The Principal’s Office | The Ohio State University

Toolbox archives

The Toolboxcontains a collection of articles with practical advice for school and classroom management.

Assessment Data + Teacher-Student Partnerships = Springfield Success: A look at student assessment testing, and how a third-quarter reading assessment example is administered and evaluated
August! Make a New Year’s Resolution You’ll Want to Keep: Fundamental concepts of the role of the principal and how to incorporate them into a new year and a fresh start
Beginning a Successful School Partnership with a College/University: A Five-Step Guide for Teachers and Principals: Outlines a systematic process for beginning creating successful partnerships between schools and universities.
Between Workshops: Assess and Reflect for Focused Participation: A couple of tools to help focus thoughts about educational development and goals before a workshop
Checklist: Observable Indicators of an Effective School: A list of data sources used for evaluating the student achievement of a school (from Columbus City Schools), as well as a categorized list of essential practices of school principals
Closing Out the School Year: You Can Manage It: Management tips to help prepare for a smooth end to the school year for instructional staff, students, and parents
Cyberbullying Resources for School Administrators: Internet sources of information and advice, including materials for parents and teachers
Developing an Off-Campus Suspension Program: Explains the advantages of an off-campus alternative to a suspension program.
Dispute Resolution and Conflict Management: School Conflict Management and the Truancy Prevention through Mediation programs for Ohio schools.
End-of-Year Reports: Guidelines for You and Your Staff: A checklist to help organize teacher reports and make it clear what administrative official gets what information
Evaluating Principals: Who’s in Charge?: Ways that principals can take charge of their own professional development and improvement
Funding and Resources for Service-Learning: Websites and other related resources.
Get a Handle on Lesson Plans: Ideas for keeping on top of lesson plan reviews, and what to look for in your evaluations
Getting Teachers Online: Discusses a resource for coursework available online for students and some of the common obstacles for educators in using this resource
Got Lesson Plans?: Emphasizes the importance of reading lesson plans and offers ideas for how to keep on top of them
Instructional Leadership vs. School Management: A look at how to juggle the two very different roles of a principal; provides a resource for further reading
Job Performance Part 1: How to Be Your Own Best Friend: Sample goals and activities in four main areas of principal job responsibilities
Job Performance Part 2: Goals and Activities: Continuation of part 1, with four additional areas of responsibility
Know the Score on State Proficiency Tests: Discusses the new format for the ninth-grade graduation exams; how to understand the new system and prepare your school for the change
Lead by Walking Around: Description of a resource manual to raise literacy achievement for students
Lesson Plan Checklist for Differentiation: A checklist devised for teachers to help plan for differentiated instruction; this can also be used to evaluate weekly lesson plans
Literacy Classroom Observation: Knowing What to Look for: A “walkthrough” guide for evaluating the quality of a literacy classroom as well as its effectiveness
“Literacy Lift” for South-Western Teachers: A monthly newsletter from the Curriculum Coordinator for Holt Schools offers helpful ideas for literacy education
Observing a Balanced Literacy Classroom: Provides a checklist for principals observing a classroom setup for literacy education, with ideas of what to look for and evaluate
Research-Based Instructional Strategies: A detailed look at nine strategies for improving student achievement
Rubric for Fluency in Reading K-3: System used by Mansfield schools to target specific elements of fluency for grades K-3
Rules for Making Rules: Five basic guidelines for creating effective and enforceable rules for your school
Running Records for Early Literacy: A tool used by Springfield City Schools to help make decisions in appropriate grouping and strategies for literacy education
School Quality—Show Me the Money: A look at the current educational system and why money isn’t the answer to every problem, as well as how differentiated instruction fits in
Schools, Students, and High-Tech: Resources for School Administrators: As the technology tools get more sophisticated, the role of schools (and principals) gets trickier. What kids are doing with high-tech tools and how some schools are responding.
Show Your Data: Tips on how to present school data in a manner that is both informative and interesting
Start with Data: Highlights various resources for getting data about school performance and improvement
STEM Programs Available to Ohio Schools: Describes some K-12 programs in science, math, engineering, and technology that Ohio State offers
Teacher Evaluation: Some Improvement Needed: Reviews the current process of evaluating educators, the time it takes, and some of the problems and pitfalls; links to a book that discusses way to improve the evaluation process
Text-Based Discussion: A detailed workshop activity that focuses on group-based discussion of professional literature
Virtual Learning Resources for School Administrators: A collection of web resources for managing the use of online learning in schools.
What Students Know and Don’t Know: Can Your Teachers Tell the Difference?: Using rubric-based assessment to gauge the skills of students

See the Subject Index to find articles organized by subject, or use the Search box on the right.

An annotated list with brief descriptions of the Archives contents is available (Word document).