McREL examines research base of national leadership standards
October 14, 2004
Aurora, Colo. — A
new report from Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning
(McREL) examines the degree to which standards that 40 states
have adopted for administrator preparation and licensure are
aligned with McREL’s research on effective school leadership..
In the mid-1990s, the Council of Chief State
School Officers and other national education leadership organizations
published a set of model standards reflecting what school leaders
should know and be able to do. But until now, no research base
has been provided to demonstrate a link between the 184 indicators
in the ISLLC standards and higher levels of student achievement.
In 2003, McREL released findings from a research
meta-analysis — a widely accepted method for synthesizing smaller
research studies into a single, large sample — in this case,
2,894 schools, approximately 14,000 teachers, and 1.1 million students.
The study, Balanced Leadership: What 30 Years of Research Tells Us
about the Effect of Leadership on Student Achievement, identified
21 leadership responsibilities and 66 leadership practices significantly
correlated with higher levels of student achievement.
The Leadership We Need examines the extent to
which these research-based responsibilities and practices are included,
implicitly or explicitly, in the 184 indicators in the ISLLC standards.
While the ISLLC standards capture many key aspects of school leadership,
McREL found no evidence in the ISLLC standards of 17 out of 66 leadership
practices identified in its research.
McREL also found 36 references in the ISLLC standards to the theme
of building community, but only two references to guiding and managing
change. Thus, people who use these standards might mistakenly conclude
that building community is more important than acting as a change
agent. Yet McREL’s research findings indicate that in terms
of impact on student achievement, acting as a change agent is equally
as important as building community.
Based on their analysis, the report’s authors, McREL President
and CEO Tim Waters and Senior Consultant Sally Grubb, recommend that
policymakers consider the following actions:
• Review and approve principal licensure and re-licensure programs
to verify that they adequately address the research on responsibilities
and practices that principals use to improve student achievement.
• Ensure that administrator licensure and re-licensure programs are
taught by faculty with the knowledge and skills needed to teach these
leadership responsibilities and practices.
• Commit the funding necessary for high-quality, rigorous, and research-based
professional development programs for principals.
• Support the use of tools that allow principals to assess their use
of research-based leadership practices and collect feedback from
teachers and supervisors on their use of these practices.
• Be aware of the changes initiated through policies and the implications
of those changes for stakeholders.
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McREL is a nationally recognized, private, nonprofit organization
located in Aurora, Colo., dedicated to improving education for
all students through applied research, product development and
service. Its staff of highly respected educators and researchers
focuses on providing educators and policymakers with the highest
quality, field-tested, research-based products and services available
in PreK–16 education.
