Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning Final Report of Research Findings

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Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning Final Report of Research Findings LEARNING FROM LEADERSHIP PROJECT Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning FINAL REPORT OF RESEARCH FINDINGS Karen Seashore Louis z Kenneth Leithwood z Kyla L. Wahlstrom z Stephen E. Anderson University of Minnesota University of Toronto Commissioned by Center for Applied Research Ontario Institute for The Wallace Foundation and Educational Improvement Studies in Education Copyright © 2010 Learning from Leadership: Investigating the Links to Improved Student Learning Final Report of Research to the Wallace Foundation University of Minnesota University of Toronto Karen Seashore Louis Kenneth Leithwood Kyla L. Wahlstrom Stephen E. Anderson Michael Michlin Blair Mascall Molly Gordon Tiiu Strauss Emanda Thomas Shawn Moore July 2010 Financial support for this research was provided by a generous grant from the Wallace Foundation. The findings, conclusions and recommendations herein are those of the authors and do not represent the official positions or policies of the funder or of the educational institutions of the researchers. Copyright ©2010 by the University of Minnesota.® All rights reserved. About the Organizations The Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota links empirical research to real-world applications for educational leaders in Minnesota and across the United States. To do so, CAREI conducts comprehensive studies that provide information about challenges confronting schools and practices leading to educational improvement. For information on our technical reports and resources, please visit our Web site: www.cehd.umn.edu/CAREI/ The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) is the largest professional school of education in Canada and among the largest in the world. It offers initial teacher education, continuing education, and graduate programs, all sustained by faculty who are involved in research across the spectrum of issues connected with learning. Please visit our Web site for more information: www.oise.utoronto.ca The Wallace Foundation seeks to support and share effective ideas and practices that expand learning and enrichment opportunities for all people. Its three current objectives are: • Strengthen education leadership to improve student achievement • Enhance out-of-school learning opportunities • Expand participation in arts and culture For more information and research on these and other related topics, please visit our Knowledge Center at www.wallacefoundation.org. 2 Acknowledgments Without the careful reviews and long-standing support of our Wallace Foundation project officers, Dr. Mary Mattis and Dr. Edward Pauly, this report would not be the thorough and comprehensive document that has been produced. We value, in particular, all of the feedback that Mary gave us as we moved into our analysis phase, and her skill at creating consensus about what was needed, from both the perspective of the Wallace Foundation and from among the members of our research team. Our study is strong and comprehensive due to the incredible generosity of over a thousand educators and policy-makers who participated. We extend heartfelt thanks to the superintendents, principals, district administrators, teachers, school board and community members, and state leaders in education who welcomed us into their busy work lives, providing time to talk with us, to observe in classrooms, and to complete surveys, all of which gave us the most complete national data set ever assembled to better understand issues in educational leadership. Your anonymous contributions will be forever giving back, as leaders use this information to initiate and guide changes in our schools. This document would still be hidden somewhere in our computers if it were not for Gabrielle de Montmollin, whose editorial assistance and general ability to keep things rolling in a large and complex project have been valuable assets since this project began in 2003. A number of people who are not primary authors of this report made substantial contributions in a number of ways. At the University of Minnesota a very special thanks goes to Judy Meath who coordinated all survey data collection activities, all transcription oversight, and who was frequently a team leader for site visits. Dr. Beverly Dretzke provided excellent and thoughtful work in conducting path analyses of our data. Additional support from Dr. Judy Hornbacher and Diane Cirksena, with their grounded knowledge for on-site data collection, was invaluable. Graduate research assistants at the University of Minnesota have been essential partners as well in the data collection and analysis activities, including Sarah Berman-Young, Chad Schmidt, Monica Jacob, and Sarah Frederickson. Andrea Peterson provided excellent administrative and technical support for a myriad of clerical and computer-related tasks throughout the entire project. At the University of Toronto, Dr. Suzanne Stiegelbauer played a substantial role in site-visit data collection and analysis in Texas and New Mexico. Doris Jantzi, Robin Sacks, and Jing Ping Sun contributed significantly to the analysis of our survey results. We are also grateful to professor Stephen Jacobson (SUNY) for his help with first- round site visits in New York. Finally, successful execution of the site visits would not have possible without the assistance of several research assistants from the University of Toronto, including Leanne Foster, Carol Brayman, Carol Slater, and Joelle Rodway Macri. In the end, we produced a long and scholarly document, which was ably edited by Dr. Richard Western. From start to finish, this project has been about teamwork. We have been researching leadership, and the authors want to acknowledge the incredible effort that all have given in leading this journey. As a team, we have shared our wisdom, skills, and voices, with each person stepping forward when such leadership was most needed. We have grown in knowledge of ourselves and within our discipline. In the end, our deepest thanks goes to The Wallace Foundation for supporting us in this monumental work. 3 4 Contents Starting Points ................................................................................................................................7 Part One: What School Leaders Do to Improve Student Achievement .................................16 Preface ........................................................................................................................................16 1.1 Collective Leadership Effects on Teachers and Students ....................................................19 1.2 Shared Leadership: Effects on Teachers and Students of Principals and Teachers Leading Together .......................................................................................................37 1.3 Patterns of Distributed Leadership by Principals: Sources, Beliefs, Interactions, and Influences……………………………… ...................................................................................54 1.4 Leadership Practices Considered Instructionally Helpful by High Performing Principals and Teachers .............................................................................................................66 1.5 Instructional Leadership: Elementary vs. Secondary Principal and Teacher Interactions and Student Outcomes ...........................................................................................77 1.6 Poverty, Size, Level and Location: The Influence of Context Variables on What Leaders Do and What They Accomplish ..................................................................................94 1.7 A Synthesis of Implications for Policy and Practice about School Leadership ................103 Part Two: Districts and Their Leaders: How They Foster School Improvement and Student Learning ...............................................................................................................105 Preface ......................................................................................................................................105 2.1 How Districts Harness Family and Community Energies for School Improvement ........107 2.2 Principals‘ Efficacy: A Key to District Effects on Schools and Students ..........................127 2.3 How Districts Build Principals‘ Sense of Efficacy for School Improvement ....................148 2.4 Ensuring Productive Leadership Succession .....................................................................165 2.5 Data Use in Districts and Schools: Findings and Limitations ...........................................179 2.6 District Approaches to Improving Teaching and Learning ...............................................197 2.7 A Synthesis of Implications for Policy and Practice about District Leadership ...............215 Part Three: State Leadership and Relationships with Districts ...........................................218 Preface ......................................................................................................................................218 3.1 State Political Cultures and Policy Leadership .................................................................220 3.2 The Changing Leadership Role of State Education Agencies ...........................................231 3.3 District and School Responses to State Leadership ..........................................................246 3.4 State Leadership for School Improvement: A Synthesis of Implications for Policy and Practice ..................................................................................................................279
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