PRIME Leadership

Becoming A PRIME Leader - A Commitment to our Future

When we move on, people do not remember us for what we do for ourselves. They remember us for what we do for them. They are the inheritors of our work. One of the great joys and grave responsibilities of leaders is making sure that those in their care live lives not only of success, but also of significance.
Kouzes and Posner in A Leader's Legacy, 2006

NCSM members are unique. We are a community of mathematics education leaders preK-16, yet we are widely defined in those leadership roles. From department chairperson to district coordinator K-8, mathematics coach to college or university supervisor and teacher, from province, county, or district curriculum and assessment leader to third grade team leader and from assistant principal to department technology leader-NCSM members wear a wide variety of hats, and I have only named a few.

Yet, we are brought together by the social glue of our common core values for the improvement of mathematics education. Interestingly, I doubt whether more than just a few members of the NCSM leadership community could provide immediate reference to Article II of the 1968 NCSM Constitution. (I know I could not-I had to look it up!) The title of Article II is Purpose. Article II is the anchor for our modern day (2007) core vision described by our revised Mission and Vision statements. In case you don't recall, the four core vision points described in our 2007 revision are built upon our organizational acronym:

N: Network to ensure the growth of mathematics education leaders.

C: Communicate best practices to all stakeholders.

S: Support improved student achievement.

M: Motivate a life-long commitment to equity.

These four aspects of our vision help us to lead within our educational institutions by creating a sense of history, purpose, and pride among all of the adults and students around mathematics issues that really matter. Yet, how do we move the words of the NCSM vision into a commitment toward adult core values and actions that reflect this better future?

When you are clear about your vision, you have to decide how you will behave and what you will hold dear as you try to achieve your vision. For the words of our NCSM vision statement to come alive as part of our local school leadership culture, NCSM is providing guidance to its members by asking them to become PRIME leaders.

What is a PRIME Leader? PRIME is the acronym for "Principles and Indicators for Mathematics Education Leaders." The PRIME Leadership Framework will be released and described in full detail at the NCSM 40th annual conference in Salt Lake City, April 7-9, 2008 and we hope you will join us for this new chapter in the story (and history) of NCSM's culture, mission, and purpose for serving mathematics education leaders.

A research-affirmed leadership framework, PRIME describes actions for mathematics education leaders across all settings preK-12, in all of their complexity. The framework describes four specific domains of leadership focus and responsibility viewed through the lens of three essential themes.

Theme 1: Success for every student, teacher, and leader
Theme 2: Research-affirmed teacher and leader actions
Theme 3: Teacher collaboration and professional learning

Four primary domains or principles of leadership responsibility anchor an improved future for mathematics education:

Leadership Principle 1 - Equity: ensuring high quality mathematics learning for every student.
Leadership Principle 2 - Teaching and Learning: ensuring high expectations and access to meaningful mathematics every day.
Leadership Principle 3 - Curriculum: ensuring meaningful and relevant mathematics in every lesson.
Leadership Principle 4 - Assessment: ensuring high levels of learning for every student.

The four PRIME Leadership Framework Principles, each with three specific indicators for leadership actions, represent the conditions that need to exist in our schools if every student is to experience improved achievement in mathematics.

The trending toward these conditions will be dependent upon the expert knowledge development and learning of our own members-those in the arena of mathematics education leadership-as well as non-members in the leadership arena.

Given the complexity of leadership, the framework provides a pathway for novice leaders and can guide the focus for collaborative leadership efforts between the novice and experienced leader as professionals. The framework answers these questions:

What does an effective mathematics education leader need to know?

What does an accomplished leader do?

The NCSM Board believes the PRIME Leadership Framework provides the context and structure for leadership discussions that will result in improved teacher and student learning, and serve the core vision and values of our leadership organization.

Ultimately, PRIME leaders will enable, discover, and fulfill their own leadership potential. School mathematics programs will only get better when leaders open themselves and other teachers to new ideas, risk imaginatively, and enthusiastically inspire those they lead with a desire to learn and grow together. It is the PRIME leader who will close the "knowing-doing" equity gap between the teacher knowledge to enhance student achievement and the requisite actions consistent with that knowledge.

The PRIME leader will help those they lead "to lead lives of significance" and the PRIME Leadership Framework provides the pathway for this legacy. We hope you will join us in Salt Lake City for the launch of PRIME.

You are also welcome to preview the PRIME Leadership Framework . I would love to hear from you and know your reactions. Please do not hesitate to email me at .

Timothy D. Kanold, NCSM President