The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence

Baruti Kafele

Table of Contents

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About This Book

Why do I lead? With this deceptively simple question, best-selling author Baruti K. Kafele begins a powerful examination of what it takes to make a school community achieve the greatest success in the classroom and beyond.

In The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence, Kafele, a veteran school administrator, guides motivated school leaders through 50 self-reflection exercises designed to yield a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the work that they do. 

Along with many other insights, this book shows how best to

• Inspire and motivate students, teachers, and other school staff to approach their work with vigor and purpose;
• Ensure that all students, regardless of color, creed, or origin, are valued and represented in the school culture;
• Focus mission and vision statements to address students' most critical needs and integrate shared values and objectives into the fabric of the school; and
• Engage parents and other community members so that they feel a stake in the school's success.

Brimming with passion, written from the heart, and informed by hard-earned experience, this transformative book is essential reading for principals and other building-level administrators determined to reinvigorate their practice, revitalize their staff, and—most importantly—guarantee the strongest outcomes for students.

See the book's table of contents and read excerpts

Questions All Principals Ask Themselves

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About the Author

BARUTI KAFELE has been a highly regarded urban public school educator in New Jersey for nearly 30 years and has distinguished himself both as a classroom teacher and as a school principal. As an elementary school teacher in East Orange, New Jersey, he was selected as the East Orange School District and Essex County Public Schools' Teacher of the Year. As a principal, he led the transformation of four different schools, including Newark Tech, which went from being a low-performing school in need of improvement to being recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the best high schools in the United States.  Read more