Collegial Process versus Curricular Focus: Dilemma for Principal Leadership? Brief to Principals, No. 5.

A persistent dilemma of school leadership is whether principals should concentrate efforts on building cohesion and good working relationships among staff or on specific curriculum aimed toward specific learning outcomes for students. Interviews with three principals who worked through both strengthening collegiality and improving curriculum show that both are intertwined. While working on the collegial process, one principal revised faculty hiring practices to involve six rotating staff members responsible for all interviewing and hiring. Another principal introduced shared decision-making. The third principal appointed teacher teams to deal with key issues. Working on curricular content involved specifying goals in greater detail and promoting staff development. Each of the principals interviewed is working on assessment plans as a way of sharpening attention to new outcomes for students. The optimum solution to the dilemma would support collegial, empowering processes aimed toward specific instructional goals. (MLF)