Today’s principals face increasing demands

Over time, their job has expanded to include a growing list of administrative duties—budget management, compliance, staffing—that can overshadow their original purpose: to be the principal educator within their school. For school system leaders, setting up principals to balance operational and instructional leadership is critical to transforming school outcomes. So, where should you start?

Why This Matters Now

Principal burnout is reaching critical levels, particularly in high-poverty schools. Recent data shows that more than 1 in 10 public school principals left their roles between 2020-21 and 2021-22, with turnover higher in schools serving students of color. 

Beth Houf, a high school principal and NASSP’s 2022 National Principal of the Year, reflected on the difficulty of these times in Education Week, saying,

“I’m in my 16th year as a building principal, and the last three years have by far been the hardest.”

Rising attrition rates among principals reflect deeper systemic problems, including a lack of adequate support, training, and coaching. Without a strategic focus on being instructional leaders, many principals are left trying to balance competing priorities, ultimately unable to guide their schools toward consistent, excellent teaching.

Key Areas Where Principals Lead

Principals are vital to ensuring instructional quality but can’t do it alone. Two decades of research by the Wallace Foundation highlight the mastery of organizational, people, and instructional skills that underpin strong principal performance. 

When it comes to ensuring instructional improvement, here are key areas where principals lead and key ways system leaders can support them to lead effectively.

principals Must Know and Do as Instructional Leaders:

• Demonstrate expertise around high-quality instruction, allowing them to constructively observe and evaluate teachers.
• Offer responsive and actionable feedback to improve teaching and learning.
• Distinguish high from low-quality pedagogical practices to produce meaningful variation in teachers’ observational ratings.
• Recognize the characteristics of high-impact professional learning offerings. 
• Lead lesson rehearsals that leverage deliberate practice, during which coaches and teachers can work on particular tasks selected to address areas of growth
• Regularly observe lessons so teachers can implement the feedback and improve their practice throughout the school year.

Lead teachers to analyze student work and practice reteaching in weekly content teams, professional learning communities, and 1:1 coaching sessions.

System Leaders Must Know and Do:

• Dedicate time in the school schedule for principals to lead professional learning communities focused on core instruction, effective instructional practices, and high-quality instructional materials. This ensures teachers have space to collaborate meaningfully. If resources allow, consider distributing this responsibility to teacher leaders in coordination with principals.
• Provide professional development opportunities that allow principals to sharpen their instructional leadership skills with role-alike peers and offer ongoing coaching.
• Prioritize practices and school climate initiatives that equip principals to foster environments where staff and students feel safe, valued, and empowered to succeed.
• Assist principals in understanding how to best use limited resources by providing training in financial management and strategic planning.

Solutions: Lessons Learned in Detroit

In response to these key needs challenges, we have worked with Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) to reimagine its principal development strategy through the Detroit Coaching Academy. This model offers job-embedded coaching that builds instructional leadership capacity, aligning the principal’s role with its original purpose: to lead instructional excellence.

In a free downloadable report, “A Multi-Layer Playbook for Greater Instructional Leader Success,” you’ll learn more about the model and why it’s paying off. Get your copy.