School Leadership Quotes

If we're going to see sustainable results from all the other investments we're making in education, we need to build leadership capacity in each and every country.

I was on the board at my children's school in Phoenix: I was Mr. Daddy Daycare.

I was the sports captain in school. I've done everything - from javelin to discus to basketball to judo.

We have to have a school board that's actually gonna be able to function and that has true parent representatives on it.

I've had a lot of people tell me they wish I were their principal.

You can have great teachers, but if you don't have a good principal, you won't have a good school.

Successful state schools work because charismatic heads or teachers are terrific bluffers, giving the impression that they are to be feared while knowing in their hearts that they have no real power.

I was class president, on the cheerleading squad, in a competitive show choir, and in, like, six different clubs.

By far the most important factor in the success or failure of any school, far more important than tests or standards or business-model methods of accountability, is simply attracting the best-educated, most exciting young people into urban schools and keeping them there.

My father was also a principal of a school and mother was a curriculum advisor. Both were educators.

I was the head girl in school and also a national level basketball player.

She's called the secretary, but as far as I can tell she basically runs the school.

Being superintendent or the superintendent's chief of staff is important work, but there's no chance it's as difficult as being a teacher, and I hesitate to say that it's as important.

My sister, Kelly, was really bright and academic. She was head girl of the school and at the top of her year. Because we were so different, we were never in competition. You can't be when you're almost running two different races.

To be a head boy, you have to be very clever, you have to be a scholar, and I was never a scholar in any shape or form.

What we're doing now is we're saying that individual schools can spend the money on their own priorities, so that head teachers can decide what's truly important, because the big shift in approach on education that we're taking - which is different from what happened before - is that we trust teachers and we trust heads.

My elementary education was at Christ Church infant school and St. Stephen's junior school. At St. Stephen's, I encountered my first real mentor, the headmaster Mr. Broakes. He must have spotted something unusual in me, for he spent lots of time encouraging my interest in mathematics.

I've heard a number of our alumni - people who are running schools and school systems - think a lot about different models for the teaching profession.

In every case where I've seen a transformational school, there's a principal who really has the foundational experience of having taught successfully.

I love working with teachers and principals; they are my heroes. They are very dedicated to children, and it's very impactful.

Teacher compensation isn't the only factor in cultivating great teaching. Other important priorities include changing how we measure student performance, providing more flexibility to teacher-preparation programs, and improving how we train and support principals.

I would rather have 1000 school board members than one president and no school board members.

My mother was the president of the PTA at every school I attended.

I've always believed that what's best for our kids is what's best for our state. That's why I've dedicated my life to public service, working as an educator, a school administrator, a state superintendent, and now as a candidate for governor.

The big shift in approach on education that we are taking - which is different from what happened before - is that we trust teachers and we trust heads.