Principals as Literacy Leaders

Julie Schwartzbauer contributed today's post.

"Through a lifetime of working in schools, one of my most powerful insights and core beliefs is that teachers must be leaders, and principals must know literacy.  Without a synergy between literacy and leadership and a committed, joint effort by teachers and principals, fragile achievement gains do not hold."

Regie Routman

I am very excited to share some great work we are doing in Appleton.  

If you are a literacy coach, you know who Regie Routman is.  And if you understand the importance of principal as instructional leader you have read her latest book Read, Write, Lead.  

Recently, I was fortunate enough to attend a dessert and conversation with Regie where participants engaged in an informal conversation regarding school change strategies, challenges, and successes.  One of the big Ah-ha's that came out of that evening was related to sustainable change and how the principal and literacy coach must work collaboratively to fully support teachers.  

In working as a district literacy coach in Appleton, I have learned that while  all principals come into their position with a vast array of knowledge, their background does not always include a foundation in literacy.  According to Regie, “without deep knowledge about literacy, principals remain restricted in their quest to raise reading and writing achievement across a whole school.”

Recently, three of our principals expressed interest in participating in ongoing professional collaboration with their building literacy coach.  Their goal is to increase expertise in literacy and create a solid infrastructure in their school.

Appleton Area School District is large and it takes time to build sustainable change.  It is our hope that by using Regie’s book as a starting point, with just a few schools, we will be able to move the connection between literacy and leadership to the forefront.  We will meet monthly with the three principals and their coaches, to lay the foundation which will lead to more effective literacy instruction, and ultimately accelerate and sustain student achievement.