Breakthrough Principals: A StepbyStep Guide to Building Stronger Schools

A Principals Job, First And Foremost, Is To Diagnose Their Schools Needs And Match Them To Effective Principal Actions And School Practices That Drive Student Success. Successful Principals Use Their Diagnosis To Build An Action Plan That Pushes Their Schooland Student Achievementto The Next Level. New Leaders Developed Their Transformational Leadership Framework (Tlf) To Understand Exactly What Schools Achieving Dramatic Gains Are Doing And To Share That Knowledge Throughout The School Leadership Community. Armed With This Knowledge And Aligned System Supports, Educational Leaderswhether They Are Principals, Assistant Principals, Teacher Leaders, Or District Administratorscan Drive Significant Gains In Student Achievement And Help Close The Achievement Gap.The New School Leader Is A Detailed Field Guide Of The School Practices And Principal Actions Found In The Highest-Gaining Urban Public Schools. The Book Is Based On Over 100 Visits And Case Studies Of Schools That Were Identified As Achieving Dramatic Gains, And Draws On The Latest Research On The Practices Of Effective Schools, Turnaround Schools, Secondary Schools, And Leadership.Desravines And Fenton Focus On Five Categories Of School Practices. Among Them Are Two Primary Drivers Of Student Achievement: Rigorous, Goal And Data-Drivenlearning And Teaching And Achievement And Belief-Based School-Wide Culture. Two Additional Categories Of A Principals Work Are Essential To Supporting These Drivers: Building And Managing A High-Qualityaligned Staff To The Schools Vision And Instituting Operations And Systems To Put The Vision Into Place. Undergirding All Of These Categories Is Thepersonal Leadership Modeled By A Principal Who Sets The Tone For All Student And Adult Relationships And Practices In The School.