How Principals Can Set Up a Sustainable, Equitable Model of Leadership

When Bethany Coughlin was named North Cumberland Middle School’s principal in 2013, she swiftly set ambitious, data-driven academic goals. She wanted North Cumberland to become one of the best schools in Rhode Island, which would require improved student proficiency metrics in math, reading comprehension, and writing.

Coughlin expected that her staff would immediately back her up. Not because she was cocky or arrogant, but because she was a former math teacher at the school, and in fact she had spent her entire professional career in the same district. Coughlin already knew most of the staff, whom she considered her colleagues and peers, and she figured her familiarity would be a major asset.

But at first, things didn’t go as planned. Coughlin’s hit-the-ground-running approach rubbed some educators the wrong way—it implied that they weren’t doing well enough at their jobs. Coughlin realized she needed to slow down. “It was too much, too soon,” she told me. She leaned into the old adage “It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.” Before she could get buy-in on her schoolwide accountability strategies, she needed to do some learning herself. She needed to hold herself accountable.

It was a difficult balancing act, with years of trial and error and tinkering, but North Cumberland students now routinely reach Coughlin’s proficiency goals. For her efforts, Coughlin was named 2024 Principal of the Year for Rhode Island by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

Coughlin recently explained to me how she constructed a sustainable, equitable school leadership model—one that holds teachers and administrators accountable and keeps them invested, while also avoiding burnout.

Find a Hook

During her first few years as North Cumberland’s principal, Coughlin noticed that teachers were mostly siloed off, even within the same grade levels. She knew they were working hard, but as she pored over academic data, she saw concerning trends. Standardized test results indicated that only 40 percent of the school’s 600 or so students were meeting minimum proficiency scores. There was clearly a disconnect—and a difficult one to broach to her staff.

“Even if you’re familiar with your surroundings, you have to respect the work that’s being done, so you can come up with a plan to move everyone forward,” she said. She eventually chose to focus on a couple of academic ventures, hoping that if her targeted techniques led to tangible improvements, she could apply similar standards to the whole school.

First up was bolstering North Cumberland’s writing metrics. Coughlin observed that a local elementary school had raised their own scores after hiring a writing consultant, so she told her sixth-grade English language arts (ELA) teachers that she wanted to bring in the same consultant. “It’s very frustrating for a teacher to just hear that we need to increase scores,” Coughlin said. To combat that frustration, she pointed to hard evidence, going through how, exactly, the elementary school had benefited from the writing consultant. She framed the consultant’s participation at North Cumberland as a pilot program. “Let’s give it a try” was her refrain. 

North Cumberland’s sixth-grade ELA teachers kept an open mind, so it was only fair that Coughlin showed up to work and learn alongside them. She went to all of the ELA professional development sessions and looked over student papers with the teacher and the consultant. 

“It wasn’t teachers being told what to do, but all of us trying to figure out whether or not this is what we would like to do,” Coughlin said. “I wasn’t considered just the administrator overseeing. I was a colleague learning.” At the end of the year, the academic data showed significant growth. “There’s the hook,” Coughlin said. The consultant’s practices were expanded to seventh- and eighth-grade ELA classes.

Coughlin applied a similar targeted model to her math classes, whose proficiency scores were also hovering around 40 percent. After consulting with staff, Coughlin decided to make a subtle but notable change: Each math classroom would have a designated table for small group support amid the ongoing core instruction.

Some teachers were “apprehensive” about the plan, Coughlin remembered, because they preferred sticking to traditional, whole group instruction. Coughlin spoke with those teachers to assuage their concerns. Once again, as she asked for buy-in, she showed up. She made regular classroom visits—not to spy or hover, but to help. As a former math teacher, she personally participated in implementing the small group supports. Student proficiency scores jumped; about 67 percent of North Cumberland’s students are now proficient. There, again, is the hook.

Accountability Through Transparency

As North Cumberland’s teachers embraced proficiency standards, Coughlin thought about how to roll out a schoolwide, data-driven initiative—something that staff would be comfortable with and excited about. To track students’ grades and progress, she decided to create a spreadsheet viewable and editable by the whole staff. Coughlin aimed to collect student data from the end of fifth grade (so teachers knew what to expect from incoming classes) through the end of eighth grade.

There was some initial pushback to the initiative, which was understandable. After all, Coughlin was essentially asking teachers to disclose to their peers how their classes were going at all times. Coughlin appealed to a sense of teamwork and transparency. “I said, ‘Listen, guys, if there’s something that’s not working, we have a lot of experts in this building and we can figure it out together.’” Her pitch, and call for collaboration, were effective. The spreadsheet is still very much in use. Every teacher has access to academic data about every North Cumberland student. The spreadsheet is color-coded, so it’s easy to navigate and to see who’s growing and who’s struggling.

“Teachers put their own data in the spreadsheet, and they don’t take it personally,” Coughlin said. “The amazing thing is at any time during the day, you can see the teachers on that spreadsheet. Teachers really embrace the spreadsheet.”

Embolden and Trust Your Staff

Targeted teaching practices and an open-book grading policy only work if educators feel that they’re meaningful contributors. Trust is key—not just teachers trusting Coughlin, but vice versa, too. “I really treat the teachers here like experts in their field,” Coughlin said. 

North Cumberland’s interview committee always consists of teachers and other staffers who’d work on the same team as potential hires. Coughlin said it’s critical for staffers to have a real voice in hiring decisions. She’s had teachers depart over the years, same as at any other school, but noted that North Cumberland has a high teacher retention rate, which she attributes to the “importance we place on hiring, setting expectations for job performance, developing teacher leaders, and valuing teacher expertise.”

Coughlin and her staff share a simple, straightforward hiring strategy: “We absolutely look for people who align with our goals and high standards,” she said of moving students to proficiency and beyond. “It can’t be, ‘Good job, good effort.’ There’s got to be evidence that students are growing.”

To ensure a cohesive educational outlook, Coughlin encourages her staff to plan their thrice-yearly professional development agendas. In tandem with the assistant superintendent, who works with a group of coordinators and coaches, North Cumberland’s teachers utilize professional development time to work through curriculum, develop and revise assessments and rubrics, and undertake data analysis.

North Cumberland teachers also have professional learning community (PLC) meetings roughly every other day. Coughlin doesn’t want to overburden her staff or cause burnout, so she’s built PLCs into classroom schedules. Wednesdays are early-release days to make time for PLC meetings and other teacher tasks. Teachers are given full days to score writing assessments, so they aren’t grading during personal time. Coughlin separately cited a “family-first philosophy,” where teachers are given the freedom to come in late or leave early when their personal lives require attention. And special education teachers are given time away from students to catch up on grading and paperwork. “We stay tuned in to our staff needs and try to offer proactive assistance and support,” Coughlin said of herself and the school’s assistant superintendent.

As Coughlin describes it, the teachers are now in charge at North Cumberland. At this point, she views her leadership role as something of a facilitator. She keeps the rest of the staff motivated, satisfied, and, above all, accountable to the shared vision they’ve created as colleagues.

“If teachers need to get together, we provide them the time to get together,” Coughlin said. “They take the lead in making decisions in the best interest of student learning. And it’s my responsibility to make sure that it’s happening schoolwide.”