Running a school is a big job.
These days, a school administrator has a wider range of responsibilities than ever. She must be concerned with managing staff and teachers, making sure that things run on schedule, acting as a liaison with outside businesses and organizations. And she must also, in many school districts, spend a great deal of time concerned with school security. There are several qualities such a job requires.
Communication Skills
A good school administrator has to be an effective communicator. This means that she should be able to clearly express in a verbal or written format exactly what she thinks about any given issue, as well as what she wants done. However, it also means having the ability to really listen to what others have to say and considering another point of view.
Knowledge
A good school administrator must be more than just that; she must also have a full understanding of what it means to be a teacher. Often, it helps them be more effective if they have themselves have taught, since it will help them understand both the teacher's and student's perspective in a given situation.
Organizational Skills
Another important quality in a school administrator is organizational skills. She must be able to juggle several tasks at once, while keeping appointments, planning meetings and assigning tasks. She must also be comfortable with the vast quantity of local, state and federal paperwork she will have to deal with on a regular basis, completing it in a timely and professional manner.
Consistent Policies
When Emerson wrote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds," he obviously was not thinking about a school environment. The ability to be consistent and firm with rules, policies and plans is vital to maintaining a smoothly running school. This does not mean that the administrator should be rigid, refusing to change with circumstance, but it does mean that any changes should be fairly applied across the board.
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