Leadership in Student-Centered, Equitable Learning Environments

Across the world, educators are transforming their schools to create more student-centered, equitable learning environments. Effective leadership is critical to the success and sustainability of this transformation. To better understand how school leadership is changing and its role in enabling, supporting and sustaining these efforts, iNACOL asked us to conduct a preliminary discovery process and to share the results with the broader community through this blog, an upcoming webinar and at the iNACOL Symposium.  

The discovery process included three core activities:

1. An initial convening of leaders in the field at the 2016 iNACOL Symposium;
2. An extensive literature review focused on both existing research on change leadership, as well as new and emerging research on leadership for educational transformation and learner-centered approaches; and
3. A series of interviews with leaders from across the educational spectrum, including school, district and state leaders in a range of educational settings, faculty in education leadership programs, and leaders of nonprofit and for-profit organizations that prepare or support schools in the transition to learner-centered environments.

While a set of five research questions guided our work, this blog focuses on one of the questions. In addition, we highlight areas for further investigation and research around leadership for learner-centered learning that emerged through the discovery process.

What is essential/different about leadership in schools/learning communities that have been successful in moving forward to student-centered learning environments and in sustaining that forward movement?

There were numerous areas of leadership emphasized by interviewees and identified in the literature. Of these, we highlight eight key areas and describe each briefly with more detail and supporting statements from the convening, interviewees and the literature included in the links embedded in each title sentence here (these are not in any priority order):

1. 1. Leadership engages in courageous conversations and actions. Leaders challenge current practices and foster innovation through conversations and actions aligned to a compelling vision. They  listen and act on feedback while being able to withstand politics when people resist that vision. They are not afraid to take risks to improve learning for all learners.
   2. There is a shift in the leadership power dynamics and in the importance of context. Leadership is more inclusive, distributed and collaborative, rather than being delegated, top-down leadership. It is shared purposefully and in a coordinated way based on the contexts within which leaders are operating. Students are increasingly taking on meaningful leadership roles in their own learning, their learning institutions and their communities.
   3. Leadership has an intensified focus on learners and the school as a learning community. There is a culture of “we are all learners”meaning learners are students and staff, parents and other community members (to a lesser degree). All have  roles, voice and agency. Leadership creates the conditions that encourage active learning, not only amongst students but also amongst teachers and the wider school community. The attention paid to adult learning mirrors the attention that is paid to personalized student learning.  
   4. There is meaningful and substantial student and community involvement in the leadership of learning and of the organization. Leadership is very intentional and deliberate in involving the whole community  (which includes students, staff, parents, community partners) and in developing the leadership capacity across the whole school community. Because leadership is widely distributed across the school organization, there is a broad community of parents and agencies to support learning and to support and sustain the transformation of the school. Students are included in leadership and see their families acting as leaders and contributing to the school community so they feel empowered. Leadership demonstrates a keen understanding of the community and the current and historical contexts of community members and their impact on communities, families, and students.
   5. There is an increased use of quality improvement approaches in designing and implementing change and innovation, with an understanding that continuous improvement is foundational in creating and sustaining the learning community. A clear, collectively developed and accepted vision is further broken down into actions and measures of key outcomes, with processes instituted to track if the change is resulting in improvements. Leadership builds a culture that coalesces the community around supporting the vision, determining barriers to reaching the vision, and testing solutions to determine what works for whom and under what set of conditions. They work on changing the school structures, policies and roles as well as classroom practices in alignment with the strategic plan for implementing the vision and focus of the staff on deploying data informed instructional and operational practices.
   6. The increased emphasis on instruction, collaboration and communication over management requires a greater depth and breadth of knowledge and practices related to these. Leaders are shifting emphasis from a management focus to concentrate their actions, their own personal learning, and their relationships with teachers on the core business of teaching and learning. This requires in-depth knowledge of pedagogy and instructional strategies essential to student-centered learning and the importance of effective school/-home connections and how to foster them, especially when the educational cultures of school and home are different. Leaders have changed from being primarily managers to having more intentional personalized interactions with the school community around teaching and learning. They understand what data the teachers are using and how to apply that to instructional practices. Leaders leverage technology when technology suits teaching and learning goals. They have a vision for the intersection of using technology and instruction.
   7. Leaders model practices and important organizational values aligned to the vision. Leaders mentor, coach and  support learners in doing the hard work associated with learner-centered environments. They support teacher agency and teachers enabling student agency. They model a variety of the aspects of SLC tenants and realized there will be mistakes and mistakes provide opportunities for learning. They embody a growth mindset approach.
   8. Leadership recognizes and acts upon the increased importance of and need for attention to equity. Leadership focuses on the individual well being and learning of each and every student, with a commitment to securing equity and excellence. Equity is understood as an overarching goal of the transformation process. Leaders create an inclusive learning environment where all members can experience success, and traditional barriers to equity are met head-on with innovative plans. Learner-centered leaders create learning communities that value diversity and promote equity and justice for all within the learning community.

