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What do orchestra conductors, gardeners, ship captains, jugglers, and circus ringleaders all have to do with one another? According to the Principals' Center's online polls, each has been likened to the leadership role demanded of principals across school districts, and across the nation.
In the words of Milli Pierce, the director of the Principals' Center, the principal's duties are blurring into wider and wider areas of responsibility. "'Out there' is now 'in here,'" explains Pierce, "as government policy, parent and community demands, corporate interests, and ubiquitous technology have all stormed the walls of the school. The relentless pressures of today's complex environments have intensified the workload for principals." On November 8-9, 2001, the Principals' Center, in collaboration with the National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers, concentrated the expertise of principals, policymakers, and educators from all over the country at the Principals' Center Leadership and Policy Forum, with the purpose of focusing on some of the most pressing issues faced by principals and education policymakers in the 21st century. Among the targeted topics were:
The two-day forum included a panel discussion on the charter school movement led by Chester Finn, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation; an address on the union role in reform from Robert Chase, president of the National Education Association; and a panel on "The Practice of Large-Scale Improvement," with Anrig Professor Richard Elmore and New York Times education columnist and HGSE visiting scholar Richard Rothstein. Hailing from school districts as distant as in the Philippines, the professionals attending and leading the forum represented the cutting edge at the intersection of research and practice. Several HGSE professors participated in panels, including Professor Gary Orfield, Dimon Professor Pedro Noguera, Professor Emeritus Charles Willie, all from the Administration Planning, and Social Policy area, and, from the Human Development and Psychology area, Shattuck Professor Catherine Snow, Thomas Professor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, and Associate Professor Gil Noam. Policymakers included Nat LaCour from the American Federation of Teachers and Belinda Williams from CHANGE, a Unniversity of Pennsylvania School of Education research center. The Principal's Most Important Clients
Despite being face-to-face with the challenges wrought by this new era of school reform, and even while debating the ins and outs of unions, accountability, high-stakes testing, and school reform, the unifying goal was restructuring the school to return the focus to its most important clients: the students. Explained Robert Murphy from the Connecticut State School Boards Association, "Demands have diverted attention from the central focus. When you look at the demands [being placed on principals], it's easy to understand how little time there is to 'cultivate the garden.' It's becoming increasingly important to articulate it to the public that principals can't do it without additional support." For More Information
HGSE News, Harvard Graduate School of Education
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Anrig Professor 
