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The ultimate goal of any educational experience is growth in the individual. This growth may be monumental or it may be incremental, but there needs to be some growth. Student success has to be the ultimate outcome for educators. James Scheurich points this out in his book that outlines what are the best examples of modern leadership. This is what we are talking about with equitable and excellent schools-every student performs at the highest levels. Our job, then, as educators is to create the educational conditions for this to happen. (Scheurich, p. 69) To achieve the highest levels of growth on a consistent basis, educational leaders must be proactive in communicating with parents and community and reinforce the ideas and goals with the student body as well. Educational leaders must organize their staff to be as efficient as possible. Curricular changes and professional development must all be focused in a way that will enhance education, not get in the way of progress. Schedules must be logical and research based and all resources that are at his disposal must be used in moderation and with the big picture in mind. Every school district has a variety of initiatives and directives that staff must adhere to and it's the responsibility of the administration to make sure everybody is in compliance with these directives. In recent times, education has been hit with a plethora of new laws and methodology. Some curricular changes have been positive while others have struggled. Educational leaders must be informed on all of the current reforms and best practices. This knowledge becomes part of the administrators tool box and can be used to build a positive culture within his building. New reforms are springing up constantly. These reformers are asking legislators to create policies of accountability and structure for education. Some of these policies have focused on the structure of the system and organizing schools like businesses. In the early 1997, Pennsylvania laws encouraging charter schools and private for profit schools. In 2007 researchers found; That

the privately managed schools-including for profit and nonprofit managers-did not, on average, exceed the performance of regular public schools (Ravitch, p.133). This has had an increase in test scores in locations such as New York City and the state of California other policies have focused on teacher incentives and merit pay, which have also increased student scores in some places like Denver, Colorado. All of these regulations and mandates are focused on increasing student success and performance. All students need quality teachers if they are to achieve at high levels (Owings, p.86). Each district in Iowa has the ability to set individual goals as a way to meet state and federal mandates. These goals must be clearly identified and narrowly focused for the individual district. Broad goals that are too encompassing may frustrate staff and students and actually cause a negative impact. When teachers in California were all fired for not meeting yearly progress, there was anger and unrest. Teacher unions fought back and were able to slow some of the changes down. School administrators in Tennessee were caught altering test scores to make the schools' public report card look better. This is counterintuitive to what the goals of the legislators are. Educational leaders must work with staff and must educate staff to reduce friction and to improve understanding. This dialogue enhances the process for all stakeholders. A second tool a school leader has to organize a system that is conducive to learning is preparing daily class schedules. Most schools operate on either a set number of periods or blocks in a given school day. The length of a single period may be from 40 minutes to 50 minutes with blocks being 80 minutes to 90 minutes in length. When preparing a schedule it is important that the principal look at options to create common planning periods for teachers in the same area. In the secondary setting, it is best if the social studies department has time to meet every day the second period of the day. This is built in time for collaboration. William Owings and Leslie

Kaplan talk about the need for highly qualified instructors who can help students reach higher levels of success. Teachers learn well just as students do-by studying, doing, and reflecting; by collaborating with other teachers; by looking closely at students and their work; and by sharing what they see. (Owings, p.82) This built in time can be invaluable to teachers who are dialoguing and discussing pedagogy. As an administrator, it is important to do what you can to create opportunities for your staff. A third tool that a school leader may use is the budget. Money has been a major issue in education for a long time. It has been used as an excuse in some cases why students struggle and been made a panacea that cures all by others. While throwing money at an issue will not solve it, the logical use of funds by a school principal can be very effective in bringing about reform. Diane Ravitch, looking at changing reform movements in education, mentions the Annenberg Program. The Annenberg program, first established in 1993 by philanthropist Walter H. Annenberg, created grants for schools to improve the quality of education. Mr. Annenberg pledged $500 million dollars to the program. The program was called a terrific bad example. The grants were poorly conceived, poorly managed, and disconnected from any ability to drive broader policy changes. (Ravitch, p.198) Later organizations such as the Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation have been wiser in their use of money to bring about reform. Some of these ideas have had moderate success. A school principal is given a fixed budget for the year. He must then meet the needs of his staff and be prepared for unexpected emergencies. Building administrators may be required to pay for copy paper, cleaning supplies, lights, substitutes, and even transportation costs for his staff. When a district feels cuts, building leaders must adjust mid-year and be ready to deal with the consequences. It is important to realize that the school year is a marathon, not a sprint and you must have enough left at the end to finish. If you use all

of your resources in the beginning you will come up short. Throwing money at non-researched based strategies or technologies that have all of the bells and whistles may not be the best educational decision. Its on the leader to assess the relevance and need of the building over the wants and whims of the staff. It must be a balancing act, one that is well thought out and well planned.

References:
Owings, William A., and Leslie S. Kaplan. Best Practices, Best Thinking, and Emerging Issues in School Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2003. Print Ravitch, Diane. The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education. New York: Basic, 2010. Print. Scheurich, James Joseph, and Linda Skrla. Leadership for Equity and Excellence: Creating High achievement Classrooms, Schools, and Districts. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2003. Print.