Barile shares teachable moments for educators in 'Leading from the Core'

Dr. John W. Barile, the dean of the School of Education at Central, published “Leading from the Core” this summer, a book based on his 2018 dissertation, “Principal Leadership Behavior Influence on Teacher Efficacy in a Context of External Accountability” published by ProQuest for Northeastern University.

Before Dr. Barile became dean of the School of Education here at Central, he served as a school superintendent for many years and, before that, as a school principal at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and as a teacher and coach.

“I was really interested in the subject of what are the things that our building principals do in terms of their leadership behavior that influence the culture of the school and how teachers feel about their work,” Barile says.

Barile re-published his dissertation as a book after he was named the School of Education dean to ensure that faculty and students are aware of the work and the values that are important to him. He retitled his project “Leading from the Core,” because he believes that the teachers and principals are the core figures on the front lines of public education with the students.

Barile states, “I wanted to make sure that if you’re going to lead, you’ve got to lead from that core. But the core is kind of your heart and soul. If you’re going to have strong relationships, it’s going to come from your heart and soul. That’s where the findings of communication, collaboration, and connection—with connection being the relationships—really were three important pieces; three legs to that stool.”

Beyond encouraging teachers to lead from the core, Barile’s book also aims to encourage more high schoolers to pursue a career in education.

“If high school kids are going to really get excited about school and maybe consider teaching as a career, they need to see their teachers actually enjoying being teachers and feel the camaraderie and a positive vibe in the school. And they need to see the school principal enjoying the school and their students, too.”

Watch a recent News 8 segment featuring an interview by Ann Nyberg with Dr. Barile online.

 - Emma Carmichael