School principals face increasing pressures to improve student achievement, recruit and retain good teachers, and ensure a positive and safe learning environment. To help school leaders meet these challenges, the Millsaps Principals’ Summer Institute provides them with opportunities to interact with colleagues and to meet national education experts.

“Principals play a vital role in the effectiveness of a school and how students learn and grow,” says Dr. Beth Canizaro, a former principal who has directed the Institute since it began in 1993. “But they often feel overwhelmed. They deserve as much support as possible for the tremendous responsibility they have.”

Forty-seven principals and assistant principals from communities throughout Mississippi and beyond participated in this year’s Institute, held June 13-18.

During the week-long program, principals from different backgrounds reflected upon the role of principals, addressed common concerns, and shared new ideas. Before leaving, each principal created a vision for his or her school to use as a jumping-off point for making significant changes.

“To me the greatest asset of the Institute is that it did not try to instruct us in ‘this is what you should do,’ but rather gave us lots of valuable information and led us to think for ourselves, develop our own focus and set our own goals,” says Peggy Williams from Oak Grove Elementary School in Lamar County. “I still feel that it is one of the best weeks I’ve ever spent learning and growing.”

Margrit Wallace, Assistant Principal of Smith Elementary School in Jackson, agrees, “It has been a life-changing experience that will be a benchmark in my professional career.”

Indeed, the true benefit of the Institute is its lasting impact on principals and their schools. In a recent survey, Canizaro discovered that a year and a half after the Institute, 80 percent of the participants still keep in contact with colleagues they met.

“After six years I am convinced that the Millsaps Summer Institute is not merely informative, it is transformative for all of us,” says Dr. Roland Barth, founder of the Harvard Principals’ Center and author of Improving Schools from Within. Barth has given presentations at the Institute every year since it began. This year he was joined by Kent Peterson, author of Shaping School Culture: Heart of Leadership, and Jeanne Middleton, founder of the Millsaps Principals’ Institute.

Since 1993, approximately 200 principals have attended the Millsaps Principals’ Institute.

Millsaps Magazine  |  Millsaps | Last Edited August 12, 1999