Questions For Further Exploration

Our research confirmed that transformational leadership for learner-centered learning is both building on the richness of leadership literature and practices that came before, while also opening up new and uncharted territory and identifying new questions for critical investigation. We’ve captured five of the key questions that came up multiple times across varied contexts here:

1. How do the leadership challenges shift with each phase of the work? Leaders identified the potential differences in the skills and dispositions needed in the early phases of the work and how these may shift in later years, when the focus may be less on start-up and more on sustaining or scaling.
2. How are equity and learner-centered learning goals intertwined and what specific leadership skills are needed to ensure inequity and diversity are addressed head-on? We were constantly reminded of the critical importance of understanding how to implement learner-centered learning in ways that are inclusive, address historically disenfranchised populations and specifically target the persistent achievement gaps.
3. How can we build effective collaborative and distributed leadership models that strengthen learner-centered approaches? The complex and ongoing nature of the work is generating new leadership at all levels of the system and expanding demands on existing leadership. There is a need to understand how to recognize, incorporate and build capacity for leadership across all stakeholder groups including teachers, parents, community members and perhaps most-importantly, students.
4. How do schools and leaders prioritize and balance the need for buy-in and support at the district and/or state level, particularly through changing administrations and policy shifts? With the dramatic pace of change in many of the transforming, learner-centered environments, schools and leadership are particularly challenged to maintain and engage critically needed district and state support despite so many decision makers not having experience with the models being explored.
5. How can we build the evidence base for the specific leadership activities and competencies that directly impact learning? While there is substantial research on how leadership activities impact teachers, there remains limited research about how leadership specifically impacts students.

We are excited to engage in discussions with the iNACOL membership and broader education community about about what we learned and the questions for further research that emerged about the role of leadership in supporting learner centered approaches. We’re looking forward to speaking with you at the upcoming webinar and the iNACOL Symposium.

Bibliography

4 Key Things to Know About Distributed Leadership.  Retrieved from http://k12education.gatesfoundation.org/blog/4-key-things-know-distributed-leadership/

23 Illinois Administrative Code 30 Subtitle A Subchapter B Title 23: Education And Cultural Resources Subtitle A: Education Chapter I: State Board Of Education Subchapter B: Personnel Part 30 Programs For The Preparation Of Principals In Illinois. Retrieved from https://www.isbe.net/Documents/30ARK.pdf

Assisi, N. (2015, April 15). 10 principles to move your school toward distributive leadership. [Web blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.competencyworks.org/reflections/10-principles-to-move-your-school-toward-distributive-leadership/

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. (2014, August 15). The leadership of student-centred learning. Curriculum & Leadership Journal, Retreived from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/leader/the_leadership_of_student-centred_learning,37357.html?issueID=12909

Australian Professional Standard for Principals and the Leadership Profiles, Retreived from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/lead-develop/understand-the-principal-standard/leadership-profiles

Baller, Aydın “Transformational Leadership Behaviors of School Principals: A Qualitative Research Based on Teachers’ Perceptions”, International Online Journal of Educational Sciences, 2012, 4(3), 581-591, Retrieved from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d4f3/14cb874ce89511e80f857c56748ec1542182.pdf

Baron, Kathryn. Two Wisconsin School Districts Pave an Early Path to Continuous Improvement. February 3, 2017 Retrieved from  https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/blog/two-wisconsin-school-districts-pave-an-early-path-to-continuous-improvement/

Berkovich, Izhak. “ School leaders and transformational leadership theory: time to part ways?.” Journal of Educational Administration 2016 54:5 , 609-622

Botelho, E., Powell, K.R., Kincaid, S., Wang, D., (2017, June). What sets successful CEOs apart. Harvard Business Review. Retreived from https://hbr.org/2017/05/what-sets-successful-ceos-apart

Bryk, Anthony S., Gomez , Louis M., Grunow, Alicia And Lemahieu, Paul G..  Learning To Improve: How America’s Schools Can Get Better At Getting Better Cambridge, Ma: Harvard Education Press, 2015. 280 Pp. $35.00 (Paper), Http://Hepg.Org/Her-Home/Issues/Harvard-Educational-Review-Volume-85-Number-4/Herbooknote/Learning-To-Improve

