Ten Traits of Highly Effective Principals: From Good to Great Performance, July/2003

"I feel that this is a book that principals will be interested in purchasing and reading. It has practical advice and relevant examples of how the advice can and has been implemented."
--Phillip Silsby, Principal
Belleville West High School, Belleville, IL

"I could hear the voices of some of the principals who were interviewed speaking to me. The author clearly knows how to gather information and present it in a meaningful way."
--Bonnie Tryon, Zone 2 Director
National Association of Elementary School Principals

"This is a powerful guidebook for new principals. More than that, it also contains valuable insight and examples to assist veteran principals in growing and improving professionally."
--Kimberly Kay Janisch, Principal
Watertown High School, Watertown, SD

How can principals raise achievement levels, energize teachers, and get results? How can you remain productive and effective in this age of accountability?

Highly effective principals have strong communication skills, high levels of knowledge about teaching and learning, and the ability to provide instructional leadership. This excellent, new resource provides principals, administrative teams, and educators with tremendous resources to hone these skills and traits.

Ten Traits of Highly Effective Principals

contains ideas, reflections, behaviors, habits, and stories from the trenches to guide and inspire as you seek to increase your own effectiveness. Each chapter in this resource describes an essential component of personal effectiveness. A highly effective principal is

1. A communicator—listen, empathize, and connect
2. An educator—with a depth of knowledge; motivates intellectual growth
3. An envisioner—focused on the vision of what schools can be
4. A facilitator—building strong relationships
5. A change master—flexible, futuristic, and realistic, and can motivate change
6. A culture builder—communicating and modeling a strong, viable vision
7. An activator—with motivation, energy, and enthusiasm to spare
8. A producer— building intellectual development and academic achievement
9. A character builder—whose values are trustworthiness, respect, and integrity
10. A contributor—whose priority is making contributions to the success of others

Transform your school into a community of learners, set high academic and behavioral expectations, and create a culture where children feel special and safe.

About The Author:
Elaine K. McEwan is a partner and educational consultant with The McEwan-Adkins Group, offering workshops in instructional leadership, team building, and raising reading achievement. A former teacher, librarian, principal, and assistant superintendent for instruction in a suburban Chicago school district, McEwan is the author of more than thirty-five books for parents and educators. Her Corwin Press titles include Raising Reading Achievement in Middle and High Schools: Five Simple-to-Follow Strategies for Principals, Second Edition (2006), Seven Strategies of Highly Effective Readers: Using Cognitive Research to Boost K-8 Achievement (2004), Ten Traits of Highly Effective Principals: From Good to Great Performance (2003), Making Sense of Research: What’s Good, What’s Not, and How to Tell the Difference (2003), Seven Steps to Effective Instructional Leadership, Second Edition (2003), Teach Them ALL to Read: Catching the Kids Who Fall through the Cracks (2002), and Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers: How to Hire, Mentor, and Coach Successful Teachers (2001).

McEwan was honored by the Illinois Principals Association as an outstanding instructional leader, by the Illinois State Board of Education with an Award of Excellence in the Those Who Excel Program, and by the National Association of Elementary School Principals as the National Distinguished Principal from Illinois for 1991. She received her undergraduate degree in education from Wheaton College and advanced degrees in library science (MA) and educational administration (EdD) from Northern Illinois University.