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As the associate director of the Ed.D. in School System Leadership program, Christine Neumerski has witnessed the long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on schools. “Teachers are still really struggling,” she says. “We're still seeing rampant mental health challenges for our students. We’re still seeing burnout from principals.”  With the rate of  and mental health challenges remaining higher than pre-COVID rates, the state of education has not returned to normal. When Neumerski and a team of researchers¹ conducted a study commissioned by the Wallace Foundation to examine principal pipelines, , they heard something unexpected: district central office leaders across the country discussed the need for a new set of practices for principals to be effective. For this issue of Office Hours, she uncovers five practices of successful school leaders post-COVID. 

1. Build resilience.

Central office leaders described resilient principals as those who can think three steps ahead and embrace the unknown. The stand-out principals during COVID had grit that carried them through the tough times. “We really need principals who have a different kind of strength than we've needed before,” says Neumerski. “We need principals who can cope with adversity, who have an internal reserve inside of them that they can draw on in times of stress.” Principals with prior experience in high-poverty schools excelled most in this area as they were able to “pivot to the demands that the new context of COVID was placing on people,” she says. COVID turned principals into essential employees who had to make tough decisions about masking, absenteeism and teacher shortages without burning out. Principals showed their resilience by reassuring stakeholders and creating a plan during the unknown. These experiences allowed principals to develop resilience for times of crisis, which demonstrates that resilience can be built. “Certainly, some people might have more of a natural disposition towards it, but it is a skill that can be learned and practiced over time,” says Neumerski. 

2. Implement solutions.

Neumerski notes her most surprising finding was that central office leaders wanted “autonomous principals” instead of “compliance-based principals.” She describes compliance-based principals as those who implement directives the way they are told, similar to a middle manager. Autonomous principals can adopt the directives to meet the needs of their school as a leader. 

“Principals have been so heavily trained to say there's going to be a right answer and a wrong answer,” she says. But many of the problems, particularly since COVID-19, are shades of gray. “[Central office leaders] want you to create and innovate. That can be difficult for some leaders who have spent their careers in a heavily compliance-based district,” says Neumerski. To become autonomous, principals must be willing to seek out solutions and tweak directives. She recalls a participant in the School System Leadership Ed.D. program who developed an intervention that addresses secondary trauma in Black female principals. Instead of just implementing a districtwide initiative like "Wellness Wednesdays," for example, principals need to think outside the box and innovate solutions to problems specific to their communities. The transition from compliance to autonomous in a principal requires trust from a central office. “When principals are given autonomy, and they feel empowered to actually try to address the problems that are unique to their situation, we see a lot of energy and impact behind that. Post-COVID, we're needing that more than ever.” 

3. Foster well-being.

The challenges of COVID put the mental and physical health of not only principals but also students and teachers at risk. Due to this, central office leaders have begun to look to principals to foster well-being in their schools. Neumerski defines fostering well-being as creating a culture of care for everyone in the school and becoming a holistic leader. This can look like providing access to counseling, giving students a space in the school where they can decompress or even encouraging mental health days for teachers. COVID has forced principals to shift from focusing on academic outcomes only to focusing on the whole individual. “Teaching and learning is still ultimately what we're about, but if these other pieces aren't in place, you can't learn.”

4. Center equity.

COVID exposed and exacerbated the deep inequities that exist in our communities. “There were disparities in access to things like food, housing, internet, counseling services and health services,” she says. “But there wasn't just a health pandemic, there was a racial pandemic.” Social unrest regarding race relations spread nationwide following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020. Central office leaders expressed that the highest performing principals were aware of the racism and inequities their students were facing and addressed the challenges. “Equity-centered leadership could be tied to instruction,” says Neumerski. “If you have English learners in your classroom, making sure that instruction is tailored to what they need or if you have children with disabilities, making sure they're still getting the same access and opportunities.” The key to centering equity is to acknowledge that “not everyone is necessarily starting out on equal footing or coming to the school door with the same resources.” 

5. Develop political savviness.

“If we compare what school board meetings were like before COVID and what they've become now, they've become much more contentious,” says Neumerski. The political savviness required to facilitate tough conversations is a key skill central office leaders now value in principals, but Neumerski acknowledges this is not a typical component of traditional leadership training. She suggests role-playing or mentoring to help principals build the skills of bridging a divide and building trust with a parent or community member that they may disagree with. “Sometimes principals are able to develop that kind of trust, and other times people come at them with guns blazing and no matter what you say, they're still going to be angry. So then it links back to that idea of resilience. �˻�ֱ�� are you going to be able to withstand that as the principal?”

To learn more about the new ways districts are defining “effective principals”, reach out to Christine Neumerski or read her recent publication on this topic in Educational Administration Quarterly. Download this learning aid as a reminder of the five practices  of successful principals post-COVID. 

^{1The study was conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University, the University of �˻�ֱ��, and the University of Utah.}