Mission Statements Are Mission-Critical

By Debbie E. Bennett

Before becoming a middle school associate principal, I was an elementary principal. Because of the size of my school, I didn’t have an assistant principal; sometimes I felt like I was doing the job of three people. With delegation and organization, however, my staff and I created a mission and vision statement based on the current school culture—a culture I helped create.

Fast-forward to winter 2024, when I transitioned to my current role as an AP in a junior high school. I would be charged with helping students move from elementary school to sixth grade as part of a comprehensive middle school model intended to prepare students to complete high school and construct a solid pathway to postsecondary education.

Walking into a building with an established administrative team and an established culture as one of two assistant principals was a challenge. But it presented me with an unprecedented opportunity to focus on my purpose. I would be starting over, not from ground zero but from a place of expertise.

My plan was to examine the tasks and duties in which I excelled, those to which I should pay more attention, and those less preferred. I would take into account the strategic plan for the building and figure out where my starting point would be.

I needed to gather data, get to know the staff, and find opportunities to build and lead teams. I also needed to be prepared to pivot if something wasn’t working. My mission as AP became to expand upon the school’s already established system of positive behavioral interventions and supports (PBIS).

Watch and Learn

As an assistant principal, job duties often dictate where my immediate attention goes. But my belief system dictates how I show up for staff, students, community, and me. So I asked myself: What impact do I want to have on students, teachers, and the school community?

Onboarding in the middle of the school year allowed me to watch and learn. I watched how the systems in place operated. I watched trends in behavior. I watched how the administrative team operated under pressure. I watched how the staff responded when given “one more thing” to do. Then I thought about my areas of expertise and how I could contribute.

From my observations, I saw that the systems in place had changed the culture and climate of the school for the better; there was a history I needed to know before implementing any initiatives. The systems were sound but needed a little something extra, especially considering that the student population is expected to increase this fall.

The staff didn’t mind “one more thing” if that thing made students more receptive to academics and more socially adept. And I learned that junior high is fast-paced; if I was going to be a part of it, I’d have to pivot quickly. Still, I believed I could find the something “extra” that would help expand the school’s PBIS system.

Numbers Don’t Lie

Whatever your leadership goals and subject matter expertise might be, the data never lies. As an AP, knowing your building’s numbers will help recognize where your mission should begin. I initially focused my attention on Tier 1 supports because of my history as a PBIS Tier 1 coach and knowledge of school culture and climate.

Accepting the mission to expand PBIS meant:

• Being aware of the strategic goals for the building;
• Looking at data for the past three years, which included data from a previous administration;
• Asking questions about the data to find commonalities and discrepancies;
• Backward-mapping the mission starting with the first goal; and
• Recognizing the “small” things that can create enormous buy-in.

Activating the Expansion

So far, the mission to expand PBIS has validated my expertise in systems, mentoring staff, and extending my own learning. But I needed to be intentional about goal-setting, communication, and forming a team that supports my goals and can serve as exemplars of the PBIS expansion to students and staff.

It isn’t easy to know where you fit in to a new school and established culture. Start with an assessment of your capabilities. Ask yourself:

• What is your mission as an AP?
• Do you know your school’s overarching goals?
• What is your current expertise?
• What could become one of your areas of expertise if given more attention?
• How can you use data to inform your decisions?
• Have you formed a team to assist you?
• Where do you see your mission taking you in the future?

Launching a new initiative as a new member of a school’s leadership team can be exhausting, but as you see it take root, you will see the fruits of your labor and be encouraged to spearhead more. The hardest part is getting started!

Debbie E. Bennett is associate principal at Northwest Middle School in Coralville, Iowa.

https://www.naesp.org/resource/mission-statements-are-mission-critical/