Dion Ginanto
The main goal of an effective principal
is the students’ success. In creating students’ success, what the principal
needs to do is to develop a vision of leading and a vision of learning. In my
previous article, I have presented CHEETAH as my vision of leading. CHEETAH can work side by side with one’s
vision of learning, because vision of learning can be implemented well if
principals have a clear leading vision. Subsequently, visions of leading and
teaching are needed to create high performance in schools’ with the final
outcome being the success of the students.
In this article I would like to discuss EPICS (Equitable, Positive,
Intellectually based, Collaborative, and Safe) and value added of students
success.
EPICS:
My Vision of Learning
A good principal should start by making a
clear vision of learning. By doing this, a principal will have a clear picture
of what s(he) need to do. I name my vision of leading after the old poem that
has deep meaning. Therefore, I hope my vision of leading has a deep meaning,
which is to create students’ success.
a. Equality
In
this case, I will assure that teachers should create the same treatment to
students. All students must have the equal opportunity to access the free
resources and facilities: book, Internet, laboratory equipment (science and
language lab.), etc. I will also create the equal opportunity for success in
the classroom for instance: students have the equal opportunity in the class
discussion, all students have opportunities to respond to questions, all
students receive reinforcement from the teacher, all students will get the same
attention from the teachers. All students must have the same privilege in the
classroom/school regardless the sex, social status, or social background. To increase the awareness of equality, I will
promote the seminar for both teacher and students about “education for all.”
b. Positive
I
will try my best to implement positive school/classroom settings as well as
students’ and teachers’ attitudes. These two components living things (students
and teachers) and unliving things (school/classroom) should be maintained as
positive as possible. Bossert, et al., (1982) asserted that “smaller classes do
produce higher achievement scores, but decreasing class size does not always
improve instruction. Resent research indicates that the overall achievement
distribution within a classroom affects learning significantly.” (Page 41) This
reminds me of the fact that in most schools in Indonesia, every class is
occupied by more than 35 students. The reason behind classroom settings with number
of students is that we do not have sufficient teachers and classrooms. In
dealing with this, I will work very hard to open up networks to get aid from
outside to build more classrooms. I will also try to promote a character-based
curriculum for teachers and students, in order for them to reclaim their
eastern culture that is almost extinct. For instance, students kissing
teachers’ hand, nodding and greeting teachers, praying together before the class
begun, for teachers wearing Malay uniform every Friday, etc.
As
a principal I will promote the positive climate in the classroom such as,
students should remember their friends’ name, the students should also great
each other, to not stingy to say thank you, please, and excuse me. These kinds
of activities are not really popular in my school than it used to be;
therefore, I need to remind this wisdom of eastern culture. Besides, I will
also make sure that all teachers can be a good role model for students, such as
being punctual, not to smoke in the school, greeting students in the hallway,
being helpful to supervise students and for those who need remedial, etc. To
change the teachers habit is not easy, smoking for example, a lot of male
teachers in my schools are smoking. I believe that school will not be able to
prohibit students from smoking habit if their teachers are smoking in the
buildings. To create a positive climate of the classroom and school is very
important to make a positive feeling both teachers and students. If we can
create a positive climate of classroom and school, we will obviously be able
create an effective school.
c. Intellectual Based
One of the characteristics of an
effective school is when the intellectual habits are rooted in the school life.
To create intellectual based in the school, I will adopt the idea of Goldring
et al., (2007) about the core components of school performance. There are seven
components that can lead to the students’ success: (a) High standards for
student learning, (b) Rigorous curriculum, (c) Quality of instruction (d) Culture
of learning and professional behavior (e) Connections to external conditions
(f) Systemic performance accountability (page 32).
To create intellectual climate in the
classroom, I will make a checklist of the core components of school performance:
1. High standards student learning: both
teachers and students set the rigorous learning goals, teachers and students
have high expectations of success, closing the gap between advantaged and less
advantaged students, and raising the overall academic achievement of all
students (Goldring et al., 2007).
