Catalyst Principals - A Community of Practice
For Principals, By Principals: Real Problems, Shared Solutions
By Jenn Chen Fein
Being a public school principal is exciting and rewarding, but it can also be lonely and exhausting. Participation in a community of practice with other principals can move the needle from fatigue and despair to a sense of renewal and possibility. When I was a principal, I did not have that kind of community, and the job ground me down. Now, along with Bill Wehrli, a seasoned retired principal, I am helping to create the kind of organization that would have given me support and staying power. Together with five Boston‑area principals, at different phases of their careers, grade spans, and districts, we have co‑created a special community.
We call it Catalyst Principals. We offer a safe and confidential space to give and receive leadership support and coaching, the chance to dive into another school’s “problem of practice,” and the experience of hosting multiple principals at your own school—along with some of your school’s leaders—to investigate a problem of practice that can improve student outcomes and experiences.
Here’s how it works. Each principal commits to meeting once a month for at least two hours over the school year. In August, Bill and I met with the group to share about ourselves as people and as leaders, and to build enough trust that such a commitment would feel worthwhile. Across the year, each of the five principals hosts a site visit, which forms the core of our meetings. We also meet virtually a few times to reflect together. We are careful to keep the schedule manageable, knowing how burdened school leaders are.
As we prepare for a site visit, Bill and I meet with the host principal to hone their problem of practice, collaborate on an agenda, and determine who else from the school—staff, teachers, students—should be involved. Including others in the visit is intentional: it gives the host principal and their community a chance to work on something that matters to everyone, not just “the principal’s problem.”
Some sample problems of practice we have worked on this year include:
How can we effectively utilize our special education teachers and academic teachers to not only meet compliance for special education, but also to effectively deliver IEP services?
How do our diverse students experience belonging and community in our building?
How can we share a vision as adults about how our feedback to students is impacting their learning, especially for students just below grade level?
After each site visit, we meet again with the host principal to debrief and identify next steps, both short and long term. As one principal reflected, “This group gave me space to more clearly define a shared problem with school leaders, and take ownership for the next steps of celebrating what is going well already and focusing the efforts of school leaders on sharing the capacity for change with all staff and students.”
Through this group, I’ve seen how powerful it can be to bring the right people together around real problems of practice. Over time, that kind of collaboration can change not only specific practices, but the daily experiences of students and educators. I hope our Catalyst Principals have learned to lean on each other and on the leaders in their own schools, and to recognize their power to build environments where collaborative work is the norm.
The community we are building matters. Our work is already shaping the decisions school leaders make for the benefit and well‑being of students. Just as importantly, we are creating mutual accountability for our practices—very different from the top‑down accountability so many of us have experienced.
I am excited for our remaining site visits this year and hopeful that we can continue to grow this community. If you are a school principal in Massachusetts and are interested in learning more or joining our group next school year, reach out at fein.jennifer.e.c@gmail.com. We are expanding beyond Greater Boston as well.