The Role of a Principal and Superintendent in Education

When most people think of the role of a principal in a school, they think about their run-ins with a principal as either a student or a parent. While principals can certainly stay busy just dealing with unruly behavior, that is only one of many roles a principal fills in a school and the educational system in general. Here are three other common but much less visible roles a principal also plays in education.

Chief Visionary

While this has not always been the case, today’s principals take on greater responsibility for setting performance standards and expectations for the entire school. In generations past, performance standards were often only set for the best and brightest students, while underperforming students were allowed to slip through the cracks. In many cases, teachers would set performance expectations for their classes, which would regularly lead to discrepancies in performance standards between classes. Today, principals take on the responsibility for setting school-wide policies and standards, leading to a more uniform educational experience for all students.

Leadership Cultivator

Like all great leaders, effective school principals recognize they cannot go it alone. Creating and implementing an effective educational program requires leadership at all levels. From student leaders to community leaders to influencers who can get other teachers and even parents on board with new programs, an effective principal knows how to spot leadership potential and cultivate that potential into a powerful set of skills. In addition, however, principals also have to be great leaders themselves. They are responsible for setting the primary example for all other key leaders to follow.

Key Liaison

Perhaps one of the most difficult and challenging roles a principal must play is acting as a central hub between various interested parties. State education boards, school districts, and other exterior interests set certain standards that schools must follow, and it is up to the principal to implement them. In addition, students, parents, and teachers can also have individual wants, desires, needs, and even demands that can often conflict with the wants, needs, desires, and demands of other interested parties. Principals have to try to grease the wheels that keep all the various parties moving on the same track.

The superintendents of all school districts have similar roles to those of CEOs in businesses. Each day, a superintendent supervises and manages the central staff and principals of all the schools in the system. They must first approve every expenditure within a school system. As the decision-maker on hiring employees and concerns and procedures regarding education programs and facilities, the superintendent bears the responsibility. Because many decisions affect small children, adolescents, and adults, the school system leaders must be exceptional people, knowledgeable of various ages, and logical and creative in their thinking. Thus, only an outstanding person with unique skills can be an effective school system superintendent.

A Superintendent’s Responsibilities

Along with knowledge of the business end of a school system, superintendents should understand teaching in a classroom. There is usually a board of education, composed of members of the community, who provide input and are responsible for the evaluation of the superintendent and the hiring and firing of this office. Some of the significant responsibilities of a school district are the following:

• Prepare agenda for board meetings
• Make recommendations on issues relevant to the school district
• Make recommendations on repairing or replacing buildings
• Have knowledgeable and trustworthy support personnel on whom to rely
• Conduct regular meetings with administrators
• Ensure that the curriculum meets local, state, and national standards and is approved by the board of education
• Seek ways and methods to improve the district’s curriculum
• Review and revise existing policies, and write new ones when necessary
• Submit required reports pertinent to student and teacher data
• Make decisions regarding transfer students in accord with the other school’s superintendent
• Be responsible for the transportation department (buses and drivers)
• Develop walking, bicycle, and alternate snow routes

In addition to performing well concerning the responsibilities assigned to them, dynamic and effective superintendents focus on the success of/her schools. This leader will have a clear vision, objectives, and goals for the district that will be achieved with the superintendent’s instructional leadership and clear and effective communication of these goals.