What are the qualities of a good highschool principal?

Question

This question is for the purposes of a graduate course I am enrolled in. Please answer to the best of your ability. Listing your answers would be most helpful. Thankyou

Answer 1

I am a teacher and have had several principals. The last principal in our school especially stood out. Why?

1- A good principal will make his staff keen to work, an exceptional motivator.
2- Good sense of humor.
3- ALWAYS felt his presence. He made it a point to go around and see that everything is ok. We felt he had his hands on everything. [we barely felt the presence of the principals in the past.]
4- wise in dealing and handling situations effectively.
5- I am a maths teacher and my principal happened to be a mathematician too. So I had the added advantage of getting tips from him on approaching the teaching of the subject.
I loved that the principal is able to give tips to improve your teaching.
6- a lot of energy.

Answer 2

Qualities Of A Good Principal

Answer 3

I was never fortunate enough to have a good school principal - not in elementary, middle, nor high school. So, this puts me in a good position to answer, anyway!

1. Ability to delegate
2. Constant communication with all staff- frequent all-staff meetings
3. Visibility throughout the school day
4. Friendliness with students (I think a good principal should know all of the students' names after a year or two! When I was a teacher I knew nearly all of the students' names in the school - same when I was a student)
5. Genuine care and concern. I had a principal who would openly mock students - what I mean is that if a student got into trouble with something, the principal would show little compassion and instead make the student feel "small" - something which no authority figure should ever do.

Answer 4

I think with any leader he/she ahs to understand the task at hand first. With this particular question there are several things to consider. One the leadership of the school, he/she is in the position of making sure that the tasks that are laid before them by their particular state are met. That being said Are they meeting the test scores, how is the graduation rate, Are they meeting state educational objectives, attendance, discipline.
Two is actually a caveat of one but leadership also means that the staff is functioning well. Does the staff get along? Are they teaching appropriate material? Are they meeting the state guidelines? Can he/she do anything that would make the teachers job easier? Provide them with more training or materials?
Three leading the students. He/she ahs to provide a safe and secure place to learn. If it is not a safe place then learning will not occur. Is he/she taking care of discipline? Are they being proactive with situations rather than being reactive? Are they being forward thinking and meeting the needs of the students? Are they providing outside opportunities for funding to help the students?
Fiscal responsibility. The principal has to oversee the money that goes through the school.

Being a leader of a school is big deal and while he/she has an important job I dont think the individual is look at as much as the district itself or the particular school in some instances. The district has to have some system of checks and balances to ensure that its students are receiving a quality education.

Answer 5

I am a high school student, and here are the things I appreciate in a principal:

Understanding. The principal must understand that nobody is perfect and everybody has a breaking point.

Hard Worker. If the principal wants the students to work hard, he/she must be a role model.

Respectful. The principal must show respect towards the faculty and the student body. If you respect others, chances are they will return the favor.

Good Speaker. The principal(or assistant principal) is often the one who addresses the student body and faculty at school assemblies/events. The principal must be able to keep his audience's attention.

And above all, the principal should be able to listen. He should listen to the concerns of everyone: students, teachers, parents, whoever.

Answer 6

1. I think with anyone who holds a position of authority...you need to be a good listener. Most times...when ppl come to you...they just want someone who will listen.
2. They need to be open minded and willing to grasp new concepts.
3. They need to remember that every child...teacher...parent is unique.
4. They can't have a one size fits all mentality.
5. The principal should look at their school as a community....in which everyone is equal.
6. Be firm but fair.
7. Never say I don't know. Always say I will have to check on that and get back to you.
8. Be a person of honor and good temperament.
9. Understand that ppl follow as they are led.
10. Understand that respect has to be earned.
11. Treat everyone as if they are a member of your own family. Always remember that everyone belongs to someone. Never treat someone in a way that you wouldn't want a member of your family treated.
12. Never forget secretaries day.
13. That Rome was never built in a day. That you will never accomplish everything that you set out to and tomorrow is another day.
14. Be friendly. Remember that a frown is a smile turned upside down. Let you smile be your umbrella.
15. The teachers never get the recognition they deserve. Celebrate what they do and the fact that they can either make your job easier or harder.

Answer 7

ok i am not in highschool yet, i am going to be a freshmen in september and my middle school has never had the same principle for more than a year so i can tell you what not to be like:
dont be crule to the parents
dont scare the crap out of the teachers to the point when parent teacher conferences come and one person cant do it that week the teacher has to sneak the parents in
dont yell at every thing
make sure the teachers have contracts (ok thats the board of eds job but make sure that they are doing the right thing or it may turn out to be a strike or cancalation of a trip the school has been looking foward to)
try to find exciting asselies that arent magic shows, people pretending to be a historic person, and make sure the speeker can speek english well and the students can understand him
dont swear
and dont be two faced, always be nice
these are all the mistakes my priciples made to get them fired
I would say you should be nice but stern, not a mean and yelling biotch

Answer 8

Oh boy.

1. Your district leadership will expect a certain mentality from you. Cut down on suspensions/expulsions, etc. Be aware of this.

2. A principal is the most important variable in determining the professional culture of a school. How is/will be your relationship with teachers?

3. Be approachable! Have an open door policy.

4. Be mobile. Be in classrooms, be in the halls, tell kids to get to class.

5. Be aware of how your community determines the level of academic success in your school. Simply put: if there's a lot of teenage moms and dropouts in your building, how does this affect academic success?

6. If you're going to be "collaborative," then really mean it.

7. Learn from EVERYONE: special ed kids, freshmen, veteran teachers, veteran ap/vp's. Don't think you know everything, because you don't.

8. People are going to talk about you. Deal with it, preferably with a sense of humor.

9. Back up your faculty. If a kid doesn't deserve to graduate/continuate, then hold to that line.

10. Maintain time for yourself.

Good luck!

Answer 9

I don't know if I've met a good Principal yet? I have twins that are going into grade 8 and I have failed to meet one!! What I can tell you is that I've met someone who is taking the position of Principal in the next term and in my opinion he will be a great role model. He is currently vice Principal and got a promotion. My children and I had a discussion one night and we decided that he would be a great principal. A week later we found out he was taking on this position. Why? he is thoughtful, understanding, empathic, equal, caring, intelligent, soft spoken, polite, spiritual, well-mannered, funny, witty, well-dressed, friendly and smiles!!!!! We could go on and on however I'm sure these qualities will follow him and we wish him all the success he deserves. The school that gets him will ultimately flourish academically, emotionally and spiritually from having him as their school Principal...all the best to him and his family....

Answer 10

this is funny, because my school is currently having problems with the principal...

a good principal needs to

listen

to students, parents, teachers, etc. There was one major issue going on at our school, and so I wrote a petition, gather signatures on it, and brought it to the principal's office in a manner that was not in any way disrespectful or out of line, and was basically told, no, you are a child, you don't know anything, go awayand they made me so upset that I went home and cried for an hour and a half. A good principal also needs to be able to

suck it up and admit that they can sometimes be wrong

even if it is only something minor, or if it is something major, apologizing is one of the greatest ways to earn respect. A good principal will also

care personally about each person he is responsible for.

I'm not saying that you need to know each student and have a deep personal relationship with each student, but it always makes you feel more comfortable when someone greets you with a "Hello, Jane," than a "what's your name again?" I realize this depends partially on personal memory skills, or whatever, but it makes a big difference.
Aside from that, you just need certain

intangibles.

Some people are born with them, some are not. People skills, wisdom, organizational skills (to some extent), knowing how to bring about changes, etc. Some people are born with them, some are not. More importantly, though, is

knowing whether or not you possess these intangibles.


hope this helps.