McREL finds 11 school leadership responsibilities vital to leading difficult, “second-order” changes in schools

April 14, 2005

Aurora, Colo. — New research from McREL has identified 11 school leadership “responsibilities” that appear to be essential for guiding difficult changes in schools— the kinds of changes that principals may need lead in their schools in order to meet the challenges of the No Child Left Behind Act.

The new report, Leading Schools: Distinguishing the Essential from the Important, builds on findings from McREL’s 2003 research study, Balanced Leadership. This large-scale research study — the largest quantitative of its kind — not only found a strong link between effective school leadership and student achievement, but also helped to define effective leadership by identifying 21 leadership “responsibilities” linked to higher levels of student performance.

McREL’s latest report, written by Tim Waters and Sally Grubb, reports on additional research McREL conducted in 2004 to determine whether any underlying relationships might exist among the 21 leadership “responsibilities” and which of these responsibilities might be most important for leaders who are guiding their schools through difficult changes.

McREL surveyed 652 principals from across the country principals using an extensive online, self-assessment. Principals responded to questions designed to assess the extent to which they emphasize the 21 responsibilities in their leadership and the magnitude or “order” of the change efforts they are leading — that is, whether they are guiding day-to-day, incremental changes in their schools (sometimes called “first-order” changes) or more difficult “second-order” changes, which challenge prevailing norms and require teachers to learn new knowledge and skills. Three key findings emerged from this study:

1. All 21 leadership responsibilities are unique behaviors. McREL researchers found no significant inter-correlations among the 21 responsibilities that would support grouping them into a smaller number of categories. This lack of inter-correlation led researchers to conclude that all 21 leadership responsibilities represent important knowledge, skills, and practices that principals need to emphasize to positively impact student achievement.

2. All 21 responsibilities appear to be essential for leading day-to-day changes. McREL found that all 21 leadership responsibilities were positively correlated with “first-order” changes. This finding suggests that all 21 leadership responsibilities are important for guiding “first-order” changes in schools.

3. Eleven leadership responsibilities appear to be particularly important when guiding difficult, “second-order” changes. McREL researchers found 11 leadership responsibilities correlated with “second-order” changes. Seven were positively correlated with “second-order” change. This finding suggests that these seven leadership responsibilities — Change agent; Flexibility; Ideals and beliefs; Intellectual stimulation; Knowledge of curriculum, instruction and assessment; Monitor and evaluate; and Optimizer — are particularly important for guiding “second-order” changes in schools. Conversely, these same leaders tended to give themselves lower ratings on these four responsibilities: Communication, Culture, Input, and Order. These findings suggest that when engaged in “second-order” changes, teachers are likely to view their principals’ performance declining in these areas: communicating with staff, supporting cohesive culture, providing opportunities for input, and maintaining a sense of order.

The authors note that major national standards for school leaders do not distinguish between which leadership behaviors are important and which are essential to improving student achievement. They contend that research findings such as those presented in the report can help principals and those who prepare and supervise pare down the long list of principal standards to a more manageable set of responsibilities that are essential for raising student achievement.

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.