Principal Leadership

Dr. Sukari Stredit-Thomas is a member of Cohort II of the RPLA and serves as principal intern at Quest High School in Humble ISD.   Having previously served as teacher, department chair, dean of instruction and instructional coordinator for grades PK-12, Dr. Stredit-Thomas was well prepared to successfully meet the challenges presented by the RPLA.  

In her role at Quest High School, Dr. Stredit-Thomas has established powerful relationships with students, parents and staff.  As one student recently stated, "Dr. T is one of us!"  She approaches each new experience, assignment and responsibility with enthusiasm and a positive attitude that is forward-thinking and solutions-oriented.  Additionally, responding to difficult issues and situations with sensitivity and professionalism have earned Sukari a deep level of respect.

Dr. Michon Benson is a member of the inaugural cohort of Houston A+ Challenge’s Regional Principal Leadership Academy (RPLA).  After completing her internship with middle school principal Earnest Washington, Jr. at Charles R. Drew Academy in Aldine ISD, Benson decided to remain at Drew to complete the first year of her residency. Taking what might be perceived as an unconventional route to the principalship, she has assumed the role of Response to Intervention (RtI) Team Leader – a role that is honing her craft and developing her repertoire as an instructional leader. "I work with the administrative team to build human capital in every member of the learning community," Benson says.

In June 2009, Christopher Wood entered the Houston A+ Regional Principal Leadership Academy (RPLA) motivated to develop the prerequisite skills necessary to effectively lead an urban secondary school. His background was extremely impressive. Chris had served with distinction in a variety of leadership and instructional roles, including East Region Reading Trainer, and Assistant Principal at Edison Middle and Chavez High Schools. He began the 2009-10 school year as the Principal Intern at Westside High School in Houston ISD, under the tutelage of his mentor principal, Paul Castro. 

During his first semester at Westside, Chris became immersed in the culture and structures of this large, comprehensive, high-performing secondary school that had achieved a TEA Recognized Rating.  He distinguished himself as a dynamic and talented education leader.  His reflective leadership style has supported his quest to develop the intellectual capital and expertise to help transform schools. Chris is an outstanding member of Cohort II who constantly engages his peers with probing conversations around transformational instructional leadership and academic excellence.

When Karl Koehler applied to the Houston A+ Regional Principal Leadership Academy (RPLA) in 2009, he knew that, if he were accepted, he would engage in a six-week summer intensive learning experience with his cohort that would expose him to best practices in leadership. He also knew he would complete a year-long residency with a mentor principal and undertake an action research project. What Karl did not know is that he would become the principal of Atascocita Middle School (AMS) in the Humble Independent School District in January 2010.

YES Public Schools are a partner district with Houston A+ Challenge. This year, three Regional Principal Leadership Academy (RPLA) interns have been gaining valuable urban leadership experiences on the YES campuses.

At YES Southeast, Destiny Evans, Dean of Instruction and A+ Intern, has been putting theory into practice using the work of Elizabeth A. City, Richard F. Elmore, Sarah E. Fiarman, and Leer Teitel detailed in Instructional Rounds in Education: a Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning.

Ms. Evans, in conjunction with her leadership team, has adjusted the procedures to meet the needs of the campus. Selecting teacher-leaders as facilitators, the groups fall into six categories: high school language arts; high school mathematics; middle school language arts; middle school mathematics; social studies (both levels); and electives.  At first, the facilitators met to practice the protocols themselves, as they built trust and cohesiveness as a group. As the practice began in the classrooms, teachers received feedback on instructional methodology and the administration was able to identify trends in the classrooms, which provide the basis for discussion and improvement. The campus is developing a new level of collegiality as a result of this work.

Houston ISD are looking for individuals to fill the following two positions. Follow the instructions indicated to apply for each respective position.

"Everybody says principals make a difference, but there's really been no systematic effort to try to estimate the extent to which they make a difference, how they make a difference, and how they're distributed across schools," says Jane Hannaway, head of the Urban Institute's National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data in Education Research (CALDER), which is publishing a new collection of working papers on the subject. Read summaries of the studies in Ed Week.

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