Questions:
What attributes should we look for in a mentor?
Is there a professional organization for educational leadership that you would recommend joining?
Concerns:
1. I am concerned that public education will become more and more regulated in the future. What is good for one school is not always good for schools.
2. For the next few years education systems throughout the U.S. will likely face tough economic choices, at a time when they need to invest more in updating our technology and science programs. A tough road may lay head for principals in a time when more focus is being placed on leadership and teacher performance.
The attributes of a good mentor for you are (1)you admire them very much and want to emulate them; (2) you have relatively close proximity to them; (3) they will agree to mentor you. I prefer a semi-formal agreement when you set aside a particular time each week for a specified length of time such as a year. One other thing to consider is that to move up in an organization, you will need sponsorship. If possible, you might want to choose a mentor with an eye to his/her profile in the organization. A powerful mentor can be very beneficial.
ReplyDeleteThere are a couple of professional organizations I would recommend, depending on whether you hope to administer at the elementary level or the secondary level. The elemenntary principal organization is TEPSA--Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association. You can go to www.tepsa.org for more information.
ReplyDeleteThe secondary principal organization is TASSP--Texas Association of Secondary School Principals. I keep a membership in this one and contribute regularly to their journal "Texas Study." These state organizations are affiliates of national organizations, but I think the state organization would serve you better. Visibility is another necessity for moving up (along with sponsorship and competence) and visibility on the statewide level can be very beneficial.
I would encourage everyone to go ahead and join one of these organizations.
I, too, am concerned about the regulation of public education. As the increasingly burdensome regulations drag us down, it will open the door to different entities that are less regulated (some charter schools, private schools, schools run by large businesses for their employees' children, etc). Public school has always accepted all children. For-Profits may not.
ReplyDeleteThe job of the principal is not going to get easier, but it will be an incredibly interesting challenge. Upgrading technology and science programs will be extremely expensive; private corporations are going to have to step up if they expect a workforce to draw on. If you'll remember the two continuums that budgetary decisions run on--equity and excellence, and efficiency and choice--you'll see that one answer may be to move away from equity (for everyone) and toward excellent (for a few). Therefore the achievement gap, the haves and the have nots, a small well educated upper-middle class and a large underclass will develop. Decisions that seem prudent now have long-term negative consequences that will take years to rectify, if ever.
ReplyDelete