Ask students, faculty and parents what is working and what is not in their school. Nobody knows about what is going on at the school better than these stakeholders. While talking to students, for example, ask them how you can improve retention, graduation rates and academic rigor. Similarly, talk to the faculty and the staff members, one-on-one if possible, as to which program is not working and how to improve it: “What would you do if you were the principal?” Next talk to the parents: what is their number one concern about the school? What needs to be improved and how? These talks will help you create a conceptual framework, an action plan: identification of the problems and issues as well as the solutions.
Prioritize the issues, create benchmarks and readjust the new action plan according to policies of the district superintendent and missions of the district and state. Examine the data on enrollment, dropout rates and graduation rates, for instance. Compare how these data stack up against what you have learned through your conversation with students, teachers and parents. For example, let’s say that the national statistics for secondary educational data shows that the graduation rate of your school has been only 37%, far below the national average, which is, say, 55%. Similarly, all the stakeholders pointed out how too many students drop out of school. Your action plan then should incorporate these two data to solve the problem of both dropout rates as well as graduation rates. Often statistical data is far more reliable than what people say.
Now that you have identified and implemented the policies, you need to apply and practice those policies on a daily basis. Create clear timelines for each objective as well as naming the individuals who will be responsible for meeting the objectives and deadlines. For example, by when are you going to set up the math lab or the Writing Center? Who will run it? What will be the procedure in referring the students to the center? What happens if the students, once referred, do not attend the center? Always have a plan B; for example, when the student refuses to attend the lab, the student as well as the parents should be warned of her refusal, and after so many warnings, she should be disciplined in the regular class. Such well-established and written policy must be in the Student Handbook to avoid any potential litigation, and all the stakeholders should be well aware of such policy.
Do not try to bring changes overnight; instead, be patient by achieving large goals by increments. Try to visualize what the school should look like in three months, six months, 12 months and two years. (See Reference 2). Are the benchmarks realistic and achievable? A successful school must develop a strategy of action assisting academic affairs, student affairs, external partnership with the community and supportive campus environment, among others. If the number one priority of the school is student engagement, the school should create achievable goals that will help improve student engagement by semester. For example, in the first semester of your arrival, the faculty and the administration can come up with ways in which the school can raise the lagging academic standard. In the next semester, they can come up with yet another measure, such as creating active and collaborative learning environment.