Why are so many schools failing the children of our country? Why do they fall short of meeting their students’ most basic educational needs? In the United States, we spend more on education than any other nation in the world — and yet, despite that spending, our schools still do not meet our students’ needs.

You cannot pick up a newspaper today without reading another article about why our educational system is failing. Testing, Common Core, standards, teacher evaluations, home and school environments, parenting, teacher shortages, poverty, crime — these are just some of the explanations offered for that failure. Most of the blame is placed on inadequacies in how the educational process is conducted.

When we read these accounts of failing schools, it is not unreasonable to point to individual schools, teachers, parents, funding inequalities, or testing that steals precious time away from actual learning. There is some truth in all of it. But with all the millions of dollars spent on our schools, that money is not well spent until we recognize one central fact: the teacher is the single most important school-related factor in a child’s success.

And once you truly grasp how important the teacher is, the path forward becomes clear. You must create an environment in which teachers can prepare their students to succeed — a climate of respect and discipline, where good teaching is possible, and good teachers can flourish. Everything depends on it.

This is the thread that ties this entire website together: the importance of creating a strong school culture. A culture can only survive where there is discipline and where routines and rituals create order in the school environment. Order is not the enemy of learning — it is the condition that makes learning possible. Within that order, relationships grow, trust deepens, and children begin to feel known.

By reading “What Successful Principals Do,” you will come to understand how to create a school setting that produces positive outcomes and success for all children — not just the fortunate few, but every student in the building. As you explore the ideas presented throughout this site, think about how they might be woven into the fabric of your own school to improve the achievement of all your students. That is the work. And it is work worth doing.

For more on what successful principals do to turn schools around, explore our full collection of Hot Topics in Education articles.