vice principal, a principal can be found on any given day supervising student

lunches or intervening with a troubled student or staff member.

No responsibility is more critical to the mission of a school, however, than increasing

student achievement. Though principals must often create the time needed for this

worthy cause by compromising other aspects of the job, guiding the process of

improving student outcomes is why many principals sought the role and left the

classroom.

Improving student achievement is linked to the resources necessary to make it happen,

and principals either reallocate existing human and financial resources or participate in

the process of identifying and cultivating new sources of funding. Presented herein are

three more ways principals may use their authority as instructional leaders to enhance

the learning experience of their students, each by re-evaluating one facet of the

overall operation of their schools.

13. Transportation

In the vast majority of districts that transport students by bus each day,

opportunities often exist to economize routes, supervision, or the movement of

students from buses to classes in a more efficient manner. Most principals inherit

the procedures for transporting students from their predecessors, and the

inclination to leave things as they have always been is often and understandably

the first approach taken by principals new to their role.

Any operation that uses fewer staff members for supervision but nonetheless

keeps students safe at every stage of a process is worth considering and

implementing. Keeping close tabs on what these procedures cost before and

after economization efforts is the best way to conserve actual dollars and

redirect them for instructional improvement efforts. The collection of data is as

critical in this realm as it is in the process of determining gains in student

achievement.

14. Supervision

Prudent supervision of students at all times by certificated staff is a cornerstone of

school and district administration, an expensive and necessary fact of life in

schools made more so by the occasionally tragic events that sometimes occur

at school. Caring for many hundreds of students for seven or more hours,

knowing their whereabouts at all times, and getting them safely to and from

school and home every day is a huge logistical undertaking.

Again a product of past practice, principals tend to perpetuate procedures that

have been in place more automatically than perhaps they could or should,

especially if reducing personnel costs of supervision can be accomplished

without compromising the safety of students or staff. A detailed study of

supervision, especially during non-instructional portions of every school day,

usually leads to the ability to trim costs associated with this aspect of school

operations and reallocate savings derived to bolster student achievement

efforts.

15. Before and After School Care

Most schools have some provisions in place for the care and supervisor of

students before school begins each day and after classes end, providing

working parents with a much-needed and typically inexpensive option for child

care each day. Many programs exist in partnership with other local organizations

and are often overseen by personnel not directly associated with the district.

Whether before and after care is a direct function of district operations or

overseen by a partner organization, the existence of this service to parents and

students almost universally presents an opportunity for study and revision for the

express purpose of economizing the delivery services and developing new

funding sources for increasing student achievement.

The work required to study current practices of transportation services,

supervision of students during the school day, and before and after care of those

students is considerable, as are the resources that often result from undertaking

that work. The best way to manage the task is to create a team of interested

parties, perhaps including parent representation especially for any examination

of before and after care practices, to discuss and discover what works well and

what can be done more efficiently or profitably.

As in all other aspects of school administration, gathering and analyzing data can be

the hinge point between success and failure in the effort to increase student

achievement. Principals who make the time to reallocate existing resources or exhibit

the creativity to identify and cultivate new sources of funding are those who position

themselves and their students for success.