Outstanding Principal

Research conducted by The Wallace Foundation in Learning from Leadership (Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom, & Anderson, 2010) underscores a powerful truth about schools: “next to classroom instruction, leadership is the most significant school-related influence on student learning—and there has not been a single documented case of a school improving student achievement in the absence of talented leadership.” While that finding elevates the importance of strong principals, it simultaneously highlights something even more fundamental: the daily, relentless impact of teachers. You are the instructional core. You are the reason students grow, stretch, and succeed. Leadership matters because it shapes the conditions in which your expertise can thrive, but it is your relationships, your clarity of instruction, your feedback, and your belief in students that translate vision into results. As principals commit to serving as true instructional leaders, protecting instructional time, strengthening curriculum coherence, and coaching practice, they do so in partnership with you. We honor the extraordinary influence you have on student learning every single day.

This week let’s recognize Ofa Nau, principal of Roosevelt Continuation School. Here’s what one of his educators had to say about him:

“Ofa has an incredibly hard job here at Roosevelt. Ofa always handles situations and disruptions as quickly and efficiently as possible. He always comes to check in on us teachers as many times as he can in a day. He is often not in his office because he is walking around the school getting to know students, checking in with teachers, and handling any issues and conflicts that rise on a daily basis. He approaches issues of student behavior with kindness and fairness. All together Ofa is a fantastic principal that is making Roosevelt a better place.”