Chapter Ten: June
Confessions of an Urban Principal/ The Final Approach
by Frank Murphy
This book provides a first hand account of the life of an urban elementary school principal in the era of No Child Left Behind. On Monday and Wednesday, I post an installment of the current month’s chapter. The complete text for previous chapters can be found listed under Categories.
The names of all students and parents who are described in this story have been altered in order to protect their privacy.
Installment 1 of 8
The director of the Temple Educational Management Organization has developed his own appraisal system for the principals of the Partnership Schools. There are nine broad leadership objectives and a host of sub-goals described in the appraisal rubric. Each of the participating principals has been asked to submit a portfolio of work samples and other evidence to document the ways that they’ve met these objectives.
The portfolio I constructed consists of two binders filled with documents and artifacts that present a picture of my
Chapter Nine-Complete (Installments 1 to 9)
Chapter Nine—May
Confessions of an Urban Principal
by Frank Murphy
This book provides a first hand account of the life of an urban elementary school principal in the era of No Child Left Behind. On Monday and Wednesday, I post an installment of the current month’s chapter. The complete text for previous chapters can be found listed under Categories.
The names of all students and parents who are described in this story have been altered in order to protect their privacy.
Installment 1 of 9/ Well, We Sure Have a Lot of Feelings
Monday mornings aren’t as frantic now that spring is here. The fast and furious waves of transient children entering and exiting the school have begun to ebb. At last the tide has turned. Though problems still confound me, at least I don’t feel as overwhelmed by them.
Paul Vallas has endured his own storm of stressful events in the last week. A fourth grade child in one of our city’s schools attempted to hang himself on a hook in the coat closet. In a different neighborhood, some
