Principals also have an important role to play when it comes to connecting with the parents of incoming kindergarteners, preferably well before the first day of the school year. Principals and directors can collaborate to allow time for kindergarten teachers to meet with the pre-K teachers to review children’s previous assessments, discuss curricular alignment, and discuss the skills that are most important for children to possess prior to kindergarten entry. Once principals know the providers in the area they can reach out to those providers and get a sense of which ones have children typically attending their school. Principals in any state, though, could take the initiative to reach out to their regional Child Care Aware offices for assistance in gaining a better understanding of the child care providers in their area. Principals receive a list of local child care providers and regional Child Care Aware offices provide follow-up resources to facilitate communication between the providers and principals. In Washington, principals are able to submit a data request to receive a report of licensed child care providers in their area. Perhaps most importantly, principals can make time and space for pre-K and K teachers when they are housed in the same building to plan together and share data on incoming children, and principals can connect with other early learning providers in the community who served students who will soon be entering elementary school. Leaders of elementary schools can do a number of things to help incoming kindergarteners and their families. What actions can individual principals and teachers take to ensure a smooth transition to kindergarten if they happen to work in a state and district that has not yet made a concerted effort to improve the transition? While states certainly have a role, most of the action around improving transitions is at the local level. In a recent report, I highlighted states taking steps to help smooth the transition into kindergarten and outlined actions all states should consider. Some of these incoming kindergarteners might have previously attended a pre-K program or Head Start program, but the majority will arrive with no prior school experience at all.īecause kindergarten is often the first school experience for many students, ensuring a smooth transition into the school year is essential for setting up children to succeed in both kindergarten and future grades. For many incoming kindergarteners, this will be the first time they’ve set foot inside a school building. Once completing the process, she should rank candidates accordingly and offer to position to the person who is the best fit for the school, always letting the other candidates know that the position has been filled.Now that we’re in back to school season, educators across the country are preparing for the first day of school. This time, she can ask the assistant principal, another teacher, or the superintendent to join in the process to include another person’s feedback in the hiring process. After this process, the principal might narrow the choices to the top three or four candidates and ask them to come back for a second interview. Once a principal has interviewed candidates, she needs to call references to get a feel for what the people who know them think they would do. There are many factors that play into a person being a good candidate, including teaching knowledge, personality, sincerity, and excitement toward the profession. The interview process is extremely important when hiring a new teacher. Hiring the wrong person can cause huge headaches down the line while hiring the right person makes the principal's job easier. A vital part of any school administrator’s job is to hire teachers and staff who are going to do their job correctly.
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