Balanced Leadership: School Leadership that Works

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Balanced LeadershipSchool Leadership that Works

• Keynote Presentation
• CREATE
• June 7, 2006

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Your assumptions

• What are your assumptions about the future of
  schooling in American public education?
• What are your assumptions about leadership of
  schools in American public education?

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McRELs assumptions

• We need to get the most possible out of our
  schools.
• In light of the resource, social, political,
  design realities facing our schools their
  leaders, schools (as currently designed) are not
  likely to meet the expectations that no child is
  left behind.
• We need education leaders who are prepared to
  deal with the first- and second-order changes
  implied by both assumptions.

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New expectations

• Leading increasingly complex change
• Relentless focus on improving student achievement
• Sharing leadership

The principal cannot do it alone.
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McRELs research questions

• What knowledge from the quantitative and
  qualitative research on
• teacher,
• school,
• leadership practices
• associated with high levels of student
  achievement institutional productivity should
  we use to improve schools?

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McRELs meta-analyses
Meta-analyses Publication titles
Classroom-level practices Classroom Instruction that Works (Marzano, Pickering, Pollock, 2001)
School-level practices student characteristics What Works in Schools (Marzano, 2003)
Leadership responsibilities practices School Leadership that Works (Marzano, Waters, McNulty, 2005)
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Leadership meta-analysis

• 5,000 study citations
• 3,000 dissertation citations
• 2,000 other study citations
• 69 studies met our criteria for inclusion
• Quantitative data
• Student achievement as the dependent variable
• Standardized scores
• Teacher perceptions as the independent variable

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Findings from McRELs meta-analysis

1. There is a relationship between leadership and
   student achievement leadership matters.
2. There are 21 leadership responsibilities, each
   with statistically significant and positive
   relationships to student achievement.
3. Leaders perceived as strong do not always have a
   positive impact on achievement.

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Finding 1 Leadership student achievement

• Average correlation (r) between principal
  leadership behavior school achievement is .25
• This means

A one standard deviation increase in teacher
perceptions of principal leadership is associated
with a 10 percentile point gain in school
achievement.
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Finding 2 Responsibilities practices

• 21 leadership responsibilities
• 66 leadership practices
• All correlated to student achievement
• Each correlation is statistically significant

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21 leadership responsibilities
Affirmation Involvement with CIA
Change agent Knowledge of CIA
Communication Monitor/evaluate
Contingent rewards Optimize
Culture Order
Discipline Outreach
Flexibility Relationships
Focus Resources
Ideals/beliefs Situational awareness
Input Visibility
Intellectual stimulation
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Finding 3 The differential impact of
leadership

• Leaders perceived as strong do not always have a
  positive effect on student achievement.

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Differential impactMcRELs interpretation

• Focus of the change
• Magnitude of the change

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Examples of ineffective focus

• Focus on improving school and classroom practices
  that are already well developed and implemented.
  
• Focus on school and classroom practices that are
  implemented marginally.
• Focus on practices that lack evidence for
  improving student achievement.

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Focus of change Influences on student learning
School 1. Guaranteed Viable Curriculum 2. Challenging Goals Effective Feedback 3. Parent Community Involvement 4. Safe Orderly Environment 5. Collegiality Professionalism
Teacher 6. Instructional Strategies 7. Classroom Management 8. Classroom Curriculum Design
Student 9. Home Environment 10. Learned Intelligence/Background Knowledge 11. Motivation
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McRELs view of change

• The magnitude of change is defined by the
  implications it has for the people expected to
  implement it and/or those who will be impacted by
  it.

The same change can be perceived differently by
different stakeholders.
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Magnitude of change Common labels




Fundamental
Incremental
Adaptive
Technical
Continuous
Discontinuous
First-order
Second-order
McREL uses labels based on the implications of
change rather than the type of change.
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What is a factor analysis?

