萝莉网

As we close out the first semester and prepare to launch the second, we stand at a critical juncture, one that offers a timely opportunity to assess the clarity and coherence of the principal supervisor role and its impact on school success.

At the heart of this success is the partnership between the principal and the principal supervisor.

Principal supervisors serve as the backbone of the district, translating the district鈥檚 mission and vision into action across the schools they lead and support ensuring that strategic priorities are not just aspirational, but operationalized in every school community. At the heart of this success is the partnership between the principal and the principal supervisor, a relationship that transforms vision into action.

So, we must ask ourselves: How are principal supervisors internalizing their responsibility to develop principals as effective instructional leaders? And just as importantly, how clear and aligned are we in our communication and professional learning about what it means for principal supervisors to champion the district鈥檚 vision and ensure that strategies and policies are implemented in ways that advance student learning in every school?

While much of this work traditionally happens prior to the start of the school year, December & January offers a powerful mid-year moment to recalibrate. It鈥檚 an opportunity to examine the systems and structures we鈥檝e put in place and to determine whether they are grounded in clear goals and shared expectations.

To guide that reflection, here are three key ideas to consider when engaging your team of principal supervisors in a series of stepbacks designed to refine leadership practices, assess progress, surface insights, and identify opportunities for improvement.

Key Idea #1: Aligning the old with the new

Like many industries, education is grounded in the pursuit of continuous improvement. It鈥檚 the engine that fuels progress in teaching, learning, leadership, and organizational effectiveness. Often, we approach improvement by building onto existing systems and structures. But in the process of layering on new practices whether it鈥檚 a revised school visit protocol or an updated school improvement planning template we sometimes underestimate the impact small-scale changes can have on overall system coherence.

If enhancements to the principal supervisor role were introduced earlier this year, but time wasn鈥檛 dedicated to crafting coherence across systems, mid-year offers the ideal opportunity to course correct, rather than waiting for the next school year.

One way to do this is to invite your principal supervisors to engage in a systems-mapping activity. This exercise helps them make sense of the environments they are leading and learning within. It can surface hidden complexities, extend their thinking, and generate insights that lead to more coherent, aligned strategies for leadership.

By investing time in this kind of reflective mapping, you can better ensure that new practices align with the core responsibilities of principal supervisors and that support and accountability work in tandem to advance instructional leadership across schools.

Key Idea #2: Re-articulating the role of the principal supervisor

If you鈥檙e like me, it may have been several years since you last took a step back to intentionally clarify the role of the principal supervisor. Systems may be running smoothly, results are trending upward, and few new initiatives or team members have entered the fold. When something/someone new does arrive, we often adapt quickly, integrating it/them into existing structures without fully examining how it/they align with the current role of principal supervisors or affects their focus.

Scenarios like this make it easy to get swept up in the day-to-day 鈥渄oing鈥� of the work, without pausing to ensure clarity, coherence, and alignment.

As we approach the Winter holidays, or prepare to return in January, consider using this transition point to reintroduce the Model Principal Supervisor Standards developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers in

Follow that conversation with a review of your team's operating principles and previously agreed-upon processes. And most importantly, ensure there is still a shared understanding of the core practices principal supervisors are expected to leverage in support of instructional leadership and that this support is paired with accountability for results.

Key Idea #3 Helping principals grow as instructional leaders

The Model Principal Supervisor Professional Standards, developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers in partnership with the Wallace Foundation, articulate the core practices that define effective principal supervision. These standards emphasize that the path to school improvement is not compliance-driven but grounded in instructional leadership coaching and strategic brokering between principals and central office departments.

I鈥檝e found these standards to be particularly helpful in establishing the 鈥渨丑测鈥� behind the principal supervisor role. However, they stop short of defining the 鈥渉辞飞鈥� which are the concrete behaviors and systems that bring these expectations to life within a specific district context.

Two foundational standards stand out as the heart of the work:

• Standard 1: Principal Supervisors dedicate their time to helping principals grow as instructional leaders.
• Standard 2: Principal Supervisors coach and support individual principals and engage in effective professional learning strategies to help principals grow as instructional leaders.

These two standards are the bedrock of any high-functioning supervision system. That鈥檚 why it鈥檚 essential to ensure there is a shared understanding across principal supervisors, principals, and other central office leaders of what these expectations look, sound, and feel like in action. Now is a great time to ensure this understanding.

As you prepare to launch the second half of the school year, take time to revisit and clarify expectations around the principal supervisor role. When support structures are systematized, coaching becomes more consistent, variability is reduced, and a cohesive framework of leadership development emerges.

Here are three concrete ways to codify best practices and strengthen coherence:

• Ideal Week Template
  Define time allocation expectations by co-developing an Ideal Week for principal supervisors and principals that prioritize time spent engaged in instructional leadership activities instead of operational tasks.
• School Visit Cadence
  Revisit your school visit cadence. Consider whether it reflects tiered support, accounts for school need, and includes a range of observation types such as instructional rounds, data meetings, coaching feedback loops, etc.
• School Visit Agenda
  Inspect the structure of school visit agendas to ensure alignment with both school priorities and district strategic goals. The agenda should reflect shared ownership of progress and highlight instructional leadership growth aligned to theory of action, problems of practice, and problems of learning.

Resist the pull to do things the way they鈥檝e always been done. Instead, lead the next iteration of school improvement by ensuring your district鈥檚 supervision practices are not only clear, but also innovative, aligned, and student-centered. And, as you engage in this work, consider running a parallel reflection: What central office practices or systems may be unintentionally getting in the way of helping principals grow as instructional leaders?

Remember, system coherence begins with leadership clarity.

System coherence begins with leadership clarity.

In a few months, we will likely begin the planning process for the shifts ahead in the 2026鈥�27 school year. But in a few weeks, a different kind of reset will be upon us. It will be the just-in-time reset principal supervisors need to bring clarity and coherence to their work and finish this year strong.

So as we usher out 2025, and welcome in 2026, let鈥檚 seize the moment to secure our end of year victories by planning for bold, student-centered leadership because the time for purposeful course correction is now.

~Season鈥檚 Greetings & Happy New Year