| Strategy | What the guidance supports | Planning use |
|---|---|---|
| Taught, consistently applied expectations | Students are held accountable when undesirable behavior is corrected fairly. Teaching expectations as a group at the start of the semester is described as very helpful. | Schedule expectation lessons for the opening days of a term. During visits, check that correction is fair and the same from one student to the next. |
| Predictable routines | Students know what is coming next, so the teacher spends less time giving out instructions. | Treat constant repeated directions as a sign that a routine needs reteaching. |
| Room layout | Better visibility of all students makes it easier to monitor what they are doing. | Stand where the teacher stands and test the sight lines. |
| Behavior-specific praise | Praise can be well received and transformative when it names the behavior. | Coach teachers to say what the student did, not just “good job”. |
| Restorative circles | Regular check-ins build community in advance. Responsive circles follow a conflict or broken rule. | Use them alongside clear consequences, not in place of them. |
| Principal drop-ins | A principal or senior administrator can drop in to commend good behavior. | Build recognition visits into the schedule, not only corrective ones. |
These points draw on guidance from Breathe for Change and Positive Action.
Effective classroom management strategies start with clear, consistently applied expectations and routines students have been taught. They only pay off when a principal checks they are used daily and coaches the teacher when they slip.
Coaching this is one part of the answer to what does a school principal do across a building. The sections below cover why management matters, what strong practice looks like, and how a principal can observe and support it.
Why management shapes instructional time
The National Education Association calls classroom management “by far the most important aspect of a successful classroom” on its classroom management page. The same page names the core difficulty: managing the behavior, social-emotional and learning needs of 30 or more students at once. Every minute a teacher spends restoring order or repeating directions is a minute taken from teaching.
The supported link between routine and time is practical. A routine lets students know what is coming next, so the teacher spends less time giving out instructions, as Positive Action explains. For a principal, the implication is simple. Weak routines show up as lost time before they show up as discipline referrals, so watch how a lesson starts, moves and ends.
Task design also affects how settled a room feels. That topic is covered in Differentiated Instruction Strategies: Practical Methods to Reach Every Learner in 2026 – Principalspartnership, and it works best once expectations and routines are already in place.
Expectations, routines and room design
Teaching expectations rather than posting them
Breathe for Change advises holding students accountable by fairly correcting undesirable behavior, and says teaching expectations as a group at the start of the semester is very helpful. The same resource says the best way to show students how to behave is for the teacher to role-model it. A poster alone does not do this. The teacher has to show, practice and then enforce the expectation the same way each time.
Routines and quiet cues
Routines work best when the teacher can prompt them without stopping the lesson. Positive Action suggests non-verbal cues, such as hand gestures, to remind students what they should be doing. A principal who sees a teacher redirect a group with a gesture, rather than a raised voice, is seeing a routine that has been taught well.
Layout and visibility
Room arrangement is the least glamorous strategy and one of the easiest to check. A layout that gives the teacher better visibility of all students makes it easier to monitor what they are doing. If a corner of the room is hidden from the teacher’s usual position, suggest moving furniture before suggesting a new behavior system.
Praise, language and whole-class systems
Praise lands better when it names the behavior. Breathe for Change describes behavior-specific praise as well received and transformative for students. Positive Action adds that positive language is a social awareness skill that makes students feel respected. In practice, “thank you for waiting your turn” does more for the next lesson than a general compliment.
Many teachers add a whole-class system on top. One teacher on Mrs. Munch’s Munchkins uses a scoreboard where the class wins the day by earning at least one more smiley point than frowny points. She reports a typical day of around 6 smiley and 2 frowny points. Another teacher, writing on Creatively Teaching First, has a student flip over a reward card as the class shows positive behavior. These are one teacher’s descriptions, not tested results, so treat them as options rather than benchmarks.
A whole-class system suits a group that responds well to shared goals. It does not replace a plan for an individual student who needs more support, because these are strategies used for the class as a whole.
Relationships and restorative practices
Restorative practices rest on relationships, and Positive Action describes them in two modes. Proactive circles are community-building in which students practice regular check-ins. Responsive circles take place after a conflict or broken rule. The first builds the trust that makes the second possible.
Positive Action warns against mistaking this for a softer substitute for accountability. A circle that ends without a clear expectation restated, or without any consequence the teacher had already explained, teaches students that rules are negotiable. When you coach a teacher who is starting circles, ask what will still happen after the circle ends.
What a principal looks for when observing
Observation is most useful when the principal watches for a few specific things and then coaches one of them. These cues follow directly from the guidance above:
- Few repeated directions. If students move through transitions knowing what comes next, the routine is working. Constant re-explaining points to a routine that has not been taught well enough.
- Fair, consistent correction. Look for the same response to the same behavior, whichever student is involved.
- Quiet prompts. Gestures and other non-verbal cues that redirect students without breaking the lesson are a good sign.
- Sight lines. Check whether the teacher can see every student from where they teach.
- Specific praise and respectful language. Listen for praise that names the behavior and for wording that shows respect.
- Repair after conflict. If a conflict occurs, notice whether the response restores the relationship while keeping the expectation.
Choose one item per visit for feedback. A teacher who receives a single, concrete observation can act on it, whereas a long list of notes tends to be filed and forgotten.
How principals support teachers
Support begins with visibility. Positive Action suggests having the principal or a senior administrator drop in to commend a class’s good behavior. That makes the principal’s presence a source of recognition, which matters because observation visits can otherwise feel purely evaluative.
Professional learning is the second lever. The NEA offers 6 micro-credentials focused on classroom management. Its blended learning courses, which may be offered through a local or state association, include Classroom Expectations and Routines and Positive Response to Challenging Behavior. Match the option to the need you saw in the observation:
- Routines are loose. Point the teacher toward expectations and routines training and agree on one routine to reteach.
- Responses to misbehavior vary. Pick the course on responding to challenging behavior and revisit it in your next visit.
- The class is settled but flat. Focus on recognition and relationship work rather than more rules.
Management coaching also belongs to the wider leadership team, and the article Happy Assistant Principal Week: Celebrate And Support Your School’s Unsung Leaders In 2026 – Principalspartnership is worth reading for how those colleagues can be supported.
Frequently asked questions
How do PBIS and restorative practices differ?
Recognition systems in the PBIS style, such as the class scoreboard or reward cards, acknowledge expected behavior as it happens. Restorative practices work on the relationship before a problem, through regular check-ins, and after one, through a responsive circle. Most classrooms benefit from both.
Should a whole class be disciplined for one student’s behavior?
No. Positive Action advises not to discipline the whole class for one student’s infractions. Address the individual and keep whole-class systems for shared goals.
Why involve students in the rules?
When children take ownership of the rules, peer pressure works in the teacher’s favor to enforce them. Teaching expectations together at the start of the term gives students that ownership from the beginning.
