Jennifer King, author of "Principal Effectiveness and Leadership in an Era of Accountability: What Research Says," notes that the principal is the core of the leadership team. The principal shapes critical parameters that support improving schools. School improvement involves increasing student achievement through goal setting. The principal is expected to answer inquiries about hiring, resources, procedures, policy enforcement, data interpretation and school safety.
Principals select teachers with the capacity to increase student achievement. Principals also remove teachers who cannot or will not align with improving achievement and delivering quality instruction. "How principals hire teachers, assign them to specific positions, evaluate them and provide growth opportunities for them likely have major ramifications regarding teacher quality," according to a 2011 study by the Center for American Progress. Principals support teachers by providing training on strategies that have proved successful in developing better teachers.
In 2001, No Child Left Behind created a sense of urgency for school improvement on a national level. A 2005 study from the Center of Comprehensive Reform and Improvement stated that NCLB set a precedence in education. For the first time schools were held to a national standard to make yearly progress on NCLB indicators such as student test performance, graduation rates and attendance rates. These indicators collectively are termed Adequate Yearly Progress. School principals who do not meet proficiency on state assessments face sanctions, which result in decreased input and authority on instructional and budgetary campus-based decisions.
Principals redesign the organization to fit the needs of the students. Successful restructuring requires active monitoring, revising and reevaluating the use of resources, providing appropriate staff training, analyzing student and teacher performance data and maintaining a firm hand on executing the school's vision. Principals increase teaching and learning by providing teacher-development opportunities focusing on student performance through student-performance benchmarks analysis. Principals increase achievement by providing support for students to continually achieve. Eric Sheninger, author of "Effective Leadership in the Age of Reform," states that principals have to be willing to try new things until they reach the desired result.
Teacher quality is crucial to school reforms. NCLB mandates that teachers are "highly qualified." According to a 2005 study by the Center for Public Education, teachers must show proficiency in their teaching area, have a bachelor's degree and be fully state certified to be deemed "highly qualified." Principals monitor teacher quality by assessing deep content-area knowledge of teachers. Principals also assess teacher quality based on teacher instructional delivery and student receipt of instruction. Teacher quality is an attribute that positively impacts student achievement.