Creating A Climate Hospitable To Education: 1. Shaping A Vision of Academic Success For All Students

1.
SHAPING A VISION OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS FOR ALL STUDENTS

Although they say it in different ways, researchers who have examined education
leadership agree that effective principals are responsible for establishing a
schoolwide vision of commitment to high standards and the success of all students.
Newcomers to the education discussion might find this puzzling: Hasn't concern
with the academic achievement of every student always topped principals'
agendas? The short answer is, no. Historically, public school principals were seen
as school managers,5 and as recently as two decades ago, high standards were
thought to be the province of the college bound. "Success" could be defined as
entry-level manufacturing work for students who had followed a "general track,"
and low-skilled employment for dropouts. Only in the last few decades has the
emphasis shifted to academic expectations for all.
2. Creating a climate hospitable to education

Effective principals ensure that their schools allow both adults and children to put
learning at the center of their daily activities. Such "a healthy school environment," as
Vanderbilt researchers call it, is characterized by basics like safety and orderliness, as
well as less tangible qualities such as a "supportive, responsive" attitude toward the
children and a sense by teachers that they are part of a community of professionals
focused on good instruction.9
Is it a surprise, then, that principals at schools with high teacher ratings for
"instructional climate" outrank other principals in developing an atmosphere of caring
and trust? Or that their teachers are more likely than faculty members elsewhere to
find the principals' motives and intentions are good? 10
One former principal, in reflecting on his experiences, recalled a typical staff meeting
years ago at an urban school where "morale never seemed to get out of the basement."
Discussion centered on "field trips, war stories about troubled students, and other
management issues" rather than matters like "using student work and data to fine-tune
teaching." Almost inevitably, teacher pessimism was a significant barrier, with
teachers regarding themselves as "hardworking martyrs in a hopeless cause."11
3. Cultivating leadership in others

A broad and longstanding consensus in leadership theory holds that leaders in all
walks of life and all kinds of organizations, public and private, need to depend on
others to accomplish the group's purpose and need to encourage the development of
leadership across the organization.15 Schools are no different. Principals who get high
marks from teachers for creating a strong climate for instruction in their schools also
receive higher marks than other principals for spurring leadership in the faculty,
according to the research from the universities of Minnesota and Toronto.16
In fact if test scores are any indication, the more willing principals are to spread
leadership around, the better for the students. One of the most striking findings of the
universities of Minnesota and Toronto report is that effective leadership from all
sources - principals, influential teachers, staff teams and others - is associated with
better student performance on math and reading tests.
The relationship is strong albeit indirect: Good leadership, the study suggests,
improves both teacher motivation and work settings. This, in turn, can fortify
classroom instruction. "Compared with lower-achieving schools, higher-achieving
schools provided all stakeholders with greater influence on decisions," the researchers
write.17 Why the better result? Perhaps this is a case of two heads - or more - being
better than one: "The higher performance of these schools might be explained as a
consequence of the greater access they have to collective knowledge and wisdom
embedded within their communities," the study concludes.18
4. Improving instruction
Effective principals work relentlessly to improve achievement by focusing on the
quality of instruction. They help define and promote high expectations; they attack
teacher isolation and fragmented effort; and they connect directly with teachers and
the classroom, University of Washington researchers found. 29
Effective principals also encourage continual professional learning. They emphasize
research-based strategies to improve teaching and learning and initiate discussions
about instructional approaches, both in teams and with individual teachers. They
pursue these strategies despite the preference of many teachers to be left alone.30
In practice this all means that leaders must become intimately familiar with the
"technical core" of schooling - what is required to improve the quality of teaching and
learning.31
5. Managing people, data and processes

"In the great scheme of things," noted one research report, "...schools may be
relatively small organizations. But their leadership challenges are far from small, or
simple."36 To get the job done, effective leaders need to make good use of the
resources at hand. In other words, they have to be good managers.
Effective leaders studied by University of Washington researchers nurtured and

supported their staffs, while facing the reality that sometimes teachers don't work out.
They hired carefully, but - adhering to union and district personnel policies - they also
engaged in "aggressively weeding out individuals who did not show the capacity to
grow."37
When it comes to data, effective principals try to draw the most from statistics and
evidence, having "learned to ask useful questions" of the information, to display it in
ways that tell "compelling stories" and to use it to promote "collaborative inquiry
among teachers."38 They view data as a means not only to pinpoint problems but to
understand their nature and causes.39
Principals also need to approach their work in a way that will get the job done.
Research behind VAL-ED (the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education
tool to assess principal performance, developed by researchers at Vanderbilt
University) suggests that there are six key steps - or "processes" - that the effective
principal takes when carrying out his or her most important leadership
responsibilities: planning, implementing, supporting, advocating, communicating and
monitoring.40 The school leader pressing for high academic standards would, for
example, map out rigorous targets for improvements in learning (planning), get the
faculty on board to do what's necessary to meet those targets (implementing),
encourage students and teachers in meeting the goals (supporting), challenge low
expectations and low district funding for students with special needs (advocating),
make sure families are aware of the learning goals (communicating), and keep on top
of test results (monitoring).41

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1.

SHAPING A VISION OF ACADEMIC SUCCESS FOR ALL STUDENTS

2. Creating a climate hospitable to education

3. Cultivating leadership in others

5. Managing people, data and processes

Effective leaders studied by University of Washington researchers nurtured and

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