Table of Contents
About the Authors ix
1 Does District Leadership Matter? 1
The Study 2
The Relationship Between District Leadership and Student Achievement 4
What Does a Correlation Tell You? 4
Specific Leadership Behaviors 5
Ensuring Collaborative Goal Setting 6
Establishing Nonnegotiable Goals for Achievement and Instruction 6
Creating Board Alignment With and Support of District Goals 7
Monitoring Achievement and Instruction Goals 7
Allocating Resources to Support the Goals for Instruction and Achievement 8
A Surprising and Perplexing Finding: Defined Autonomy 8
The "Bonus" Finding 9
The District, Schools, and Teachers Working Together 9
Summary 12
2 Putting Our Findings in Perspective 13
Districts and Schools as Loosely Coupled Systems 13
Issues With Site-Based Management 15
The Call for Tight Coupling Regarding Achievement and Instruction 18
The Evidence From High-Reliability Organizations 19
The Evidence From Worldwide Study of Effective Schools 20
A New View of District Leadership 21
Summary 22
3 Setting and Monitoring Nonnegotiable Goals for Achievement 23
The Context for Setting and Monitoring Nonnegotiable Goals for Achievement 24
The Need for a Formatively Based, Value-Added System 27
Characteristics of a Formatively Based, Value-Added System 29
Phase 1 Reconstitute State Standards as Measurement Topics or Reporting Topics 30
Monitoring Phase 1 36
Phase 2 Track Student Progress on Measurement Topics Using Teacher-Designed and District-Designed Formative Assessment 39
Monitoring Phase 2 42
Phase 3 Provide Support for Individual Students 43
Monitoring Phase 3 47
Phase 4 Redesign Report Card 48
Monitoring Phase 4 52
Summary52
4 Setting and Monitoring Nonnegotiable Goals for Instruction 53
Characteristics of High-Quality Teachers 54
A Focus on Pedagogy 56
Phase 1 Systematically Explore and Examine Instructional Strategies 57
Monitoring Phase 1 59
Phase 2 Design a Model or Language of Instruction 60
Monitoring Phase 2 61
Phase 3 Have Teachers Systematically Interact About the Model or Language of Instruction 62
Monitoring Phase 3 63
Phase 4 Have Teachers Observe Master Teachers (and Each Other) Using the Model of Instruction 63
Monitoring Phase 4 65
Phase 5 Monitor the Effectiveness of Individual Teaching Styles 65
Monitoring Phase 5 69
Summary 70
5 Collaborative Goal Setting, Board Alignment, and Allocation of Resources 71
Collaborative Goal Setting 71
Board Alignment and Support 75
Allocation of Resources 77
The United States Versus Other Countries 79
Summary 85
6 Defined Autonomy in a High-Reliability District 87
The Common Work of Schools Within a District 89
School Leadership for Defined Autonomy 90
District Initiative: Ensure Collaborative Goal Setting 94
District Initiative: Establish Nonnegotiable Goals for Achievement and Instruction 96
District Initiative: Create Board Alignment and Support 97
District Initiative: Monitor Nonnegotiable Goals 98
District Initiative: Allocate Resources 99
Summary and Conclusions 103
7 The Perils and Promises of Second-Order Change 105
Living Through the Tough Times 107
Some Advice for District Leaders 109
Recommendation #1 Know the Implications of Your Initiatives 109
Recommendation #2 Maintain a Unified Front 109
Recommendation #3 Keep the Big Ideas in the Forefront 110
Recommendation #4 Use What Is Know About Acceptance of New Ideas 110
Recommendation #5 Communicate With "Sticky Messages" 111
Recommendation #6 Manage Personal Transitions 112
Revisiting the Bonus Finding 113
Epilogue 115
Technical Notes 117
Technical Note 1.1 Interpretation of Correlation Between Principal Leadership and Student Achievement 117
Technical Note 1.2 General Methodology Used in This Study 118
Technical Note 1.3 Binomial Effect Size Display Interpretation of Correlations 126
Technical Note 1.4 Correlation for Five District Responsibilities or Initiatives 129
Technical Note 1.5 Correlation for Defined Autonomy 131
Technical Note 1.6 Tenure 132
Technical Note 1.7 District, School, and Teacher Effects 132
Technical Note 3.1 Standardized Mean Difference Effect Size (ESd) 138
Technical Note 3.2 Interpretation of Durlak and Weissberg (2007) Findings 139
Appendix 141
Reports Used in Meta-Analysis 141
References 143
Index 155