• Definition A statistical procedure that reduces
  a set of items on a measuring instrument into a
  smaller number of dimensions called factors¹
• Purpose To understand the nature of underlying
  patterns among factors
• Requirements Scientific procedures and
  interpretation
• ¹Lauer, P. A. (2004). A policymaker's primer on
  education research How to understand, evaluate,
  and use it. Aurora, CO McREL, and Denver, CO
  ECS. Available from www.ecs.org/researchprimer

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McRELs leadership factor analysis

• 92-item online survey (Sept.2003-Feb.2004)
• 652 principal responses (reliability of .92)
• Data used to understand how the leadership
  responsibilities are related AND degree to which
  principals are fulfilling responsibilities
• Change initiatives
• Relationship of change to leadership
  responsibilities
• Inter-correlations among the responsibilities

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Findings from McRELs factor analysis

• Two major factors first-order change and
  second-order change
• 21 responsibilities with positive correlations to
  changes perceived as first order
• 11 responsibilities with correlations to changes
  perceived as second order

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Finding 4Two major factors

• Two major factors
• First-order change
• Second-order change
• Insufficient evidence to collapse any of the 21
  leadership responsibilities

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Finding 5 First-order change implications

• 1. Monitor/evaluate
• 2. Culture
• 3. Ideals and beliefs
• 4. Knowledge of CIA
• 5. Involvement in CIA
• 6. Focus
• 7. Order
• 8. Affirmation
• 9. Intellectual stimulation
• 10. Communication
• 11. Input

1. Relationships (.18)
2. Optimize
3. Flexibility
4. Resources
5. Contingent rewards
6. Situational awareness (.33)
7. Outreach
8. Visibility
9. Discipline
10. Change agent

(Marzano, Waters, McNulty, 2005)
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Finding 6 Factor One Second order change
implications(7 positively correlated
responsibilities)
(rank ordered)

1. Knowledge of curriculum, instruction,
   assessment
2. Optimize
3. Intellectual stimulation
4. Change agent
5. Monitor/evaluate
6. Flexibility
7. Ideals/beliefs

(Marzano, Waters, McNulty, 2005)
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Finding 6 Factor One Second order change
implications(4 negatively correlated
responsibilities
(rank ordered)

1. Culture
2. Communication
3. Order
4. Input

(Marzano, Waters, McNulty, 2005)
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The Balanced Leadership Framework
FOCUS School practices Classroom
practices Student characteristics
MAGNITUDE Create demand Implement Manage
transitions Monitor evaluate
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The Millenial Generation
Boomers (19431960) Superintendents and
central office
Gen X (19611981) Principals
Gen Y (19822000) Teachers
Tweens (1012 year olds today) Students
Millennials 70-75 Million
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Leaving the leadership comfort zone

• we should be calling for leadership that will
  challenge us to face problems for which there are
  no painless solutions . . . problems that require
  us to learn in new ways.
• Ronald A. Heifetz

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For more information

• Visit the McREL Web site
• www.mcrel.org
• jschumacher_at_mcrel.org
• Visit McRELs online newsroom
• www.mcrel.org/newsroom
• Click on education topics
• Click on leadership

