“It is essential that you take the time to interact with staff about their practices……The teacher must be the primary client of the school-based administrator, whereas the district’s primary client and the teacher’s primary client is the student. The only way you are going to effect higher student achievement is through the teacher and his or her actions in the classroom.” [Downey et al, p.7] This quote from Three Minute Classroom Walkthroughs supports the views of the principal as instructional coach and the teacher as the most significant variable in the classroom, but it challenges the view of the student as the ultimate and primary focus [i.e. client] of the school organization. I am not arguing against, just taking a moment to analyze its paradigm. Traditionally, we have thought of the principal as manager of the organization and responsible for production. We have viewed the teacher as the worker, expected to produce. The product in this instance is student achievement. This historical view places the student in the role of client, the receiver of the good and or service, and also, one could argue, the parent, since the parents pay for the service either directly [tuition] or indirectly [taxes]. With this statement, the principal is now responsible to the teacher, to insure his or her achievement, which in this context is improvement of practice and content knowledge, which is in turn expected to increase achievement.