Effective leaders demonstrate practices that transform schools and districts into institutions of learning and improve student performance while maintaining an eye on past experiences, present circumstances, and future opportunities (Kearney et al., 2013). Through extensive observations, surveys, interviews, site visits, and personal communications, authors Ash and Hodge identified school and district leaders with the shared belief that their role was to help people think differently about student learning. The direct quotations from leaders are taken from the personal communications, which are listed at the end of the References.
These leaders lived the belief that schools can make a difference in the lives of students and in the life of communities.
Creating Transformation through the Critical Practices
Over the last four decades, educators experienced seemingly endless negative comments about ill-equipped teachers and the dire state of education in the United States. The media often provided opportunities for individuals to expound on the decline of education and the need for a solution. However, this book is the story of what happens in schools when effective, forward-thinking leaders collaborate with their staffs in the difficult task of creating change-adaptive learning environments with a focus on learning rather than a focus on teaching.
George Hall Elementary School
When Terri Tomlinson became principal of George Hall Elementary School in Mobile, Alabama, it was among the worst performing schools in Alabama, with fewer than 50% of the fourth-graders performing at grade level in reading or mathematics. The demographics of the school painted an all too familiar picture of students caught in a never-ending cycle of poverty leading nowhere.
Mrs. Tomlinson transferred voluntarily from the principalship in a high-performing elementary school to George Hall. The school’s low academic levels over a period of years prompted the district to remove the entire faculty and charge Mrs. Tomlinson with hiring all new faculty. With the exception of three teachers, Mrs. Tomlinson recruited a whole new team. The transformation and investment in the school’s success involved everyone—faculty, aides, custodians, and cafeteria workers. All participated in planning, decision-making, and training, and all knew the daily math and reading themes and questioned students in the cafeteria and halls about math and reading. Faculty and staff in every area had high expectations for students, each other, and themselves.
Going door-to-door to visit parents, Mrs. Tomlinson and her assistant principal built a new level of trust within the community. Their efforts resulted in a new commitment to the school and a renewed belief in the education potential of George Hall.
Fast-forward six years to find a considerable increase in student achievement. After the implementation of many instructional and organizational changes by Mrs. Tomlinson and her staff, George Hall received numerous national awards and recognition for high student performance and innovative teaching.
Alice Ott Middle School
When James Johnston first came to Alice Ott Middle School as principal, student expectations and achievement were low. There were significant achievement gaps among special education, English-language, economically disadvantaged, and White students. He said, “There was no shared mission, no clear picture of what quality literacy instruction meant; no strategic plan to help struggling readers; and worst of all, no understanding of who was struggling.”
Johnston’s first step was to get faculty input about what needed to occur. First, they spent some time talking about other organizations’ visions and missions. For example, they studied Nike’s mission, which is “To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world,” and how Nike has used it to create success. They also discussed how the private sector uses branding to make improvements. Then, different groups wrote down their ideas, people voted on the ideas, and they developed Alice Ott’s mission “To provide a safe, challenging, and supportive environment where students are prepared with the fundamentals for success in high school and beyond, developing them into responsible citizens and critical thinkers” and the school motto: “Champions find a way!”
After identifying the mission of the school, Principal Johnston led the staff in determining steps to achieve the mission.
“Our school is different now,” Johnston said. “People believe— students, teachers, parents have confidence. Now we believe that we will make it.” And they are making it. Alice Ott was in the top 10% of the schools in the state, an achievement that won them the designation as an Oregon Model School for three years in a row. Alice Ott was named a 2014 MetLife–NASSP Breakthrough School for its academic success and a 2015 Title I Distinguished School for helping low-income students succeed and closing achievement gaps. Principal Johnston received the 2013 Oregon Middle School Principal of the Year award, and Vice Principal Duane Larson is Oregon’s 2015 Vice Principal of the year.
