The principal returns to school with little more than a few insights that have already begun to dim. At the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, we have learned how to help principals become much more effective in their schools. Moreover, our experience has taught us how to support the principals' growing effectiveness once the formal workshop has drawn to a close. Annenberg Principals, all in the midst of substantial efforts to improve their schools, are drawn from schools across the country. They work in urban, rural, and suburban settings and in schools with all grade-level combinations.
Participants make at least a year's commitment to the group.
The seminar meets four times per year, and we encourage regular communication between meetings. Each seminar group is no larger than 35. We expect participants to read and write in preparation for each session, to articulate their own goals and dilemmas, and to be constructively critical of their own work and that of their colleagues. The learning experience promotes patterns of behavior and new habits that we hope to see brought back to the school. We also know that the learning experience for principals must be intellectually rigorous and must provoke the questioning of long-held assumptions.