(Re)imagining Educational Leadership in Haiti: Registry of Principals (Pt 1 #1 elaborated))

1. Establish a registry of school principals in Haiti. 

All school principals would be encouraged to join the professional body, no matter what their current qualifications. This would help determine how many principals are in existence, a baseline of their qualifications and experiences, and contact information.

Although some of this information is collected by the Ministry of Education (for those schools which register with the Ministry), much of the information is dated, inaccurate and/or incomplete. As well, the registry with the Ministry focuses on schools and not on principals. A registry of principals would provide a baseline data set which could be utilized for contacting principals regarding training opportunities and for distributing newsletters (whether in paper or electronic form). It would also help provide an understanding of the diverse backgrounds and contexts of school principals i.e. in order to know where we need to go, we need to know where we currently are.

Given the number and wide array of schools in Haiti, a pilot project for developing this principals' organization could commence within one department (there are ten) of Haiti. The registry would need to involve the Ministry of Education and university partners to develop the registry tool and to collect the information. This registry could be developed concurrently with other aspects of the principals' organization.