Balanced Leadership: What 30 Years of Research Tells Us About the Effect of Leadership on Student Achievement

Author: Waters, T., Marzano, R.J., Brian McNulty, B.
Publisher: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL)
Publication Date: 2003
Full text available online at: http://www.mcrel.org/PDF/LeadershipOrganizationDevelopment/5031RR_BalancedLeadership.pdf

Abstract (written by WestEd)

In a meta-analysis of classroom and leadership studies, the authors ask whether the quality of leadership has a significant relationship to student achievement and what specific leadership responsibilities and practices have the greatest impact. They concluded:

• Leadership matters — it correlates positively with student achievement.
  
  
• They can empirically define effective leadership and identified key leadership responsibilities that correlate positively with student achievement:
  1. Culture — fosters shared beliefs and sense of community
     
  2. Order — sets operating procedures and routines
     
  3. Discipline — protects teachers from problems that detract from their teaching
     
  4. Resources — provides necessary materials and PD to be successful
     
  5. Curriculum, instruction, and assessment — is directly involved in design and implementation
     
  6. Knowledgeable about curriculum, instruction, and assessment
     
  7. Focus — establishes clear goals and keeps them at forefront of school's attention
     
  8. Visibility — interacts with teachers and students
     
  9. Contingent rewards — recognizes individual accomplishments
     
  10. Communication — has strong communication with teachers and students
      
  11. Outreach — is an advocate/spokesperson for school to all stakeholders
      
  12. Input — involves teachers in design and implementation of important decisions and policies
      
  13. Affirmation — celebrates accomplishments and acknowledges failures
      
  14. Relationship — empathizes with teachers and staff on a personal level
      
  15. Change agent role — is willing to actively challenge the status quo
      
  16. Optimizer role — inspires and leads new and challenging innovations
      
  17. Ideals and beliefs — communicates and operates from strong ideals and beliefs about schooling
      
  18. Monitoring and evaluation — focuses on effectiveness of school practices and impact on student learning
      
  19. Flexibility — adapts leadership behavior to the needs of the situation and is comfortable with dissent
      
  20. Situational awareness — is aware of the details and undercurrents in the running of the school and uses the information to address problems
      
  21. Intellectual stimulation — ensures that faculty and staff are aware of and discuss the most current theories and practices
  
  
  
• Effective leaders know not only what to do, but how, when, and why to do it — most specifically, they understand the impact on student achievement, school staff and community, and how to adjust their practices to take the culture into account.
  Two primary variables determine whether leadership will have a positive or negative impact on student achievement:
  
  • Focus of Change — correctly identifying the focus for improvements.
    
  • Order of Change — understanding how closely the proposed change matches prevailing values and norms. A first-order change extends or expands existing models, norms, and practices. A second-order change challenges existing models, norms, and practices.
  
  The authors add that the difficulty and success of implementing a change depends more on the perceptions of the stakeholders than on the magnitude of the change.

*To read a short article following up on the findings in this report, go to "Leading Schools: Distinguishing the Essential From the Important," also in the SchoolsMovingUp Reading Room.