{"id":73358,"date":"2024-11-07T10:54:03","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T17:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=73358"},"modified":"2024-11-07T10:54:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T17:54:03","slug":"isspp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/isspp\/","title":{"rendered":"How NAU is helping school principals excel"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan Chee is an elementary school principal and a sheep farmer. Every day, he gets up early to complete chores on his farm. Then he heads to his second job at Leupp Elementary, a rural school on the southwestern edge of the Navajo Nation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After changing out of his farm clothes, Chee leads a daily meeting with all of Leupp\u2019s students and teachers. Speaking both Navajo and English, he teaches them about <\/span>hozh\u00f3<\/span><\/i>, a Din\u00e9 way of life that involves walking in two worlds. We all walk in two or more worlds, he explains\u2014some of us are Din\u00e9 <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> American; some of us are English speakers <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> Spanish speakers; some of us are sheep farmers <\/span>and<\/span><\/i> principals.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ryan<\/a>
Leupp Elementary School principal Ryan Chee, left, met Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Martin and other educational leaders at a UNESCO Global Education Meeting in early November.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Before Chee came to Leupp, the school was in a precarious position by any measure. In 2021, Arizona\u2019s school accountability system gave Leupp a D grade in student achievement, and 76% of kindergarteners were considered high risk for early literacy difficulties.<\/span><\/p>\n

But three years later, under Chee, the school is excelling. Its state assessment has jumped two letter grades, and 75% of its kindergarteners are now considered low risk for early literacy difficulties.<\/span><\/p>\n

What changed?\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat comes through to me is the importance he places on honoring the students\u2019 languages, families and cultures,\u201d said <\/span>Rose Ylimaki<\/span><\/b>, a professor of educational leadership at Northern Arizona University. \u201cHe\u2019s putting that in dialogue with standard subjects like history, and it\u2019s helping the students feel like they belong and like they\u2019re a part of something larger. They\u2019re more engaged. They want to learn.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ylimaki knows what makes a good school principal better than almost anyone. As co-leader of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) at NAU, she oversees research that compares student achievement and school leadership at hundreds of schools in 27 countries to find out what some of the best principals in the world have in common.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After 20 years of research on schools and their leaders, Ylimaki and the ISSPP have found five core attributes that make a great principal\u2014and, in turn, a great school:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n