Top Challenges School Administrators Face
- Charter Schools
- The Rise in Student Enrollments
- Solutions for Funding Issues
- Retaining and Training Staff
- Access to Technology
School administrators face unique challenges on a daily basis as they oversee schools and districts to ensure everything within each school is functioning smoothly. From coordinating the curricula that are to be used at every grade level to setting budgets, administrators’ duties can be challenging but very fulfilling.
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Just like curriculum requirements and classroom settings, the role of the administrator has changed over time. With a student body of children and teens who have easy access to media, along with new Federal and state policies that administrators must plan around, today’s issues are more problematic than ever. Here are five of the top issues that modern administrators face at every level.
1. Charter Schools
Charter schools starting popping up about 10 years ago when a reform movement was passed. Charter schools must still meet the state’s academic standards but they are able to deliver education in more innovative ways. This poses a challenge for administrators who want to create the right opportunities for students.
Administrators at the district-level must identify which student body is the best fit for charter schools to ensure they have the best likelihood to succeed. School boards are best off monitoring and supporting charter schools to ensure that they can agree on common goals and that the right students are applying for these non-traditional programs.
2. The Rise in Student Enrollments
According to the US Department of Education, enrollment has risen each and every year in public elementary schools and secondary schools since 1984. With almost 40 million adolescents enrolled, it creates accommodation issues that administrators must deal with. Facilities require improvements and there’s a larger need for classroom space.
In addition to the increased number of students, there are reforms that mandate smaller class size. This creates a need for more educators who must accept lower salaries because of shrinking school budgets. Balancing all of this can be a huge challenge at all levels. This is why many districts have focused on hiring inexperienced educators looking to add to their resume.
3. Solutions for Funding Issues
One major difference between a public K-12 school and a private one is that public schools must comply with governmental regulations to receive government funding. Administrators in public settings have to be very resourceful when it comes to creating budgets that will fund facility improvements and more.
While some of these issues have been resolved in states like California, funding is a challenge for administrators across the country. In an effort to improve learning environments, some schools must focus on fundraising and grassroots campaigns to replace the funding that has been cut from state and federal budgets.
4. Retaining and Training Staff
Since student enrollments are an issue that might somewhat be addressed with the charter school boom, it is only fair to say that administrators will need to hire more educators. Hiring educators is not easy. It costs a school district money each and every time. This is why training and retention should be well thought out.
Once administrators hire a competent teacher, it is their job to make as much training available to the teacher as possible. This helps them become more comfortable in the classroom which will strengthen the chance that they will stay with the district for some time. When retention rates are high, budgeting can be reduced for recruiting and training.
5. Access to Technology
In 1999, just over 60 percent of schools had access to the Internet school-wide. With the new release of the special Internet rate for schools that was passed by the Universal Service Fund for Schools and Libraries, more than 90 percent of schools nationwide are now connected. While being connected to the internet isn’t such a problem, investing in laptops and software programs that give students access to lessons and resources can pose a challenge.
These are just a few of the many different issues that administrators must deal with regularly when they are fulfilling their role in a school district. Schools must be improved, budgets aren’t growing, and it is the school administrators who are going to have to be innovative thinkers to find ways around these huge challenges.
