Today technology plays a pivotal role in all levels of education. However, its use is not limited to the process of education itself but extends to the administrative function of an educational facility. School administrative activity relating to the stakeholders of education and other aspects of a learning institution’s functioning primarily relies on modern technology and requires school administrators to be “tech-savvy.” Various technical skills are required of school administrators to be able to engage stakeholders in the process of education and manage digitally stored information about stakeholders and the educational programs.
Many skills are needed to manage an educational facility and actively engage learners. Thus, Picciano (2011) states that four skills are needed to promote instructional improvement in school. They include the ability to manage information and use available data to determine improvement areas and the ability to monitor curriculum and build a professional community of stakeholders (Picciano, 2011). These skills are directly related to principals being tech-savvy as most data about learners, teaching staff, and curriculum is stored digitally. Technical skills are necessary to conduct analyses of student performance and set goals for the next academic year. For example, test results can be evaluated using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software that divides students into performance levels and shows deviation areas where student scores are most likely to fall (Picciano, 2011). Thus, if principals want to modify the schedule to address failing test scores in a specific topic in a class or subject, they need to be sufficiently proficient to run the analysis and adjust the digital schedule.
Furthermore, the skills mentioned above can promote stakeholder engagement in educational settings. Technical analysis of available data can elucidate what groups of learners do not meet the set performance standards and need additional assistance. For example, a digitally conducted analysis can show that girls in the second grade perform better than boys in specific subjects. Having access to such information can help principals determine causes of low learner engagement and allocate resources to facilitate higher stakeholder participation. In summary, principals today should be tech-savvy and skilled in a variety of software programs in order to serve the stakeholders more efficiently and work with a large amount of digitally stored data.
Reference
Picciano, A. G. (2011). Educational leadership and planning for technology (5th ed.). Prentice Hall.