Learning Forward’s Paul Fleming has been chosen to speak with leaders across the K-12 spectrum about the value of professional learning and leadership development for principals and the teachers they lead. He will shine a spotlight on the under-recognized but research-supported role principals play in improving instruction for students.

On Monday, July 15th, Fleming will work with school and district leaders in a session entitled “Building an Equity-Centered Leader Development System with High Quality Professional Learning” at the UNITED national school leadership conference. “It’s a really great opportunity to connect the evidence about the importance of school leadership with the educators who are leading learning in their schools and districts and also setting policies in their states,” said Fleming, Learning Forward’s Chief Learning Officer who has served in the principalship and also as a state education policy leader in Tennessee.

In the session, Fleming will:

  • Help participants develop a holistic understanding of effective leadership practices and how leadership development systems centered in equity support those practices.
  • Highlight research driven by The Wallace Foundation that is changing how the field looks at effective school leadership, increasingly as a top priority for investment.
  • Delve into the vital role of supporting leaders’ growth and development with high-quality professional learning anchored in the Standards for Professional Learning.

 

Building on research

Fleming said he is looking forward to sharing interrelated research that reinforces the value of developing high-impact leaders and how structures like standards-based professional learning and comprehensive principal pipeline systems can build leadership capacity and, ultimately, improve student learning.

The Wallace Foundation’s 2021 research report, How Principals Affect Students and Schools (Grissom et. al)., showed that highly effective principals can contribute three months’ additional learning in math and reading for those students that are in their building.

The research also pointed to what principals need to do well to be effective leaders, identifying four evidence-based practices: (1) focusing on instruction in their interactions with teachers; (2) building a productive school climate; (3) promoting collaboration and professional learning among teachers and others, and (4) managing personnel and resources well.

During his session, Fleming will also discuss findings from The Wallace Foundation’s multi-year support for work in principal pipelines, which lays out the how of helping systems improve in ways that lead to a stronger pipeline of high-quality principals.

High-quality professional learning for leaders matters

It takes more than instinct for principals to engage in those evidence-based practices and for district leaders to strengthen principal pipelines. It requires meaningful and sustained professional learning. Fleming will explore how high-quality professional learning can help principals grow and develop as effective instructional leaders.

“They need to be able to recognize what rigorous instruction looks like in the classroom, how to give productive feedback to teachers to improve instruction, and how to design professional learning so that every teacher is providing high-quality instruction,” Fleming said. “It’s like a ripple effect. As a principal, you have to grow and develop around having instructionally focused conversations, and then you also need to be thinking at that scale level.”

As a principal, you have to grow and develop around having instructionally focused conversations, and then you also need to be thinking at that scale level. Share on X

The improvement of instructional practice is among the most important responsibilities of a school principal and therefore of principal professional learning. According to a recently released U.S. Department of Education report for the 2022-23 school year, among large U.S. districts reporting using federal Title II-A funds for principal professional development, 93% said they funded strategies and practices to help teachers improve instruction.

A 2022 Wallace Foundation and Learning Policy Institute report reinforced the connection between high-quality principal learning programs and improved outcomes for principals, teachers and students. The report also explored strategies that help principals meet the needs of diverse learners and work toward more equitable outcomes.

To move this leadership research into action, Fleming will help participants understand and apply the Standards for Professional Learning, developed by Learning Forward and revised in 2022. He will home in on three Equity standards that encourage professional learning leaders to attend to the content (Equity Practices), learning processes (Equity Drivers), and systems and conditions (Equity Foundations) that lead to increased access to learning for all educators and students. There’s a three-legged stool around centering equity in leadership development, Fleming said. “It’s exploring three essential and connected concepts: what are the mindsets, actions, and programs and policies needed to advance and sustain equity?

Looking ahead: Learning Forward’s new network initiative to strengthen leadership teams

Principals are essential for success, but they can’t ensure improvement on their own. They have to work in collaboration and alignment with other leaders and staff to achieve a vision of excellence for all. Leadership teams are one way Learning Forward works to ensure continuous improvement and support for principals and other school leaders.

Last year, Learning Forward designed and piloted a multi-district learning network in Florida for eight school-based leadership teams. Now, eight four-person teams are participating in the Leadership Team Institute’s new national cohort that kicks off on July 19 in Pasco County (Florida) Public Schools and runs through June 2025. A team typically includes a principal, assistant principal, teacher leader, and principal supervisor. The institute will develop the strengths of each team member and the team as a whole, using the Standards for Professional Learning, the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, and research on change leadership to guide and inform the individual and collective practices of each team. Teams will work from a new Learning Forward-designed tool that helps them assess their strengths and areas in need of improvement according to research on the characteristics of high-performing teams. They will also identify a problem of practice tied to an area they want to improve at their school, and create a professional learning plan that puts their learning into motion toward addressing that problem and achieving their goals.

Links to learn more:

UNITED: The National Conference on School Leadership, July 15-17.

Learning Forward’s Leadership Team Institute

Learning Forward’s Approach to School Leadership and Leadership Coaching