AchieveNow:

Finish Strong, Start Stronger: How New Leaders Can Maximize the Final Stretch

By Dr. Kim Germany

Published: May 03, 2025

The close of the school year is not the end. It’s your launchpad. Make every leadership move count.

As a new school leader, the end of the year is not just about closing out. It is about setting up. The final months are your runway. What you do now directly impacts how you and your team launch into the next school year.
Leadership is not about waiting until August to get things right. It is about making strategic moves now that lay the groundwork for stronger systems, sharper instruction, and higher achievement.

End-of-Year Leadership is Strategic Leadership

This is the season to tighten your systems, not tap out. You are modeling for your team what urgency with purpose looks like. You are showing your staff and your students that finishing strong is a non-negotiable.

Ask yourself:

What instructional gaps can I still close before the year ends?
Which teachers need immediate, high-impact coaching to finish with a win?
What student groups are still struggling and what do they need right now?
What systems or practices must be refined before the year ends, so they do not carry over broken into the next?

This Is Where Your Legacy Gets Built

Your team is watching how you lead when pressure is high and energy is low.
What you do now sets the tone for what they believe is possible under your leadership. This is the moment to:

Reinforce expectations
Celebrate progress with intention
Push for growth with clarity
Identify unfinished teaching and learning and do something about it.

Multi Layer Image

Your Momentum Plan for May

Do not leave your leadership to chance. Finish the year with momentum. Try this:

Pick One Academic Focus to accelerate in every classroom: reading, writing, math fluency, or a priority standard.

Schedule Two “Rapid Coaching Cycles” to grow teacher skill in real time.

Highlight Three Student Wins Weekly—and tie them back to instructional leadership moves.

Audit One System—discipline, feedback loops, PLCs and identify how it must operate better next year.

Write Down Your First Five Moves for August and begin preparing now.

Final Thought

You are not just wrapping up a school year. You are preparing to launch into your next level of leadership. Every intentional step you take now is one less struggle you will face in August.

Leadership is not seasonal. It is strategic.
Finish strong. Start stronger. The best is still ahead.

Leadership Decree
I do not lower standards.
I lead with wisdom.
I set the tone.
I no longer remain loyal to what dishonors my growth.
I release what resists my rise — not out of bitterness, but out of alignment.
My leadership is too valuable to be anchored to systems that fear elevation.
I choose clarity over chaos, alignment over appeasement, and progress over performance.
This is not ego.
This is execution.

Sign up

Stay connected, receive updates and leadership tips.

hello@drkimgermany.com

+615-208-2267

Full Name*

Email*

Phone*

Message

Please fill all the required fields!

Please accept terms and conditions to proceed

Are you ready to level-up your instructional leadership skills?

Complete the form to schedule a call.

Lead with Confidence and
Shape the Future of Learning.

555 Marriott Drive, Suite 315 Nashville, TN, 37214

hello@drkimgermany.com

Copyright © 2024 AchieveNow | All Rights Reserved. Please make sure to view our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy for more information about our practices and policies.