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‘Principal’s Playbook’ offers professional development

school principals

The Saginaw School District aims to improve leadership and data literacy skills among building leaders

As part of an ongoing effort to improve school performance, Saginaw School District (Mich.) has recently turned its focus to principals, providing them with additional professional development in the areas of leadership and data literacy.

With this support, principals can emerge as stronger leaders and decision-makers in managing ongoing school improvement initiatives. For assistance with designing and implementing their innovative approach to professional development, Saginaw turned to Public Consulting Group [1] (PCG), a public sector management and education consultant.

“When examining successful turnaround schools, the key has always been the building leadership,” said Rebekah Hornak, the director of instructional services at Saginaw School District. “While the principals of Saginaw Public’s priority schools are solid in their leadership, it takes a team to move a school. That is why we went with PCG. The program provided allows for the support that the building leadership needs to problem-solve challenging situations and move their building forward.”

PCG has had great success in this area, notably with early efforts in Florida. The Florida Department of Education initially partnered with PCG Education in 2012 to support more than 600 charter schools across the state in their transition to the new Florida Standards. PCG Education designed the “Principal’s Playbook,” a blended learning platform that combines collaboration, professional learning modules, and consultation, to support Florida charter school principals in their professional development and to provide a platform for principals to communicate exemplary leadership practices with their peers.

One of the early users of the Florida “Principal’s Playbook,” Robert Martin from the Urban Academy Schools said, “‘The Principal’s Playbook’ is a very good source for principals and related school administrators to have a secure network of like-minded professionals in which to interact. We often provide support to our teams but neglect our own personal professional support systems.”