Improving school leadership : the promise of cohesive leadership systems / Catherine H. Augustine [and others].

"This study was conducted by RAND Education"--Preface.

"Commissioned by the Wallace Foundation."

"MG-885-WF"--Page 4 of cover.

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction -- Data sources and analytic approach -- Policies and initiatives taken to improve leadership -- Variations in state and district roles in improving school leadership -- Building cohesion across policies and initiatives -- Effective strategies for system-building --Prospects for sustainability -- Support for the CLS hypothesis -- Recommendations -- Appendix A. Background information on study states and districts -- Appendix B. Indicators of leadership policy initiatives, factors of cohesion, conditions, and effective leadership practices -- Appendix C. Principal survey technical notes -- Appendix D. Principal end-of-day-log technical notes -- Appendix E. Index construction for the analyses in Chapter Eight -- Appendix F. Methodology and elaborated results for analyses in Chapter Eight.

The cohesive leadership system hypothesis -- Research relevant to cohesive leadership systems -- Data Sources and Analytic Approach -- What policies and initiatives have states and districts pursued to improve school leadership? -- How are districts and states interacting to improve school leadership? -- To what extent have CLS sites built cohesion among policies and initiatives? -- How have sites built CLSs and why have some sites been more effective than others? -- How are sites attempting to scale up and sustain their work? -- Do we find support for the CLS hypothesis? -- Policies and Initiatives Taken to Improve Leadership -- Variations in State and District Roles in Improving School Leadership -- Building Cohesion Across Policies and Initiatives -- Efffective Stategies for System-Building -- Growing importance of the state -- Strategies pursued to develop cohesive leadership systems -- Differences in strategies across sites -- Contextual factors enabling and inhibiting efforts to build a CLS -- Contextual differences across sites -- Prospects for Sustainability -- Challenges to sustainment and expansion -- Strategies for sustainment and growth -- Support for the CLS Hypothesis -- Instructional leadership practices -- Links between favorable conditions and engagement with instructional leadership practices -- Recommendations -- Consider local contexts and address the challenges they pose -- Identify strong lead organizations and individuals -- Capitalize on external expertise and funding -- Build trust and mend fences -- Engage a broad coalition of stakeholders -- Hone skills at applying pressure while providing support -- Recognize innovative districts as "lead learners" -- Connect leadership efforts to standards and to other reforms in the state -- Solidify programs and funding through legislation and regulations -- Engage in continuous learning and improvement -- Commit to engaging in the work over the long term.

Improving the nation's public schools is one of the highest priorities of federal, state, and local government in America. Recent research has shown that the quality of the principal is, among school-based factors, second only to the quality of the teacher in contributing to what students learn in the classroom. New programs to develop school leaders who can exercise vigilance over instruction and support effective teaching practices are not likely to succeed, however, if they are inconsistent with other state and district policies affecting school leadership. The Wallace Foundation, which focuses its grantmaking in education primarily on school leadership, has posited that well-coordinated policies and initiatives to develop leadership standards, provide high-quality training, and improve the conditions that affect principals' work will increase their ability to improve instruction in their schools. This study documents the actions taken by the Foundation's grantees to create a more cohesive set of policies and initiatives to improve instructional leadership in schools; describes how states and districts have worked together to forge such policies and initiatives around school leadership; and examines the hypothesis that more-cohesive systems do in fact improve school leadership. The study found that it is possible to build more-cohesive leadership systems and that such efforts appear to be a promising approach to developing school leaders engaged in improving instruction. Although the study did not find evidence that the full underlying theory behind this initiative is sound, it did find a correlation between improved conditions for principals and their engagement in instructional practices.

Print version record.

eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - Worldwide