Leading anti-racist instruction means shining a light on unconscious bias with our teams

As you build your master schedule, take a tip or two from your fellow leaders.

This is part of a series on recruiting and retaining teachers of color, presented in collaboration with leader Sharif El-Mekki. The first post, on focusing on the prerequisites for recruitment, can be found here. The second post, on six steps for more inclusive hiring, can be found here.  When I first became a principal, I […]

This is part of a series on recruiting and retaining teachers of color, presented in collaboration with leader Sharif El-Mekki. The first post, on focusing on the prerequisites for recruitment, can be found here.  By now, most school leaders are familiar with the research that all students benefit when they learn from Black educators and […]

Teacher Appreciation Week is here! For leaders like you, showing appreciation doesn’t always have to involve elaborate gestures. It can be as simple as sharing heartfelt words or offering teachers the gift of time.  Here are 7 ideas from leaders in the Principal Project community:

Today, I called a teacher to ask how she was doing. Halfway through the conversation, she stopped me and confessed, “I was dreading this phone call.” When I asked why, she said, “Because there are so many things I know I haven’t done yet, and I thought you were going to ask me for them.” […]

Beulah McLoyd is a former high school principal and now serves as executive director of Program Implementation, Midwest Region, for New Leaders. You can follow her on Twitter at @BeulahMcLoyd. When I first took on the principal role at a Chicago high school for the arts, I was charged with reopening a school that had […]

In the spring of 2020, when COVID-19 first prompted schools in the United States to shift to distance learning, our team was all in for kids. We connected with each family. We put together online resources. We copied paper packets. We made an “I miss you” video and organized a drive-thru car parade to wave […]

Anitra Cook is a middle school assistant principal in Farmville, NC. Follow her on Twitter at @ap_cookie. My school district is one of few in North Carolina that launched the school year in person, using a hybrid model. When the announcement was made that we would be working in the building rather than just virtually, […]

As our team’s instructional leaders, it’s our job to keep teaching and learning at the center of all we do.  That means having an intentional focus on the growth of teachers and students. It means diving into the data and researching best practices. It means creating trust and providing instructional feedback to teachers, supporting them […]