Maplewood Richmond Heights High School
Kevin Grawer, principal of Maplewood Richmond Heights High School in St. Louis, Missouri, believed that when students felt cared for, their learning increased significantly. “It is our job,” he said, “to see that they do.” He told the students, faculty, and staff every day that he loved them and told the students that he would not let them fail. He and his faculty visited every home and “got to know the students and their families as individuals.” Mr. Grawer led the entire Maplewood faculty in participating in risk-free working teams. Some of the teams were an intervention team, a literacy team, a professional development team, a building advisory team, a teaching and learning committee that also included parents, and an honors committee. The teams met regularly and often to examine solutions to problems and perform the organizational work of the school. They also served as successful models of collaboration for students. Kevin Grawer received recognition as a Walsworth Consummate Professional in 2012. Student achievement and ACT averages showed significant increases, and Maplewood Richmond Heights High School was named a 2013 MetLife–NASSP Breakthrough School for its academic success.
Within the Five Critical Practices, Tomlinson, Johnston, and Grawer used a variety of methods to make the extensive and significant changes that transformed their schools. Their methods are described in later chapters in the book, along with many other case studies of schools and school districts struggling with the same issues. Each school or district demonstrated significant gains in student achievement over time. The case studies provide a view in greater depth of the practices of these leaders and their staffs and describe how they intuitively or deliberately modeled the Five Critical Practices of effective leaders, which resulted in success for the students and schools.
The Need for Change: Addressing the Global Educational Gap
The transformations of George Hall, Alice Ott, Maplewood Richmond Heights, and the others in this book stand as examples of what education in America needs to accomplish without delay. According to U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan (2010), “The hard truth is that other high-performing nations have passed us by during the last two decades … The gap between top-performing countries and the U.S. is meaningful—and large” (para. 17).
It is a disturbing reality that many students in America fail to perform at their highest academic levels. For example, even though over one million low-income elementary-school students rank in the top quartile on nationally normed standardized tests, significantly fewer maintain their high-achieving status throughout their school years than do higher income students (Wyner et al., 2007). In addition, America’s top students do not compare well to those from many other countries. In mathematics, for example, “only 2% of students in the United States reach the highest level (Level 6) of performance in mathematics, compared with an Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development average of 3% and 31% of students in Shanghai-China” (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2012).
Good news abounds, however! Considerable current research and best practices demonstrate that leaders make a substantial difference in student achievement (Leithwood et al., 2004; Waters et al., 2003). The Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning’s meta-analysis identified 21 leadership responsibilities that correlate significantly with higher student achievement (Waters et al., 2003). The Wallace Foundation’s work in the area of school leadership included a six-year study that identified how successful educational leadership improves student learning and recognized five practices that define successful leadership (Wallace Foundation, 2012). Several national organizations also identified standards that defined the traits that characterized effective principals, or their actions, or their knowledge and understanding. The Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) formulated six standards, with each standard undergirded by explanatory subsets in the categories of Knowledge, Dispositions, and Performances (ISLLC, 2012). The National Association of Elementary School Principals (2008) organized six standards around leading learning communities. The National Association of Secondary School Principals (2010) identified “10 skills for successful school leaders.” The Southern Regional Education Board (2010) organized 13 critical success factors into three key competencies.
The Five Critical Practices outlined in this book correlate with the major standards and practices identified by these organizations and synthesize the findings.
Which changes in actions and practices will increase student learning? How will the educational community improve instructional practices so that the whole of student learning is greater than the sum of the parts? Current research indicates that the talents and competences of the organizational leader powerfully influence the transformation and outcome of the organization (Leithwood et al., 2004; Waters et al., 2003).
In essence, the principal is probably the most essential element in a highly successful school. The principal is necessary to set change into motion, to establish the culture of change and a learning organization, and provide the support and energy to maintain the change over time until it becomes a way of life in the school … Without high-quality leadership, high-quality schools cannot exist.
(Valentine et al., 2004, p. 112)
Waters and Marzano (2007) found that district leadership is related to student achievement. Effective superintendents collaborate to set firm goals, monitor goals for teaching and learning, and make sure resources are available for achieving the district’s goals.
Five Critical Leadership Practices is a book written for a critical time when many American students have fallen woefully behind their global peers in performance and when bad news of every kind seems to be everywhere. But this is a good news book that tells many exceptional stories of extraordinary leaders who make the critical difference in the lives of students and frequently in the life of their communities. These effective educators shared their secrets to high-performing schools and school districts as models that can be adapted by other educational leaders engaged in learning for all.
