What is Saphier's identity?
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Answer:
This piece is reprinted from The Marshall Memo, Kim Marshall’s weekly summary of current research and best practices in the field of education. Drawing on his experience as a teacher, principal, central office administrator, consultant, and writer, Kim Marshall lightens the load of busy educators by serving as their “designated reader.”
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The article: “Supervising Principals: How Central-Office Administrators Can Improve Teaching and Learning in the Classroom: The Missing Link in Scaling Up School Improvement” by Jon Saphier and Pia Durkin, November 21, 2011, on the Research for Better Teaching website,
http://rbteach.com/sites/default/files/supervising_and_coaching_principals_saphier.pdf
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In this Research for Better Teaching article, author/consultant Jon Saphier and Massachusetts superintendent Pia Durkin say a key missing link in school improvement is the effective supervision and evaluation of principals. Their theory of action: When principals are supervised well, they get better at improving classroom teaching, which leads directly to higher student achievement.
District administrators who have line authority over principals “may have been successful principals themselves,” say Saphier and Durkin, “but that does not mean they were great coaches of principals or able diagnosticians of another principal’s needs.” In addition, they often have far too many schools (as many as 35-40) to provide meaningful attention, and frazzled central administrators often spend their days responding to crises and other problems.