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Affirmation
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Recognizes and celebrates school accomplishments and acknowledges failures Systematically and fairly recognizes the accomplishments of teachers and staff Systematically and fairly recognizes and celebrates the accomplishments of students Systematically and fairly recognizes the failures of and celebrates the accomplishments of the school as a whole
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Change Agent
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Is willing to and actively challenges the status quo Consciously challenges the status quo Is willing to lead change initiatives with uncertain outcomes Systematically considers new and better ways of doing things Consistently attempts to operate at the edge versus the center of the schools competence
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Communication
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Establishes strong lines of communication with teachers and among students Is easily accessible to teachers and staff Develops effective means for teachers and staff to communicate with one another Maintains open and effective lines of communication with teachers and staff
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Contingent Rewards
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Recognizes rewards individual accomplishments Recognizes and rewards individual accomplishments Uses performance versus seniority as the primary criteria for rewards and recognition Uses hard work and results as the basis for rewards and recognition Recognizes individuals who excel
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Culture
The extent to which the principal ... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Fosters shared beliefs a sense of community and cooperation Promotes a sense of well being among teachers and staff Promotes cohesion among teachers and staff Develops an understanding of purpose among teachers and staff Develops a shared vision of what the school could be like Promotes cooperation among teachers and staff
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Discipline
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Protects teachers from issues and influences that would detract from their teaching time or focus Protects instructional time from interruptions Protects/shelters teachers and staff from internal and external distractions
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Flexibility
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Adapts his or her leadership behavior to the needs of the current situation and is comfortable with dissent Is comfortable with making major changes in how things are done Encourages people to express diverse opinions contrary to those held by individuals in positions of authority Adapts leadership style to the needs of specific situations Is directive or non-directive as the situation warrants
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Focus
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Establishes clear goals and keeps those goals in the forefront of the schools attention Establishes high, concrete goals and expectations that all students meet them Establishes high, concrete goals for curriculum, instruction and assessment practices within the school Establishes high, concrete goals for the general functioning of the school Continually keeps attention on established goals
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Ideals/beliefs
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Communicates and operates from strong ideals and beliefs about schooling Possesses well-defined beliefs about schools, teaching, and learning Shares beliefs about school, teaching, and learning with the teachers and staff Demonstrates behaviors that are consistent with beliefs
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Input
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Involves teachers in the design and implementation of important decisions Provides opportunities for teacher and staff input on all important decisions Provides opportunities for teachers and staff to be involved in developing school policies Uses leadership teams in decision-making
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Intellectual Stimulation
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Ensures that the faculty and staff are aware of the most current theories and practices and makes the discussion of these a regular aspect of the school culture Keeps informed about current research and theory on effective schooling Continually exposes teachers and staff to cutting-edge research and theory on effective schooling Fosters systematic discussion regarding current research and theory on effective schooling
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Involvement in CIA
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Is directly involved in the design and implementation of curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices Is directly involved in helping teachers design curricular activities and address assessment and instructional issues
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Knowledge of CIA
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Is knowledgeable about current curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices Possesses extensive knowledge about effective curricular, instructional, and assessment practices Provides conceptual guidance regarding effective classroom practices
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Monitor/evaluate
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Monitors the effectiveness of school practices and their impact on student learning Continually monitors the effectiveness of the schools curricular practices. Continually monitors the effectiveness of the schools instructional practices. Continually monitors the effectiveness of the schools assessment practices. Remains aware of the impact of the schools practices on student achievement.
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Optimize
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations Inspires teachers and staff to accomplish things that might be beyond their grasp. Is the driving force behind major initiatives. Portrays a positive attitude about the ability of teachers and staff to accomplish substantial things.
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Order
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Establishes a set of standard operating procedures and routines Provides and reinforces clear structures, rules, and procedures for teachers and staff. Provides and reinforces clear structures, rules, and procedures for students. Establishes routines for the effective running of the school that teachers and staff understand and follow.
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Outreach
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Is an advocate and spokes- person for the school to all stakeholders Ensures the school complies with all district and state mandates. Is an advocate of the school with the community at large. Is an advocate of the school with parents. Is an advocate of the school with central office.
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Relationships
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Demonstrates awareness of the personal aspects of teachers and staff Is informed about significant personal issues within the lives of teachers and staff. Maintains personal relationships with teachers and staff. Is aware of the personal needs of teachers and staff. Acknowledges significant events in the lives of teachers and staff.
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Resources
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Provides teachers with materials and professional development necessary for the successful execution of their jobs Ensures that teachers and staff have the necessary materials and equipment. Ensures that teachers and staff have the necessary professional development opportunities that directly enhance their teaching.
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Situational Awareness
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Is aware of the details and the undercurrents in the running of the school and uses this information to address current and potential problems Is aware of informal groups and relationships among teachers and staff Is aware of the issues in the school that have not surfaced but could create discord Accurately predicts what could go wrong from day to day
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Visibility
The extent to which the principal... Practices Used to Fulfill the Areas of Responsibility
Has quality contacts and interactions with teachers and students Makes systematic and frequent visits to the classroom. Is highly visible to students, teachers, and parents. Has frequent contact with students.