School & District Management

Analysis Teases Out Ways Principals Boost Learning

By Debra Viadero — October 01, 2003 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Researchers and policymakers have long maintained that effective school leaders can improve student achievement. Now, an analysis of 30 years of research on the subject sheds some light on how key characteristics of effective school leadership interact.

Researchers at Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning, an Aurora, Colo.-based research group better known as McREL, spent a year and a half reviewing more than 5,000 studies on educational leadership. They found 70 that statistically examined the relationship between effective school leaders and student achievement.

“Balanced Leadership: What 30 Years of Research Tells Us About the Effect of Leadership on Student Achievement,” is available from the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning. (Requires Adobe’s Acrobat Reader.)

Using meta-analytic techniques to compare the size of the effects from all those studies, the researchers determined that, for an average school, having an effective leader can mean the difference between scoring at the 50th percentile on a given achievement test and achieving a score 10 percentile points higher.

The study also identified 21 leadership characteristics that seemed to be linked to changes in students’ test scores.

The strongest of those was “situational awareness,” which the study defines as the extent to which the leader is savvy about the details and undercurrents in the running of the school and uses that information to address problems.

Whether leaders recognized and rewarded individual accomplishments, on the other hand, seemed to have the least impact on test scores, though it still mattered enough to be listed among the top 21.

The report also goes on to say, however, that “just as leaders can have a positive impact on achievement, they also can have a marginal, or worse, a negative impact on achievement.”

‘Order’ of Change

What seems to make the difference, the authors conclude, is whether the leader focuses on the right change for that particular school and whether he or she understands the “order” of that change.

A “first order” change, for instance, is one that is consistent with a school’s existing values and practices and offers obvious benefits to everyone involved. More difficult-to-produce “second order” changes call on educators to break with their traditions.

“We believe this explains why, in some cases, people work hard to introduce improvements and things don’t get better. They get worse,” said Tim Waters, the president of McREL, which also houses one of the U.S. Department of Education’s regional education laboratories. He conducted the study along with Robert J. Marzano, the center’s senior scholar, and Brian A. McNulty, the organization’s vice president for field services.

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Equity & Diversity Webinar
Classroom Strategies for Building Equity and Student Confidence
Shape equity, confidence, and success for your middle school students. Join the discussion and Q&A for proven strategies.
Content provided by Project Lead The Way
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Professional Development Webinar
Disrupting PD Day in Schools with Continuous Professional Learning Experiences
Hear how this NC School District achieved district-wide change by shifting from traditional PD days to year-long professional learning cycles
Content provided by BetterLesson
Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management After a Lesson on Michelangelo's David, a Florida Principal Loses Her Job
Parents complained that images of the famous sculpture were "pornographic" and that they weren't notified of the lesson in advance.
Michelangelo's marble statue of "David", is seen in Florence's Galleria dell' Accademia on May 24, 2004.
Michelangelo's marble statue of "David" is displayed in the Galleria dell' Accademia in Florence, Italy.
Fabrizio Giovannozzi/AP
School & District Management A New Federal Plan Could Make Free School Meals a Reality for More Students
The plan will mostly benefit districts in states where lawmakers have enacted universal free school meal policies.
5 min read
Young boy in a school lunchroom cafeteria line and choosing a slice of pizza to put on his tray which includes an apple.
SDI Productions/Getty
School & District Management Did Principal Turnover Increase During the Pandemic? Here's What We Know
The data are still scant, but what’s emerging shows a drop in 2020-21 and an increase the following year.
6 min read
Black and white male and female figures walking in different directions on a light blue textured background. One male figure is walking out of an open door.
Anton Vierietin/Getty
School & District Management MAP: Where School Employees Can and Can't Strike
See which states do and don't allow public school employees to go on strike.
2 min read
Amy Chapman and her daughter, first grader Corinne Anderson, pose for a photo while they support teachers on strike outside Whetstone High School in Columbus, Ohio, on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022.
Amy Chapman and her daughter, 1st grader Corinne Anderson, show support for teachers on strike outside Whetstone High School in Columbus, Ohio, on Aug. 24, 2022.
Samantha Hendrickson/AP