Earlier this month, Chancellor Joel I. Klein welcomed 90 principal candidates to the New York City Leadership Academy. In greeting the prospective principals, Klein described the academy as "the core" of the Children First Initiative, a plan that Klein and Mayor Michael Bloomberg began to improve New York City's schools. Klein estimates the program's costs at $75 million over three years, all of which will be raised through private donations.
Focusing on the principal is a good place to begin efforts to improve the New York City school system. And Klein is to be congratulated for identifying the principal as a critical element in improving schools. But a new training program alone will not create more outstanding principals. If this is Klein's hope, he has the right idea, but he is going down a well-traveled road that does not lead to his desired destination.
The Principal Is Key to a School's Success
Most people believe that principals are significantly important, if not the key, to a school's success. An October 2001 Gallup Poll asked 1,000 Americans, "How would you rate the importance of the principal to your neighborhood school?" Eighty-five percent of the respondents said -- "extremely" or "very" important.
According to Barb Dukes, a parent and teacher from Kansas City, Mo., "Principals make a difference because they have everything to do with determining the climate in the school. When parents say that the school is friendly, warm and child-centered, it is because the principal has set that tone from the top."
Training Versus Talent
There is a widely held belief that people can be trained to become highly successful in any area. It comes from the assertion that "You can do anything if . . . " The phrase following "if" is usually about effort, persistence, and training: " . . . if you work hard enough," "if you have a burning desire," "if you have the right instruction," etc. The assumption that training and desire lead to excellence is seductive, but wrong.
Training alone leads to average performance, not excellence. Many average golfers would play golf on the PGA tour if excellence resulted from desire, training, or the right equipment. The truth is, the ability to learn something does not necessarily translate into the ability to excel.
Gallup research has shown that while some elements crucial to excellent performance are teachable, there are inherent talents crucial to performance as first-rate principals, golfers, doctors, or any other role, that cannot be taught. Most organizations confuse the concepts of skill, knowledge, and talent and behave as if these three concepts are synonymous. In fact, they describe separate aspects of success.
- A skill is the ability to perform the fundamental steps of an activity. For principals, the ability to access and revise a master schedule in the school computer system would be a skill.
- Knowledge can be either factual information or experiential understanding. A principal who knows the supplies allowance of the school's budget possesses factual information, while a principal who has learned how to successfully deal with an angry parent has gained experiential knowledge.
- Talent consists of one's natural thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. A principal who naturally tends to seek and create harmony among a group of teachers is demonstrating talent, as is a principal who instinctively knows how to best help individual teachers learn and grow.
The Leadership Academy can transfer skills and knowledge from one person to another. Principal talent, like the ability to be an excellent golfer, can't be transferred from person to person. If a person has the talent, it can be drawn out and developed. But talent can't be given to someone who doesn't have it.
Bottom Line
Missing from the announcement of the New York City Leadership Academy is the most important step: the process for selecting aspiring principals. By studying the talents of the very best principals in New York City, the talents that aspiring principals should possess from the outset can easily be identified. Gallup's research shows clearly that talent makes the difference in outstanding performance, and talent can be described and measured.
Selecting candidates for the Leadership Academy with the right stuff will make or break the program. Without this critical step, it appears that New York City's schools have taken one step forward and two steps back.