Internship Scenario Response

How Principals and School Leaders Can Use Research
Principals and school leaders play critical roles in the learning environment given their responsibilities in creating a suitable learning environment for all learners. As they focus on creating such a learning environment, principals and school leaders influence classroom instruction and student learning. However, the role of principals and school leaders extends to other aspects of education including funding. They explore various sources of funding including both traditional and non-traditional sources. Research plays an important role in the effectiveness of principals and school leaders in exploring opportunities for funding sources. Principals and school leaders can utilize research to explore non-traditional sources of funding including grants, foundations, and community partnerships. Research provides insights on the available models of funding including non-traditional sources. Through such insights, principals and school leaders identify available non-traditional funding sources, funding models that fit their learning environments, and how to access these sources of funds.
As they seek school improvement, it is increasingly important for principals to utilize research, both scientific and action research. The significance of using research is demonstrated in its impact in improving professional practice, providing immediate and timely results on teaching practice, and providing alternative measures of viewing and approaching school improvement practices (Johnson, 2011). Therefore, research enables principals to take a proactive approach to overcoming challenges to school improvement by providing alternative ways to approach the issue. Principals can utilize alternative ways to identify the most suitable and proactive measure to achieve school improvement. In addition, research helps principals to take proactive approaches in school improvement by providing quality information for decision-making. Quality information support and justify decision-making in diverse school settings by providing the premise for data-driven decision-making. Such information support and justify decision-making by ensuring that professional practice is based on the identified students’ strengths and deficiencies (Mertler, 2014). In addition, quality information can support decision-making in diverse school settings by ensuring curriculum and instructional practices reflect the actual performance of students.
References
Johnson, C.S. (2011, October). School Administrators and the Importance of Utilizing Action Research. International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 1(14), 78-84.
Mertler, C.A. (2014, August). Introduction to Data-Driven Educational Decision Making. Retrieved December 7, 2020, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/sf114082/chapters/Introduction_to_Data-Driven_Educational_Decision_Making.aspx