School Type: Public	School Setting: Urban
Level: K-8	School Design: Traditional
Content Presented By:
The Education Alliance at Brown University

Summary

The practice: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.

Due to the positive attitude and pride of the staff, students, and parents, the CGS is a school that functions well and has a reputation for being a caring and friendly environment, a school whose teachers have the professional initiative to improve and innovate their instructional methodologies, and a school where parents are involved, informed, and welcome. The success of CGS is due to several integrated pieces supported by Principal Raiche, carried out by the combined efforts of faculty and staff working toward a common goal of student learning and achievement.

CGS has a healthy and supportive school climate, students know they are there to learn and achieve. The students are the center of all decisions and activities in the school. Examples of student work are everywhere in the school. Motivational and positive message posters and banners are in the cafeteria, hallways, and foyer. Classrooms are brightly painted and equipped with ample resources (i.e. books, computers, materials).

Faculty and staff are respected by each other and the administration at CGS. Professional development activities linked to the school action/improvement plan continually take place. Many of these activities are offered during the school day, with a substitute to cover the classroom.

Meaningful parental involvement is a keystone of CGS. The school is constantly seeking out ways to involve parents in the activities and goals of the school. CGS has been blessed with highly active Parent Teacher Organizations, strong parental representation on the School Council, and a parent volunteer cadre that is ever present during the school day. Minutes from the School Council and PTO meetings are posted on the school's Web Site (http://www.methuen.k12.ma.us/cgs). Parent involvement in meaningful volunteer work (over 100 volunteers) is a tangible and productive link between the home and the school. This involvement also creates a powerful political support base for the efforts of the school.

• Effective principals actively engage the community to create shared responsibility for student and school success.   
• A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.  
• A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.  
• Effective principals create a culture of continuous learning for adults tied to student learning and other school goals.  
• Effective principals lead schools in a way that places student and adult learning at the center.  

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This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu