Principal For a Day (PFAD)

The City of Boston is rich with foundations, organizations, businesses, and public agencies that care about the fate of its students, but the leaders of those organizations rarely get to see the inner workings of Boston’s schools. Principal for a Day generates interest in and support for the city’s schools by pairing corporate and community members with school leaders for a day. Participants get a firsthand look at the school improvement investments the district has made and the challenges that remain.

How it works

This annual event, co-sponsored by the Boston Plan for Excellence and the Boston Public Schools and underwritten by Bank of America, arranges for Boston-area leaders to spend a morning shadowing a principal in a school. Since the first event in 2003, more than 275 city leaders have been a “PFAD.”

“What struck me most was how much better the schools are than their present public image would suggest.”

Why it matters

Principal for a Day is a powerful public relations vehicle for the district, making the hard work of school improvement more visible. Community members rarely hear positive stories about schools in the media, and they almost never have opportunities to appreciate the challenging, complex work of Boston’s school leaders. PFAD provides influential community members with a richer view of what really goes on in schools, a view which they then carry back into the community. PFAD also forges relationships between school and community leaders, laying the basis for new partnerships that can ultimately support and strengthen school improvement efforts.