California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California Administrator Performance Expectations (CAPE) Aligned with the California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSEL) Retrieved from http://ctcpa.nesinc.com/PDF/CAPEs_Final.pdf

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (n.d.). Using improvement science to accelerate learning and address problems of practice. Retrieved from  http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/our-ideas/

Caus Gleason, Sonia and Gerzon, Nancy J.. The Principal’s Role in Personalization, November 2013, Principal Leadership Retrieved from https://centerx.gseis.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/The-Principals-Role-in-Personalization.pdf

Center for Secondary School Redesign, Shared Leadership. Retrieved from http://i3.cssr.us/shared-leadership

Council of Chief State School Officers. (2017). PSEL 2015 and promoting principal leadership for the success of students with disabilities. Retrieved from http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2017/PSELforSWDs01252017.pdf

Dana, Nancy Fichtman; Marrs-Morford, Linda; Roberts, Shelley; and Laffoon, Kelly (2017) “Teaching Principals to Be Action Researchers: The Indiana Principal Leadership Institute Coaching Model,” Journal of Practitioner Research: Vol. 2 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5038/2379-9951.2.1.1038  Retrieved from http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jpr/vol2/iss1/1

DeLucia, Jodi M.. “Barriers and Supports to Implementation of Principal Leadership for School Change” Walden University. 2011: 229 pages; 3482751. Retrieved from https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/doc/910544181.html?FMT=ABS

Denmark, V. (2012). Transformational leadership – A matter of perspective. Retrieved from http://www.advanc-ed.org/source/transformational-leadership-matter-perspective

Eastwood, Ken. Sustaining Personalized Learning: Problems and Suggestions to Reverse the Trend of Education Failure in United States. Feb, 2016 Retrieved from https://www.edelements.com/blog/sustaining-personalized-learning-problems-and-suggestions-to-reverse-the-trend-of-education-failure-in-united-states

Education Services Australia. (2014). Australian professional standard for principals and the leadership profiles. Retrieved from http://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/school-leadership/australian-professional-standard-for-principals-and-the-leadership-profiles.pdf?sfvrsn=4

Forbes Coaches Council. (2016). 13 leadership skills you didn’t need A decade ago that are now essential. Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2016/12/13/13-leadership-skills-you-didnt-need-a-decade-ago-that-are-now-essential/#664f938d69ad

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fullan, M. & Leithwood, K. (2012). 21st century leadership: Looking forward: An interview with Michael Fullan and Ken Leithwood. In Conversation, 4(1) Retrieved from http://michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/13557615570.pdf

Georgetown University Institute for Transformational Leadership. Inside Transformational Leadership – Podcast series by Georgetown University Institute for Transformational Leadership. Retrieved from http://scs.georgetown.edu/departments/37/institute-for-transformational-leadership/home

Giles, S. (2016, March 15). The most important leadership competencies, according to leaders around the world. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2016/03/the-most-important-leadership-competencies-according-to-leaders-around-the-world&ab=Article-Links-End_of_Page_Recirculation

Grossman, J. & Cawn, B. (2016). Ambitious leadership: A case study of setting a vision for ambitious instruction. Retrieved from http://newleaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/CaseStudies-grouped.pdf

Harris, Jessica, Spina, Nerida, Ehrich, Lisa and  Smeed, Judy Literature review: Student-centred schools make the difference June 2013, The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/literature-review—student-centred-schools-make-the-difference.pdf?sfvrsn=bdb5ed3c_2

Here’s Why We Should Really Listen to Student Voices, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF-Rg53V44A

Herrmann,  Zachary and Wolfe, Zora. Getting Beyond the Teacherpreneur

Hickman, Philip (Dec 10, 2016). The Price of Innovative Leadership in 2017.  Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-12-10-the-price-of-innovative-leadership-in-2017

Instead of focusing on individuals, school leaders should work to foster a school-wide culture of innovation. March 17, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/getting-beyond-teacherpreneur-zachary-herrmann-zora-wolfe

Jobs for the Future & the Council of Chief State School Officers. 2017. Leadership Competencies for Learner-Centered, Personalized Education.  Boston, MA: Jobs for the Future http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/2017/Leadership_Competencies_Final-090717(0).pdf

