The Purposeful Principal: Practices for Leading Joyful, Successful Schools

Develop the mindset, skills, and confidence to lead schools where every student thrives

An engaged principal plays a major role in a school's success, yet many educational leaders take the position without enough of the practical tools to turn their ideas into action. The Purposeful Principal provides the on-the-ground guidance leaders need to close the knowing-doing gap and foster an "Every Single Student Mindset."

Based on twenty-seven leadership competencies, this essential guide moves beyond theory to offer job-embedded resources and real-world practice opportunities. It addresses the urgent need for leaders to challenge inequity, dismantle outdated systems, and build new pathways that lead to joyful and successful learning environments for every student.

This book will help you:

• Develop an "Every Single Student Mindset" by focusing on five core learning conditions: affirming student identities, creating supportive and collaborative learning environments, fostering caring educators, implementing responsive teaching practices, and building equitable systems
• Engage in deep self-reflection to confront systemic biases and take courageous, "audacious actions" to dismantle inequitable practices
• Cultivate relational trust with students, staff, and the community to create a positive school culture where all students feel valued and affirmed
• Move from belief to action with concrete examples and practical exercises designed for immediate application in your school

The Purposeful Principal is not an intellectual exercise; it is a practical resource for leaders ready to do the hard work of disrupting the status quo. By learning while doing, you will cultivate the vision, courage, and skills to create a school where every single student can experience joy and success.

Jamie Almanzán is a teacher, leadership coach, and partner at APC Leadership Collaborative. Prior to leading APC, he taught every grade level K-12.  He went on to be the Director of Learning and Teaching at Pacific Educational Group in San Francisco and then a Senior Coach at the National Equity Project, a national non-profit. Both organizations were focused on shifting the conversation in schools to address historical academic and experiential gaps for students. He has focused his career on working to assure the promise of public education by supporting schools to serve every student. At APC Leadership Collaborative, he leads professional learning and coaches educational leaders to create more equitable learning environments incorporating observation, collaboration, and changing instruction to best meet the needs of all students.

Aaron Johnson is a writer-researcher-practitioner. In 2014, he started Archetype Consulting with the purpose to inspire educators to design schools that inspire academic excellence. He is the author of the 2018 Teachers College Press book, A Walk in Their Kicks: Literacy, Identity, and the Schooling of Young Black Males, the dissertation, Understanding the In-School Literacies of African American Males through a Sociocultural Paradigm: Implications for Teacher Professional Development, and several articles in peer-reviewed journals. His current work includes research projects on literacy proficiency, curriculum writing, and co-designing the instructional infrastructure of a school in the Metro Detroit area. Aaron’s past experiences include being a teacher, principal, central office administrator, and higher education faculty, and those experiences aided in the writing of this book. His expertise and passion have taken him across the country and to Ghana to promote literacy proficiency and education cohesion. Aaron’s consulting organization, Archetype Consulting, partners with organizations to facilitate professional learning, coaching, research projects, and parent engagement activities. You can find it at www.archetypeconsultingllc.com.

Graig Meyer is a social worker, educator, youth development specialist, coach and partner in APC Leadership Collaborative. His work at APC specializes in coaching education and non-profit leaders through complex change efforts, including those that have political elements. Meyer is the co-creator of the Students Six, a process for turning students into professional developers for their own teachers, which is now used by schools across the country. For sixteen years, he led the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program, which was nationally recognized for sending 97.5% of its students to college. Meyer also served as the Director of Student Equity and Volunteer Services for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro (NC) City Schools. He is also a member of the North Carolina Senate.