everything you'll ever need to know: a former principal, superintendent and education professor with decades of experience under his belt offers a co

As a professor in the administrative services credential program at California State University, Stanislaus, I helped scores of teachers become principals. I also was a teacher, principal, director of research and superintendent (Hillsborough City, 1967-1972, and Lincoln Unified, 1972-1990). The following gems from this experience can help guide our school leadership.

1. Be a servant leader. As the principal, your responsibility is to provide leadership, organization and management to enable all staff members to function at their best level. Your raison d'etre is to provide service to others.

2. Listen! Listen! Listen! Give your full attention to the questions, testimony, dreams, ambitions, expectations and comments of all school stakeholders. Learn to be an active listener. Listening advances learning.

3. Visualize your ideal school culture and work toward it. Keep your actions, modeling and reinforcing focused on moving your culture from where it is to where you want to be. Focus your efforts on the vital elements of your desired culture: respect for self, respect for others, responsibility for your actions. Focus on academic growth, punctuality, completing homework, professional confidentiality, collaboration and collegiality. Align awards/recognition with desired culture. Celebrate the achievements of staff --both certificated and classified--our partners committed to serving students.