Lear, J., Godin, S., Werner, S., & Flamisch, M. (2015). Distributed Leadership: Behaviorally Anchored Development of the Instructional Teacher Leadership Rating Scale for Building, School Capacity (ITLRSBSC). Proceedings of the Canada International Conference on Education: CICE – 2015. Infonomics Society. Mississauga, ON, Canada. pp. 158 – 164, 2015, Retrieved from http://jefflear.com/professional/conference/cice/Lear_CICE15watermark.pdf

Leithwood, K. (2012). The Ontario leadership framework 2012 with a discussion of the research foundations. Retrieved from https://www.education-leadership-ontario.ca/application/files/2514/9452/5287/The_Ontario_Leadership_Framework_2012_-_with_a_Discussion_of_the_Research_Foundations.pdf

Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P.,Harris, A., & Hopkins, D. (2006). Seven strong claims about successful school leadership. Retrieved from http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/6967/1/download%3Fid=17387&filename=seven-claims-about-successful-school-leadership.pdf

Leithwood, K., & Manzi, D. (2006). Transformational school leadership for large-scale reform: Effects on students, teachers, and their classroom practices. School Effectiveness and School Improvement 17(2), pp. 201-227. Retrieved from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.475.86&rep=rep1&type=pdf

Leithwood, K., Louis, K.S., Anderson, S., &  Wahlstrom, K. (2004). Review of research: How leadership influences student learning. Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Documents/How-Leadership-Influences-Student-Learning.pdf

LeMahieu, Paul and Peurach, Donald J.. Acceptable Failure January 5, 2017 Retrieved from https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/blog/acceptable-failure/

Li, L., Hallinger, P. and Ko, J. (2016) Principal leadership and school capacity effects on teacher learning in Hong Kong, International Journal of Educational Management, 30(1), pp. 76–100. doi: 10.1108/ijem-03-2014-0035.

Lopez,  Nadya and  Paley, Rebecca.  The Bridge to Brilliance: How One Principal in a Tough Community Is Inspiring the World. Retrieved from  https://www.amazon.com/Bridge-Brilliance-Principal-Community-Inspiring-ebook/dp/B0191WS040

McLeskey, J., Billingsley, B. and Waldron, N.L. (2016) Principal leadership for effective inclusive schools in General and Special Education Inclusion in an Age of Change: Roles of Professionals Involved. Emerald, pp. 55–74.

Mumby, S. & Fullan, M. (2016, February). Inside-out and downside-up: How leading from the middle has the power to transform education. Retrieved from http://michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/EdDevTrust-Global-Dialogue-FINAL.pdf

National College for School Leadership.  Establishing and leading new types of school: challenges and opportunities for leaders and leadership, January 2013. Retrieved from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/308765/establishing-and-leading-new-types-of-school-full.pdf

National College for School Leadership. Learning-centred leadership: Towards personalised learning-centred leadership. Retrieved from http://www.stjosephsrc.co.uk/school/images/TeachersAsLearners/learning-centred-leadership.pdf

National Policy Board for Educational Administration. (2015). Professional standards for educational leaders 2015. Retreived from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Documents/Professional-Standards-for-Educational-Leaders-2015.pdf

New Leaders. (2016). Ambitious Leadership: How Principals Lead Schools To College And Career Readiness Policy Brief Retrieved from  http://newleaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2016.AmbitiousLeadership_PolicyBrief.pdf

New Leaders. (2016). Ambitious leadership: How principals lead schools to college and career readiness policy brief. Retrieved from  http://newleaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/2016.AmbitiousLeadership_PolicyBrief.pdf

New Leaders. (2016). Transformational leadership framework. Retrieved from http://newleaders.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/2016.TransformationalLeadershipFramework.pdf

Nattoo, Richard (2016). The Complex World of School Redesign: The Building Blocks and the Builders by EdSurge, Retrieved from https://www.edsurge.com/research/guides/the-complex-world-of-school-redesign-the-building-blocks-and-the-builders

Osborne-Lampkin, L., Folsom, J. S., and Herrington, C. D. (2015). A systematic review of the relationships between principal characteristics and student achievement (REL 2016–091). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Regional Educational Laboratory Southeast. Retrieved from http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs

Pittsfield School District SAU#51, Position Analyses Superintendent Position Description, Dean of Instruction Position Description, Dean of Operations Position Description , Director College & Career Readiness Position Description, Student Position Description Retrieved from http://www.pittsfieldnhschools.org/cac/position-analyses/

Razali, Amar. A Study of Distributed Leadership In Schools (video). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zktmFAJaOQs  

Richardson, W. & Dixon, B. (2017). 10 principles for schools of modern learning: The urgent case for reimagining today’s schools. Retrieved from https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/modernlearners/Modern+Learners+10+Principles+for+Schools+of+Modern+Learning+whitepaper.pdf

Rickabaugh, J. (2016). Tapping the power of personalized learning: a roadmap for school leaders. ASCD.

