Leadership
In Big Picture Learning schools, leadership is shared and spread between a strong, visionary principal and a dedicated, responsible team of advisors. The leadership of the school community functions as a democracy.
Principal Leadership:
All Big Picture Learning principals begin their training before their school opens through our TYBO program (The Year Before Opening). This program uses current Big Picture Learning principals as mentors, as well as utilizes the expertise of the Co-Founders and Big Picture coaches. Principals are trained around Big Picture principal leadership criteria through mentor/mentee relationships with other Big Picture principals and coaches including: human relations and communication, moral courage, vision, flexibility and efficiency, life-long love of learning and leading, and recruitment.
The principals participate in on-going year-round professional development, and are supported in the start-up years of operation by Big Picture Learning. Principals also actively participate in professional development and conferences designed especially for the Big Picture network of schools. Principals are cultural/instructional leaders, as well as CEOs/entrepreneurs for their schools. They are the liaisons to districts, to Big Picture Learning, and to their own staff. Overall, the success of the whole school and, in particular, the professional health of the advisors, is the responsibility of the principal.
Advisor Leadership:
All advisors are trained by Big Picture-trained principals and supported, through the principal, by using Big Picture materials and coaching methods. Advisors take great responsibility in the day-to-day organization of the school, in the management of school time, in successful implementation of the curriculum, and finally, in the success of all students. In addition to formal professional development, advisors learn from other advisors on a daily basis by serving as each other’s mentors and mentees. Much of the learning that advisors do is done through the sharing of best practices and through the collegial relationship with other advisors.
Essential Elements of School Leadership include:
- Principals trained through Big Picture coaching and through relationships with mentor principals
- Advisors and other staff members work closely with principals to adopt Big Picture distinguishers into their teaching and learning styles
Essential Leadership Roles of the Principal:
- The principal is an educational visionary, an instructional leader and manages the team of advisors in her/his school
- Within the community, the principal is the visible spokesperson for the school, the fundraiser, the political and community networker
- The principal organizes, plans, and runs regular staff development sessions, including staff meetings and retreats
- The principal supervises staff, reflects upon her/his observations of staff members in their work environments, and provides regular feedback
Essential Leadership Roles of the Advisor:
- Advisors and other staff members work in tandem with their school principal to share school leadership and management responsibilities
- Advisors and staff members have fluid relationships with each other, sharing best practices and informing each other’s decisions.