The past few years have been cruel to schools. A lethal, unpredictable pandemic, accompanied by a racial reckoning, enmeshed in a toxic political climate, has challenged school leaders in ways they never anticipated or prepared for. But although the situation has been wholly new, in many ways brutally so, it has illustrated the importance of several timeless truths about leadership.
In our consulting work with schools, my colleague Michael Thompson and I have met with more than 350 groups of heads, administrators, teachers, trustees, and parents at dozens of schools since spring 2020. We’ve asked heads and administrators what lessons they’ve learned and worked to troubleshoot issues they were facing, and found the keys to coping have been simple. Simple not as in easy, but as in fundamental, basic. These six lessons, among others, will remain essential to school leadership in this year ahead.
The full article by Rob Evans is available on the NAIS website.