Leadership Influences on Student Learning 2: Leadership as Influence

How do school leaders influence student achievement?  I noted in the last blog how school leadership directly influenced three other groups that have a direct influence on student learning.  As true as this is, however, it does not explain how leadership actually influences student learning through influence of those other groups.  Consider the following table from the Wallace Foundation study:

One way that school leaders have influence on student learning is by creating a climate of collective leadership.  By empowering and including teachers in leadership conversations and how to improve school and classroom conditions, administrators will influence student learning.

Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K., A., & Anderson, S. E. (2010).  Investigating links to improved student learning. The Wallace Foundation.  http://www.wallacefoundation.org/KnowledgeCenter/KnowledgeTopics/CurrentAreasofFocus/EducationLeadership/Documents/Learning-from-Leadership-Investigating-Links-Final-Report.pdf

Leadership Influences on Student Learning: 1

As a school leader, how many different groups/individuals do you influence (or are you influenced by) on a daily basis?  Have you ever considered the sheer number?  Research supports the idea that the role of principal is closely linked to more groups/individuals than any other role.  Consider the figure below:

By count, there are eight different groups that have some sort of influence on principals.  However, there are also five groups that principals directly influence.  Although, student learning is not in a direct line with school leadership, the role of principal directly influences three separate groups that have direct influences on student learning. 

It is a very sobering thought that the role of principal has so much influence.  Yet it also should be very exciting that the role of principal is so ripe with opportunities for influencing student learning.  As a principal/school leader are you maximizing the opportunities that present themselves when working with the many different groups you have influence with?

Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K., A., & Anderson, S. E. (2010).  Investigating links to improved student learning. The Wallace Foundation.  http://www.wallacefoundation.org/KnowledgeCenter/KnowledgeTopics/CurrentAreasofFocus/EducationLeadership/Documents/Learning-from-Leadership-Investigating-Links-Final-Report.pdf

Leadership Influences on Student Learning

The Wallace Foundation just recently finished their report entitled Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning.  It is a massive document (338 pages) yet contains a wealth of information focused around the following stated goals for the project:

1. Identify state, district, and school leadership practices that directly or indirectly foster the improvement of educational practices and student learning.
2. Clarify how successful leadership practices directly and indirectly influence the quality of teaching and learning.
3. Determine the extent to which individuals and groups at state, district, school, and classroom levels possess the will and skill required to improve student learning, and the extent to which their work settings allow and encourage them to act on those capacities and motivations.
4. Describe the ways in which, and the success with which, individuals and groups at the state, district, school, and classroom levels help others to acquire the will and skill required to improve student learning.
5. Identify the leadership and workplace characteristics of districts and schools that encourage the values, capacities, and use of practices that improve student learning.

Over the next few weeks, I hope to post some thoughts about the information contained in the document in order to help district and school leaders learn how to maximize their influence on student learning.  Stay tuned to the first post later today (hopefully).  :)

Is your school Learning or just Lucky? Leading or Losing?

As a school leader, one of the most important skills to have is to be able to understand why certain things are happening in your school the way that they are. For example, school leaders need to understand what it is about their organization that causes them to have the student achievement results that they have. A great way to analyze where a school is is by using the Leadership and Learning Matrix below.

Created by Doug Reeves, this leadership matrix allows school leaders to analyze why they are getting the results that are occurring. This is very similar to the concepts of unconscious incompetency/conscious competency. Schools that find themselves in the Leading quadrant are schools where gains in student achievement are the result of intentional structures that could be reproduced in any setting. However, schools that find themselves in the Lucky quadrant have no idea why they are getting gains in student achievement. For these "lucky" schools, imagine how much more successful they could be with more intentional structures. Schools that are "Learning" are schools that have realized why they aren't making more progress but are willing to change in order to benefit the students.

And then there are the "Losing" schools. These schools haven't really even accepted that they are leaving students behind. These schools most often blame outside factors for their lack of success instead of focusing on the factors they have control over.

No matter which quadrant you find your school in, the most important thing is realizing that you can always improve. Communities of learning never rest and never stop analyzing how to get better. Which school are you?

Isn't Technology Wonderful!!

It is constantly amazing how much technology has to offer in terms of uses for instructing students. What is even more amazing is that as many ideas as you can think of for using technology, others can come with that many more different ideas. It is only by talking with others that we can share all of our wonderful ideas together to benefit students.

For example, one idea I learned from a fellow training participant today (Thanks Cindy!) was to use the Google Calendar to link to a Google Docs form and have students complete exit slips, bell ringers, and other short assessments online. Not only does it cut down on paper and copies but by using the Google Docs, all student answers will be summarized and tabulated automatically without having to do it yourself.

Taking this even further at a district level, using the calendar to post the district's professional development opportunities would also allow registrants to click on the event and then be instantly transported to the registration survey though Google Docs.

The possibilities are endless. What ideas can you think of? Add your own ideas by commenting below.