“Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
― Sheryl Sandberg, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead

The most significant role of the school-based administrator in twenty-first century schools is to support teachers and promote learning for students and staff. We must understand that while we may have a fancy title, teachers in classrooms are doing the real work of a school. Teachers are on the front line: they encounter students when they’ve broken up with their boyfriends or girlfriends, they feed students when they haven’t had enough to eat, they call home when they notice attendance problems or unexplained sullenness. Administrators must empower teachers to do that work, taking their burdens whenever possible. There is a fine line the best administrators tread: both supporting teachers and students, allowing them to innovate education for themselves, but also guiding teachers toward good decision making, noticing when a teacher is struggling, supporting that teacher with the best ideas from current research, and making the appropriate changes when a teacher doesn’t improve. Instead of allowing an “anything goes” approach, the best administrators guide without controlling; instead of terrifying teachers and students into “appropriate behavior,” the best administrators inspire their staffs into doing their very best work. Administrators must manage change to protect the best interest of students and teachers, and allow them the freedom to do their own work and initiate their own change where possible.

Change is so common in schools that school leaders must first become comfortable with the inevitable change that comes in the form of directives from the nation, the state, or the school district, protecting teachers and students when it is possible, and helping to shift through the political to what is most important. But a school leader also must initiate change for teachers and students based on research in best practices, the shifting needs of the school, and increased capacity for change from staff. In order to make these changes, an effective school leader must acquire ownership from stakeholders. She must have a vision for the school that is comprehensive and sweeping; a vision that doesn’t exist because of a narrow, new, or in vogue educational philosophy; a vision that can withstand said change and inevitable critique. In order to initiate change effectively, a school leader must promote an understanding from all parties that they are important and meaningful parts of the whole and that their opinions matter.

Highly effective school leaders must embody a number of fundamental traits: they must have a belief in said change and a desire to affect change beyond themselves; they must exhibit intellect, maturity, and strength of character; they must have a strong vision consistent with best practices; and they must have a desire to allow others to grow for themselves, guiding others instead of demanding certain actions and behaviors. Overwhelmingly, they must stand in the gap for teachers and students, balancing the requirements from the external forces with the needs of teachers and students to promote excellence.