Harvard Education PR Becoming a School Principal: Learning to Lead, Leading to Learn

The principal’s role is increasingly understood as a critical lever for school improvement. Yet the job can be a solitary one, offering few opportunities to reflect with colleagues. What does it take to manage the work of continuous improvement—to push staff members constantly to operate outside their comfort zones? What dilemmas and challenges must principals confront? How can school leaders learn from their mistakes and move forward?In Becoming a School Principal, Sarah E. Fiarman describes her first few years as a school principal committed to enacting a powerful vision of leading and learning. Drawing thoughtfully on the literature of school reform and change leadership, Fiarman discusses a wide range of topics, including empoweringteachers, building trust, addressing racial and economic inequities, and supporting a culture of continuous learning, as well as thornier issues such as learning to use authority skillfully, dealing with resistance, and managing supervision and evaluation. The book addresses common challenges and highlights missteps as well as successes.A contributing author to several leading books on school reform and instructional improvement, Fiarman engages readers in a lively, frank, and revealing conversation aboutbuilding the vision and capacity to provide effective instruction for all students and the intensely personal process of learning to lead. From the Back Cover <div>In <i>Becoming a School Principal</i>, Sarah E. Fiarman describes her first few years as a school principal committed to enacting a powerful vision of leading and learning. Drawing thoughtfully on the literature of school reform and change leadership, Fiarman engages readers in a lively, frank, and revealing conversation about building the vision and capacity to provide effective instruction for all students and the intensely personal process of learning to lead.<br><br> &#8220;Sarah&#39;s sharp insights both validate my efforts and challenge me to be better &#8211; to continue seeking an elusive balance between the humanity, humility, accountability, and urgency required of school leaders today.&#8221;<br><b>&#8212;Emily Glasgow</b>, K&#8211;8 principal, Portland Public Schools, Oregon<br><br> &#8220;Sarah writes as she speaks&#8212;with compassion, insight, and wisdom. The book is a learning experience for any principal, no matter how experienced.&#8221;<br><b>&#8212;Jon Saphier, founder</b>, Research for Better Teaching<br><br> &#8220;In education we speak a lot about making the implicit explicit. Sarah Fiarman provides a useful road map for creating a community of learners (both students and staff) aimed at positive growth for all.&#8221;<br><b>&#8212;Thabiti Brown</b>, principal, Codman Academy Charter Public School, Massachusetts<br><br> &#8220;<i>Becoming a School Principal</i> is an essential resource not only for new principals but for principals moving to new schools&#8212;especially urban schools with racial mixes and achievement challenges. Sarah Fiarman skillfully reflects on her struggles and missteps and specifies the strategies that she adopts to lead her staff into a learning-focused culture that impacts student results.&#8221;<br><b>&#8212;Alexander D. Platt</b>, lead author, <i>Skillful Leader Series</i><br><br><b>Sarah E. Fiarman</b>, a former public school teacher and principal, is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she teaches instructional leadership for elementary, middle, and high school principals. She is a coauthor of <i>Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning</i> and a contributing author of <i>Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning</i>.</div> About the Author Sarah E. Fiarman, a former public school teacher and principal, is a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, USA where she teaches instructional leadership for elem