‘Directed’ Leadership Key to Early School Improvement, Report Finds

This from Ed Week:

School leaders who are turning around low-performing schools use three distinctly different leadership strategies for early, middle, and late-stage improvement, says a
new report by a national organization that trains principals. New Leaders for New Schools, a New York City-based group that has trained more than 300 principals in nine cities, is studying its own principals’ work in an effort to find out what practices are most effective in producing solid improvements quickly in the most troubled schools. The early findings, released at a March 10 briefing at the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank, represent the initial steps in a larger research project, in partnership with the RAND Corporation, scheduled for completion in 2011.

The report said that while “distributive” leadership—the practice of widely sharing decisionmaking—is commonly hailed as a strong strategy, it is not well suited to the early, or “dramatic turnaround,” stage of improvement when a new principal arrives at a struggling school. That first, urgent stage of improvement demands a “directed”
type of leadership, it said....

The study focuses on five key areas: achievement-based teaching and learning, school culture, putting the right people in the right roles, management operations, and personal leadership. While not a check list, these focus areas will help principals achieve success with proven methods.

Funding is another key component of acquiring quality principals, particularly for the most desperate schools. Jon Schnur, CEO and Co-founder of New Leaders for New Schools recommended that 10 percent, or approximately $300 million, of Title II funds from the No Child Left Behind Act, which currently focuses on teachers’ funding, support principals.

Requiring schools of education to track outcome data on student achievement in schools where principals work would provide accountability for this funding by looking at principal effectiveness. Byron G. Auguste, Managing Director of the Social Sector of McKinsey & Company, advocated using this funding to systematize immediate feedback for principlas and ensure levels of pay that attract top principals.

This combination of funding and accountability standards will help both educators and policy makers understand the “three dimensional gain” seen in the New Leader-led schools.