2. Rigorous Curriculum: the curriculum is
adjusted to the need of the students, the curriculum is adjusted with the
eastern culture but still adopted western perspective (think globally but act
locally), the lesson plan should be useful for the students future, the
curriculum is using up to date materials.
3. Quality instruction: teachers should maximize
student academic and social learning, actively encourage students engagement,
have clear instructional goals, anticipate students’ misconception, communicate
to their students what is expected of them and why, etc (Goldring et al.,
2007).
4. Culture of learning and professional
behavior: teachers share goals and values, focus on student learning, shared
work, deprivatized practice, and reflective dialogue (Louis, Marks, &
Kruse, 1999 in Goldring et al., 2007).
5. Connections to external conditions:
school has community-wide involvement, such as school-linked social services,
parent education programs, and community organizing initiatives (Mediaratta
& Fruchter, 2001 in Goldring et al., 2007).
6. Systemic performance accountability:
external accountability (performance expectations that emerge from outside the
school and the local community). Internal accountability (curricular decision
making, addressing instructional issues, responding to various performance
measures) (Bryk & Scheneider, 2002 in Goldring et al., 2007)
d. Collaborative
As
a principal, I should be able to ensure that students can work collaboratively
in the classroom. This is very important, because the teaching and learning
tradition in the east is quite different from the culture of learning in the
west. We still practice the conventional method, i.e., teacher-centered
learning in which students come, sit, and listen to their teachers in the
class. This conventional methods have impacted the outcome of the students, in
which they are unable to work collaboratively in the workplace; and they also
has a minimum creativity in their real life. Therefore, I will make sure that
every teacher use Student-Centerd Approach (SCL) approach in the classroom. SCL
includes: problem based learning instead of “test-based learning”, discussion,
individual/self learning. In SCL approach, teacher is functioned as
facilitator. To make a bigger impact, I will routinely conduct class visit
(three minutes walks), instructional rounds.
e. Safe
The
tragedy in Connecticut last month has given us the warning that the safety of
students must become the highest priority program at school. This tragedy can happen everywhere, including
my country, even though gun ownership is strongly prohibited in Indonesia.
Besides terrorism, schools must be able to guarantee safety from fire and
natural disasters (e.g. earthquake). To handle these situations, I will lead training
for students and teachers in order to make them
ready if they face those kinds of tragedies in the future. I agree with the
idea of Whitehead, et al. (2013) that one of the principal’s roles in global
learning is as guardian for safety: “The
principal was responsible for establishing a safe environment for the school,
addressing bullying and violence, among many other issue.” (page 44)
Value-Added
Student Success
In
leading my school, I will do my best to realize the final target of all my
school goals: student success. In defining the students’ success, there are four
value added of the students: student achievement, student attendance, student
enrollment, and college enrollment (Goldring et al., 2007). Since I work in a high
school, I need really to strive to make sure that all of my students are
enrolled in college upon completion of their study.
All in all, the final outcome of my
vision of leading is students’ success that is value added. I believe that to
support students’ success, I need to realize the core components of school
performance. In realizing the core components of school performance, I need to
have a learning vision. Therefore, EPICS: Equitable, Positive, Intellectually
based, Collaborative and Safe is considered a strong learning vision that I will
undertake in the future. Last but not least, CHEETAH (in my previous article)
is needed to create the EPICS atmosphere in the classroom and school. After the
atmosphere of the school is turned to positive, then the core components and
students’ success can be accomplished efficiently and effectively.
References:
Bossert,
S.T., Dwyer, D.C., Rowan, B., & Lee, G. V. (1982). The instructional
management role of the principal. Educational
Administration Quarterly, 18(3), 34-64.
Goldring, E., Porter, A.C., Murphy, J., Elliot, S.N. &
Cravens, X. (2007). Assessing learning centered-leadership: Connections to
research, professional standards, and current practices. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt
University.
Whitehead,
B., Bjoschee, F., Decker, R., (2013) The
principal: leadership for a global society; Los Angeles CA., Sage.
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