Moving in an Excellent Direction: A South Carolina Principal's Story

In early August 2024, Principal Debra Norman gifted each of her staff members a peculiar little trinket: a compass.

“When you orient yourself with a compass for the first time, you turn North,” Norman smiled. “That’s the name of our school, and our town, and this year’s theme is ‘Moving in the Right Direction.’”

In her now-third year of leading North Middle/High of Orangeburg County School District in North, South Carolina, Norman has already spearheaded significant success, a shift supported by NIET’s high-quality instructional practices and leadership structures. Particularly for the high school, Norman led efforts to improve the school from an Unsatisfactory state score to an Excellent in only two years as principal - an outstanding achievement.

“I wanted the best for these schools, both middle school and high school, but it started with me. I learned how to make sure my children were doing everything that they needed to do to show that North can be a wonderful school,” Norman said. “I knew that the school was wonderful. Students knew. But now the community outside of our local community, everyone will know, hey, what in the world are they doing down there at North? But it had to be the leader who needed to start this movement.”

The tools in Norman’s metaphorical leadership box have been sharpened and honed over generations of students in North - from teaching students and then years later leading them when they became teachers at the school, supporting generations of families, and keeping data and culture at the core of her work across her community. They are principles and practices that Orangeburg County School District and NIET have shared and invested in within their partnership to support quality education across the district’s schools, including North.

Students As A Variable - Not A Root

When Norman first arrived to lead North Middle/High, the prognosis was bleak. North Middle was listed as below average on its state report card, and North High was listed as unsatisfactory. There was much work to do, but Norman knew her priority immediately: to become the lead learner to help her teachers and students reach new heights.

At NIET, we know that lead learning has a place on every rung of the ladder in the educational profession - and that includes principals. A principal who leads the learning of everything from instructional practices to new strategies and curriculum shifts actively demonstrates a commitment to educational growth and models their vision for their school to their staff. NIET sees that when principals seek to understand teachers’ experiences, students’ needs, and the greater benefit of collaborative learning environments, it can foster a positive and successful setting for both teachers and students. Building a deep understanding of instructional approaches and practices alongside teachers is demanding, but rewarding and can provide incredible outcomes - which is exactly what Norman did with North.

Since Norman’s prior leadership experience was in the elementary school in the community, she had to absorb new knowledge about leading a high school as well as college and career readiness. At the core, she needed to get a pulse on both schools’ processes, instructional practices, and culture. By her second year, deeper data-based work began.

It's a characteristic of great principals to help their teachers identify high-quality instructional strategies based on data from student assessments and work. Where are students thriving, and where could they use more support? Helping teachers to read and interpret data is critical in painting the real-time picture - and the future vision - of success in the classroom. Norman, however, takes it one step further.

She takes the data directly to the students.

“Last year, I met with students who were taking our end-of-course assessments and I shared the data with them,” Norman said. “They asked, why are you doing this? And I explained that they’re the ones who are taking the test. Your data says we're a good school, or if we have work to do. So if you know what the data says and where we currently are, you can help us get to where we need to be. They said, ‘Wow, no one ever shared that with us before! We thought we were just taking the test just to take the test.’”

Norman shared her excitement in being able to show her students the recently released report card, which came out the week after her interview for this profile with NIET.

“It helps that they can see, yes, we're making strides here at North Middle High School,” she said. “However, it is incumbent upon the students to know it and to be able to verbalize it. Because it does depend on them, and they depend on us to help them reach these excellent outcomes. So data-based decision-making has been powerful for us to improve instruction.”

NIET supports districts like Orangeburg County School District in making the most of data-based decision-making, which is a core component of the instruction and coaching with partners nationwide. In 25 years of working with schools and districts, studies and results show valuable opportunities to analyze data at every stage of the learning process in the classrooms. Teachers can identify learning gaps and new knowledge needs to be addressed at the beginning of a school year and use those insights to inform lessons to support students’ unique needs. Throughout instruction, teachers then collect data through assessments to check progress and make real-time adjustments across subjects to support achievement and align with school-wide goals.

By infusing students and bringing them along in the process, Norman applies this valuable NIET practice to the deepest part of her school - and students reap the benefits.

Norman’s approach, which is at the core of NIET values and initiatives, is echoed across Orangeburg County School District. Its Superintendent Shawn Foster told NIET in a panel that the culture within the district’s schools makes the biggest difference.

“The one thing that I found to be most successful and the one thing that we're always trying to do is to personalize the school district,” Foster said. “We have a lot of data and a lot of research that is extremely valuable, but I believe the one most effective approach is using that data alongside our positive culture, that myself and our leaders can walk down the hallway and walk into any teacher's classroom and know their name.”

Creating a Culture to Last Lifetimes

One aspect of all the schools Norman has led is the focus on a positive and uplifting culture, no matter how difficult the challenges staff may face. For Norman, fostering a positive culture in her school goes beyond the walls - it translates to her positive relationship with the community.

“I previously served this community about 30 years ago as an assistant principal at our elementary school. And the students that I had at that time are now the parents of the children that I serve now,” Norman explained. “When I first went back to that community, they were like, Ms. Norman, is that you? Are you still working?” she laughed. “It's still me. So when you treat everyone kindly and with love and respect, you'll get the results that you're looking for. So that's the type of environment that we cultivate at North Middle High School.”

Norman and her team are intentional about opening their arms, hearts, and doors to their community so that parents, students, and staff feel welcomed in the school. It’s a reflection of the wider focus on culture across Orangeburg County School District.

Culture looks different on any given day, too - it could be a small compass to kick off the deep and critical message for the year, it could be a hallway hug to a student who is having an off day, it could be a sit-down conversation with a classroom about state test scores, or supporting a teacher who needs more guidance on how to effectively implement instructional practices in a lesson. Each of these intentional actions reflects the NIET values that Orangeburg and North Middle/High embody - from data-based decision-making, culture building, being the lead learner, and supporting the structure of Master and Mentor Teachers. The state report card shows the excellence of North Middle High, but it's visible every day.

Norman credits the success of North High’s Excellent rating - and North Middle’s jump to an Average rating - during her time as principal to the intentional support she provided to her staff.

“I need to be in the trenches with our staff. Because if I have high expectations for them, I have to have high expectations for myself. It's not principal here, teacher here, classified staff here, professional staff here. It's everybody working together,” Norman said. “I cannot lead from my office. I cannot. You rarely find me in my office because I'm out in classrooms. If one day I may have to serve a meal in the cafeteria, I can do that as well. So just to not be it's them and me, it's us.”

Now, like the compasses Principal Norman gave to her staff, the school continues to find a direction forward - always North.