Riveros, Augusto, Verret, Carolyne,  and Wei Wei, (2016) The translation of leadership standards into leadership practices: A qualitative analysis of the adoption of the Ontario Leadership Framework in urban schools, Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 54 Iss: 5, pp.593 – 608

Robinson, V., Hohepa, M., and Lloyd, C. School Leadership and Student Outcomes: Identifying What Works and Why: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES] Retrieved from http://www.aisa.or.ke/conference/ALC2017/images/Robinson-etal_2015_.pdf

Schiess, Jennifer and Chuong, Carolyn.The Promise of Personalized Learning in Rural America. October 11, 2016 Retrieved From Https://Bellwethereducation.Org/Publication/Promise-Personalized-Learning-Rural-America

Senge, P., Hamilton, H., Kania, J. (2015). The dawn of system leadership. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Retrieved from https://solonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/The_Dawn_of_System_Leadership-copy.pdf

Schwartz, Katrina Five Guidelines to Make School Innovation Successful Retrieved from https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2017/02/26/five-guidelines-to-make-school-innovation-successful/

Sturgis, C. (2014). Virgel Hammonds’ six insights into leadership. [Web blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.competencyworks.org/understanding-competency-education/virgel-hammonds-six-insights-into-leadership/

Tiu, Conrado.  A qualitative study into the inner leadership of transformative California school principals. PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY, 2016, 209 pages; 10027828  Retrieved from https://pqdtopen.proquest.com/pubnum/10027828.html

Tschannen-Moran, M. and Gareis, C.R. (2015) Faculty trust in the principal: An essential ingredient in high-performing schools, Journal of Educational Administration, 53(1), pp. 66–92. doi: 10.1108/jea-02-2014-0024

UK Department of Education, “A Competency Framework for Governance The knowledge, skills and behaviours needed for effective governance in maintained schools, academies and multi-academy trusts,”  (January 2017) Retrieved from http://dera.ioe.ac.uk/28079/1/Competency_framework_for_governance_.pdf

US Department of Education. (2016). Characteristics of future ready leadership. Retrieved from https://tech.ed.gov/files/2015/12/Characteristics-of-Future-Ready-Leadership.pdf

Vander Ark, T. (2017, January 4). Are you an improver or an innovator? Differentiating edleader roles [Web blog post.] Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/on_innovation/2017/01/are_you_an_improver_or_an_innovator_differentiating_edleader_roles.html

Wagner, T. (2013, January 13). What does it mean to be a “change leader” in  education? Retrieved from http://www.tonywagner.com/

Wagner, T. (2001). Leadership for learning: An action theory of school change. Retrieved from http://www.tonywagner.com/

Wallace Foundation. (2012). The school principal as leader: Guiding schools to better teaching and learning. Retrieved from http://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Documents/The-School-Principal-as-Leader-Guiding-Schools-to-Better-Teaching-and-Learning-2nd-Ed.pdf

West-Burnham, John. Leadership for Personalising Learning. National College of School Leadership Retrieved from http://www.rtuni.org/uploads/docs/Personalised%20learning.pdf 

White, Bradford R.; Pareja, Amber Stitziel; Hart, Holly; Klostermann, Brenda K.; Huynh, Michelle Hanh; Frazier-Meyers, Mary; and Holt, Janet K., “Navigating the Shift to Intensive Principal Preparation in Illinois: An In-depth Look at Stakeholder Perspectives” (2016). IERC Publications. 1. http://spark.siue.edu/ierc_pub/1

Wilhoit, G., Pittenger, L., & Rickabaugh, J. (2016). Leadership for learning: What is leadership’s role in supporting success for every student? Lexington, KY: Center for Innovation in Education. Retrieved from https://issuu.com/essentialskillsanddispositions/docs/leadership_for_learning_nov_2016_ci

Zepeda, Sally J.; Jimenez, Albert M.; Lanoue, Philip D.. New Practices for a New Day: Principal Professional Development to Support Performance Cultures in Schools. LEARNing Landscapes, [S.l.], v. 9, n. 1, p. 303-322, Sept. 2015. ISSN 1913-5688. Available at: http://ojs.learnquebec.ca/index.php/learnland/article/view/759