Balanced Leadership effectively prepares principals, study shows
Denver—Principals participating in the Balanced Leadership® professional development program (BLPD), developed by Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL), reported improving practices and behaviors that research links to student achievement, according to preliminary results of a randomized controlled trial study conducted by researchers from Texas A&M University, the University of Michigan, and the University of South Florida.
The study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences (IES) and presented at the Annual University Council for Educational Administration Convention in Pittsburgh, Penn., last November, sought to assess the fidelity and efficacy of the two-year BLPD in enhancing principal leadership practices and, ultimately, student achievement.
Based on McREL’s meta-analysis of research from the past 30 years, BLPD identifies 21 school-level leadership responsibilities associated with high levels of student achievement. It provides principals with intensive guidance on those practices in order to address three key challenges of school leadership: improving school culture and climate, managing change, and focusing their schools on efforts that research shows to improve student learning.
Participants in the study include 78 elementary school principals in two cohorts—a treatment group and a control group—located in a Midwestern state serving students in rural, high-poverty areas. Researchers conducted pre- and post-surveys with participants, analyzing the scores for 29 outcomes, including McREL-defined responsibilities and other related concepts.
After receiving just 50 percent of the BLPD training, principals in the treatment group have already begun reporting positive effects across the majority of the 29 outcomes. Treatment effects for more than half of the outcomes exceed the standard set by the What Works Clearinghouse for “substantively important.” Of note, principals receiving BLPD report higher levels of knowledge of and involvement in their school’s curriculum, instruction, and assessment programs; higher levels of efficacy (i.e., a belief in their ability to effect positive change); and greater likelihood to display a collection of behaviors needed to create a positive school climate or “purposeful community.” Furthermore, turnover rates in control schools were five times higher than in the group experiencing the program (10 principal departures vs. two).
As the study continues, researchers will examine the link between the program and teacher reports of principal leadership, school climate, and student achievement. In light of the strong preliminary findings, though, the researchers concluded that the positive BLPD training outcomes “likely represent a necessary condition to bring about long-term changes in principals’ job performance, school climate, teacher practice, and student learning.”
Changes in educator behavior are often difficult to produce. Many recent scientific studies funded by the Institute of Education Sciences, for example, have found limited or no effects on student achievement, largely because educator practices have remained unchanged. Not surprisingly, experts have questioned the value of leadership development programs in light of limited documented evidence of their effectiveness. Thus, these findings are striking because they suggest important leadership behaviors linked to higher levels of student achievement can be improved through targeted leadership development.
“School leadership programs abound in the U.S. but surprisingly few have any evidence of their causal impact. Our evaluation shows that the Balanced Leadership professional development program positively impacts principals’ learning of leadership practices that are linked to student achievement,” said Professor Roger Goddard, who leads the BLPD evaluation project.
“Having worked with thousands of principals across the country, we’ve seen firsthand the powerful and positive effects of Balanced Leadership. Now we have evidence that our program makes a difference,” said Tim Waters, McREL president and CEO. “To our knowledge, there is no other professional development program with this kind of evidence of effects on improved leadership practice available anywhere in the country.”