Leading the School: Culture and Effective Instruction
Principals of Education Administration

As I have started to uncover in this course; being a Principal is a wonderful job that carries much weight. It is hard to believe that the attitudes, actions, and beliefs of one individual can have such an impact on an organization. As the Principal your actions directly correlate with the culture of your school. As a school leader you also have the incredible responsibility of overseeing instruction at your school and the tools that teachers use to facilitate instruction. You must be familiar with the newest and best materials and practices for effective instruction as well as someone who can motivate and facilitate effective staff development. These are just some of the areas in which you must be aware and knowledgeable. However, these days Principals are not alone, they are surrounded by talented people who bring a great deal of experience to the table and Principals need to be ready and willing to utilize those talents, “The principal of a successful school is not the instructional leader but the educational leader who mobilizes the expertise, talent, and care of others. He or she is the person who symbolizes, supports, distributes, and coordinates the work of the teacher as instructional leader” (Mednick, 2003).

School Culture
What is meant by the term school culture? One of the definitions I found in my research sums school culture up nicely, it says school culture is “ the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors which characterize a school…experiences both in and out of school (traditions and celebrations) that create a sense of community, family, and team membership” (Wagner, 2006).
We often times here administrators boasting about school culture or discussing its importance but how often do we see administrators taking time to survey and figure out how