How To Set Yourself Up for a Leadership Role in Education

The best K-12 environments have strong leaders within their district to set the tone for their community. To create a successful K-12 alignment, educators need to have some sort of connection or alliance with one another. Core values center the focus for a lot of district leaders in order to align overall views and goals, which in turn creates great leadership. Leadership roles are very rewarding and tough roles to excel at. We recently spoke with Porsha Dudley where she explained the best ways to set yourself up for a leadership role in K-12 education.

How To Set Yourself Up for a Leadership Role in Education

1. Lead by Example

The best way to set yourself up to become a leader in education is by leading by example. Start taking on some of the extra responsibilities and taking on traits that you find in leaders around you. Take risks and seek out learning and growth opportunities. Say ‘yes’ a little more often than before and set an example for other staff members. This way of performing also resonates with students because they are able to see that as an adult and teacher, you are still constantly learning as well. This gives students more excitement and incentive to want to learn in your classroom.

2. Ask Questions

Educators should be asking critical questions to evaluate the needs of students and what resources a school already has that can provide support for changes to support student-specific needs. As an educator, it is imperative to constantly educate yourself on the aspects of effective student learning. Looking for ways to continually improve is one of the most important qualities in a leader in any educational position. Seeking out learning opportunities not only grows professional development but sets an example for students and colleagues around. 

3. Take Risks

In K-12 education it can be easy to fall into the pattern of finding things that work, and never branching out from that success. Some teachers have been doing the same lessons for 20 years and although that may work for them, is it benefitting their students? The answer to this question is no. Education is progressing in many different directions and stagnance does not help to grow a student’s overall potential. Risk-taking all begins with the leadership of an organization. Leaders and administration have to encourage, support and demonstrate risk-taking at their school if they hope to see any sort of positive results from their teachers.

Leadership roles in education can be found in many forms and leadership standards are constantly changing. Right now, the best tactics to become a leader in education is to take risks, ask questions, and lead by example.

Listen to the full conversation with Porsha Dudley on our Tackling Tech Podcast!

On this episode of Tackling Tech, Tierra Leustig interviews Porsha Dudley, an Elementary Principal in Houston, Texas. Portia shares her journey stepping up to a leadership position in education, taking initiative, building relationships, and making everyone at her school feel appreciated.