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9 shifts in practice smooth the transition from school to central office

By Learning Forward
Categories: Career pathways, Leadership, System leadership
October 2015
No longer is the central office a place for educators’ careers to meet a dead end. Nor can it be where ineffective leaders are transferred to lessen impact. It cannot be “the blob,” as coined by William Bennett (Walker, 1987). The Wallace Foundation notes that the central office has never been more important for system and individual school improvement (Honig, Copland, Rainey, Lorton, & Newton, 2010). Marzano, Waters, & McNulty (2005) articulated 21 responsibilities of school-level leadership, then turned their attention to the superintendency. This meta-analysis (Waters & Marzano, 2006) resulted in four major findings: District-level leadership matters. Effective superintendents focus their efforts on creating goal-oriented districts. Superintendent tenure is positively correlated with student achievement. Effective superintendents may provide principals with “defined autonomy” — that

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Authors

Thomas M. Van Soelen and Debra Harden

Thomas M. Van Soelen (thomas@vansoelenassociates.com) is a professional learning consultant and leadership coach. Debra Harden (debro48@bellsouth.net) is professional development director of the Georgia School Superintendents Association.

Joe Sullivan is a high school principal in a rural district. He and the other principals in the district received an email announcing the assistant superintendent’s retirement. One of the principals forwarded the email to him with a note saying, “Here you go, man. This is your opportunity.”

“Why would I want to do that?” Sullivan wondered. “I really don’t want to be one of those administrators, do I? Is this really a path to something worthwhile and fulfilling?”

Key questions

These questions and their corresponding answers were vital to the development team:

  • From your previous leadership experiences, what prepared you most? What prepared you the least?
  • What has been the hardest thing about this leadership post?
  • What do you see as the knowing/doing gap when principals are promoted to the central office?

How the program works

One weekend a month for 10 months, program participants explore these shifts. Practicing superintendents and district office leaders lead them through simulations, work product construction, and examinations of their own work.

A shared text, Leading for Results: Transforming Teaching, Learning, and Relationships in School (Sparks, 2006), grounds the entire year. Protocols modeled through an experienced member of the School Reform Initiative build participants’ prowess in leading respectful, productive processes.

At every turn, the program models Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011), with a focus on the Leadership and Learning Communities standards.

References

Education Commission of the States. (2015). 50-state analysis: Superintendent preparation programs. Available at https://ecs.force.com/mbdata/mbtab3nU?SID=a0i700000009va5&Rep=SPP.

Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement. (2012). GLISI roles for 8 school leaders. Lawrenceville, GA: Author.

Honig, M.I., Copland, M.A., Rainey, L., Lorton, J.A., & Newton, M. (2010). Central office transformation for district-wide teaching and learning improvement. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy.

Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium. (2008). Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards. Washington, DC: Author.

Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.

Marzano, R.J., Waters, J.T., & McNulty, B.A. (2005). School leadership that works: From research to results. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Sparks, D. (2006). Leading for results: Transforming teaching, learning, and relationships in schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Turnbull, B.J, Riley, D.L., & MacFarlane, J.R. (2013, December). Building a stronger principalship, Vol. 2: Cultivating talent through a principal pipeline. New York, NY: The Wallace Foundation.

Walker, R. (1987, March 2). Bennett: Test gains at ‘dead stall.’ Education Week. Available online at www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1987/03/02/07470041.h07.html.

Waters, J.T. & Marzano, R.J. (2006). School district leadership that works: The effect of superintendent leadership on student achievement. Denver. CO: McREL.

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Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.

Categories: Career pathways, Leadership, System leadership

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