TC Today - Teachers College Columbia University

Ready to Enter the Building
TC’s Summer Principals Academy is breaking new ground in preparing 21st century school leaders
by David McKay Wilson
wo years ago, when Heather Haines (M.A., ’09)
was named principal of a troubled charter school on
Chicago’s South Side, she faced problems on every
front, including student discipline, classroom rigor
and student achievement.
It was a formidable challenge, even for a veteran administrator—and
Haines, who was just 29, had never run a
school before. Still, she considered herself well prepared for
the job. A year earlier, Haines had completed TC’s highly
regarded Summer Principals Academy (SPA), where she
learned strategies specifically designed for the arduous process
of turning around high-need schools in crisis.
Over 14 months that included two five-week summers
in residence at TC, Haines and her cohort focused on
everything from rethinking a school’s mission to rebuilding
curricula aimed at preparing students for success in
higher education and the work force. She has channeled
lessons from all of those areas into her daily management of
her school, even renaming the institution the Perspective
Leadership Academy.
“We learned about having a vision and managing
change,” Haines says. “There were students and staff upset
about the change, so I had to help manage those emotions.”
Since its founding in 2004, SPA has grown to include
more than 90 students per cohort and by the end of this
summer will have nearly 400 alumni—over half in leadership
roles at schools around the country.
“We believe SPA is modeling how to prepare leaders
for 21st century schools, which typically are smaller, more
academically focused, and more ethnically and culturally
diverse,” says SPA founding Director Craig Richards,
Professor of Education. “The principal’s job today demands
idealism, energy, strong social and entrepreneurial instincts,
a facility with technology, a comfort level with accountability
and ongoing change, and above all, an inner urgency to
improve children’s life chances.”
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PHOTOGRAPH by Heather van Uxem