One More [Post] for the Road

One last post for the week. The nonprofit Partnership for Learning has a newly redesigned Web site that is definitely worth clicking around.

AWSP has worked with the Partnership, or "PFL", for many years now on campaigns to inform principals, teachers, parents, students, lawmakers, the media and the general public about changes in the state's education system and the ongoing improvements in student achievement. Be sure to take a tour of their new site, which includes their new public service announcements about why math matters -- part of their college and work readiness campaign.

You can find PFL online at http://partnership4learning.org.

Caution: Light Blogging Ahead

AWSP will be in "The Palm Springs of Washington" (Yakima) Thursday and Friday of this week for fall board meetings. These are always great venues for new blog post ideas, but probably not until next week.

Educational CEOs

Like fathers, blondes and next-door neighbors, principals have acquired a certain stereotyped status in movies and on TV. The mischaracterizations usually fall toward the inept (think Principal Skinner on The Simpsons) or the controlling (a la Ed Rooney in Ferris Bueller's Day Off). The reality is, few people know or understand what principals really do.

That's what makes this NPR piece noteworthy. Reporter Larry Abramson highlights some of the challenges facing today's "educational CEOs" hitting on the increasing number of retirements and mounting pressure to raise student achievement. It's a short story, but it's a refreshing take on the reality of the principal's office.

How would you characterize your role as a school administrator? Are you an educational CEO? Or are you an instructional leader? Both? Something in between?