Growing teachers
into principals
Waco ISD builds its own pipeline of strong, ready leaders.
September 27, 2023
Growing teachers into principals
Waco ISD builds its own pipeline of strong, ready leaders
September 27, 2023
From caterpillar to butterfly...
That’s how Josie Gutierrez describes the transformation underway at Waco ISD, thanks in part to their participation in one of The Holdsworth Center's leadership programs.
It’s not just tweaking. It doesn’t look like anything we’ve done before.
In partnership with Holdsworth, districts work to build a pipeline of aspiring principals who are ready to step into school leadership positions when they arise.
This means providing teachers and assistant principals opportunities to acquire and practice key leadership skills before moving onto the next step.
Waco ISD is growing these skills in ways it never has before.
In partnership with Holdsworth, districts work to build a pipeline of aspiring principals who are ready to step into school leadership positions when they arise.
This means providing teachers and assistant principals opportunities to acquire and practice key leadership skills before moving onto the next step.
Waco ISD is growing these skills in ways it never has before.
It is a new day in Waco ISD. In 11 years at the district, I have never grown as much or felt as supported and passionate as I do today. That starts at the top.
Waco ISD’s Superintendent Susan Kincannon has led the district since 2019. Located in Central Texas, Waco ISD serves 14,000 students across 26 campuses.
What do we really want to build in Waco ISD? And what’s most important to us? We want to grow everyone – students, teachers, principals and staff.
Holdsworth has given Waco ISD a blueprint for building more meaningful growth opportunities within the district.
I've always known leadership development was essential, but what Holdsworth did was give me a different view of that—focusing on the pipeline development. Not just some of the skills of leadership, but really how you're bringing people along and proactively working to build them.
Holdsworth has given Waco ISD
a blueprint for building more meaningful growth opportunities within the district.
I've always known leadership development was essential, but what Holdsworth did was give me a different view of that—focusing on the pipeline development. Not just some of the skills of leadership, but really how you're bringing people along and proactively working to build them.
A looming shortage
In the post-COVID era,
the number of leaders ready and
waiting to be principals has dwindled.
I can’t think of a more stressful job than being a campus principal. The school director is almost the orchestra director, right? They’re pulling all the pieces together. When they can create the right moments for the kids, it matters.
Helping students heal and readjust after the pandemic, making up for unfinished learning and coaching the swelling ranks of teachers with less than three years of experience – none of it is possible without great principals.
The principal is the key to turning the entire school district around. We need them to stay, and we need them to grow—it's the only way we're going to survive.
Waco ISD is one of many Holdsworth districts that recognize they must do more to prepare principals to be exceptional leaders. They must be able to identify, prepare and support current and future principals.
In Waco ISD, leaders focused their efforts on the beginning of the principal pipeline—teachers.
Teachers needed more opportunities to flex their leadership muscles and imagine themselves in bigger roles.
Teachers needed more opportunities to flex their leadership muscles and imagine themselves in bigger roles.
We've been struggling with teacher retention for the past few years. We're hoping that through building teacher leadership and improving well-being, it will make a difference."
One strategy was the creation of a Teacher Leadership Academy. For one year, 20 teachers met in the evenings and on weekends to learn more about leadership and put it into practice. After all, leadership is not a skill people are born with – it can be taught.
Each of them designed a “passion project” around an idea to improve schools. They researched what it would take to scale their idea across the district, including how much it would cost. At the end of the program, teachers presented their projects to a group of central office administrators, including the superintendent.
Sitting in the audience listening, Kincannon thought, “There’s a lot of talent here, and a lot of great ideas. In school systems, we get stuck doing things over and over that don’t work. This is the kind of thinking I want from our teachers and leaders – how can we make things better?”
Rekindled Passion
Rekindled Passion
Teacher Mia Guillen’s passion project for the Teacher Leadership Academy was about unpacking students’ “backpacks,” a metaphor for understanding how poverty and trauma may be shaping their behaviors in class.
Teacher Mia Guillen’s passion project for the Teacher Leadership Academy was about unpacking students’ “backpacks,” a metaphor for understanding how poverty and trauma may be shaping their behaviors in class.
As a child of poverty and trauma herself, the project had deep personal connections.
When you have a child that grows up in trauma, they are always in that fight or flight motion. But there are signs that you can look for and it will help you understand how to better educate that child.
As a child of poverty and trauma herself, the project had deep personal connections.
When you have a child that grows up in trauma, they are always in that fight or flight motion. But there are signs that you can look for and it will help you understand how to better educate that child.
Feeling Seen
It’s a far cry from where Guillen was two years ago.
With seven principals and four superintendents in 10 years, there was no one on campus to coach her, and no one at central office to coach principals. Her talent and leadership potential lay hidden.
I am the poster child for the obstinate teacher two years ago if you would have met me. I hated professional development. I did the bare minimum because there was nothing for me. There was no differentiation.
When Kincannon became superintendent, Guillen started to notice changes. The new superintendent showed up to campuses and asked what they needed, as did other administrators. Kincannon was driven, but not at the expense of being unkind.
Guillen’s new principal, Samantha Craytor, took an interest in her growth and became a mentor and advocate.
Guillen started to feel seen – and less alone. With steady leadership, her campus went from a state rating of Needs Improvement to a high B.
She credits Kincannon for putting the right leaders like Craytor in place and creating the growth opportunities for that to happen.
Campus and district leadership is not just important, it is crucial to teachers. They give us what we need to thrive.
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