What’s my impact as a principal? One way to look at effectiveness is to divide the spectrum (from low to high) into three distinct zones:

  • The crisis zone – ineffective leadership causing major problems for student learning and school operations
  • The “warm body” zone – maintaining the status quo, keeping the school functioning the way any moderately competent person could
  • The peak performance zone – truly making a difference in student learning

The size of the warm body zone varies from school to school. In some settings, anything but peak effectiveness will create a downward spiral into crisis. In other schools, it’s fairly easy to coast – the warm body zone is large, and it would be hard to derail the success that’s being experienced.

Our challenge is to break out of the warm body zone and into peak effectiveness. Are students in my school learning more because of my leadership? If so, I’m in the top zone, having a positive impact on student learning. If not, why am I here? Is it just to ensure that there’s a warm body in the principal’s office? Or am I driving myself and my school to excellence and results?

In schools where the challenge is to stay out of the crisis zone, reaching the peak performance zone may seem impossible. In schools with a larger “warm body” zone, breaking through to the peak performance zone can seem just as difficult.

My point is essentially this: principal performance matters for student learning. What drives you to excellence?