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Indicators of School Leadership Success

February 12, 2019 - 4 minute read


Desk with books, pencils, blocks and a apple on it

How do we know that school leaders are successful? Improving test scores are the most obvious indicators of school leadership success. However, test scores provide a limited snapshot of school improvement. They take time to improve and there are many, many factors that go into sustainable improvements that manifest in high stakes accountability (e.g., test scores) improvement.

What does the school feel like

There are some more immediate indicators of school leadership successes. These include the feeling that one gets when one walks into the building. Is the staff welcoming and friendly? What is the chatter among the staff? Are they talking about positive things about the kids, the school and their colleagues? What is the chatter among the kids? Are they engaged in healthy developmentally appropriate chatter? Are they talking about the things that they are learning in their classrooms? Are they talking about upcoming school events? All of the chatter in the building is influenced by the manner in which the leadership engages with the students, staff and the community. When the leader’s public interactions are positive and constructive others tend to follow suit.

How clean and welcoming is the school

Is the campus clean and welcoming? It may sound silly, or simplistic, but when a leader models a willingness to reach down to pick up trash others do the same. This results in a much cleaner campus and more welcoming environment.

How do the classrooms feel

What is the energy in the classrooms? When one walks into the classrooms in a school does instruction stop? Do the kids do a double take? When the leadership is in the classrooms regularly they develop a much more clear picture of what’s happening in the building and the teachers and students grow accustomed to having visitors. Having open classrooms, where learning is transparent, is a strong indicator of leadership success.

Does the Master Schedule Promote Equity

A more nuanced view of school leadership success manifests in the school’s master schedule. Do students have access to a robust offering of rigorous courses? Is there a healthy range of CTE and VAPA electives for students and does student choice drive the enrollment in those classes? Leadership owns the master schedule and student needs drive the course selections. Equity and equitable access can readily be viewed in the course offerings and selections.

Are there Systems in Place that are Apparent to All

Are there robust PBIS systems in place that are supported by Multi Tiered Systems of Support for both student academic and social/emotional needs? In a successful school the systems of support and intervention are part of the school’s culture and are readily perceptible to members of the school community and visitors. These things happen when leaders make them a priority.

Is there a Collaborative Culture

Is the staff engaged in positive meaningful collaboration? It is leadership’s responsibility to carve out time for the staff to collaborate and to support staff in their efforts to grow and learn together; to use data to drive the work that they do in their classes and across the school’s programs.

Data:

Do the staff know the school’s data and is the data to which they refer deeper than state test scores? In a successful school the staff and leadership both know and use data to drive their decisions and to adjust their systems and work.

A culture of fun

Are people having fun? A clear indicator of school leadership success is that students and staff are visibly having fun in the school. Learning is work but it can also be fun. When leadership, students and staff are willing to smile and laugh with each other the tenor and tone of the building takes on a lighter and more constructive feel. Positive energy begets positive energy.

All of the things discussed above are indicators of successful school leadership. Done well, these things will inevitably lead to higher scores on high stakes state assessments. Successful leadership has many more indicators than test scores. The greatest indicator of a successful school is that people want to be in the building (staff, students and leaders are happy and proud to be part of the school and the work that is being done at the school).

Leadership is challenging and rewarding on many levels. My experience has been that the rewards far outweigh the challenges. Who wouldn’t want to work in a building where the above was true?

Stuart Caldwell has been in public education since 1991. After having taught at both the middle school and high school levels for seven years, he then moved into administration, serving as an assistant principal at both middle and high school. Woodworth-Monroe TK-8 in Inglewood is his third principalship. The entirety of his educational experience has been in Title I inner-city schools.

Beyond his site administrative experience, Caldwell has taught in the MAED and Ed.D. programs for Concordia University Irvine since 2006, helping to prepare teachers for leadership and leaders for advanced leadership positions. He believes strongly in the power of education as a way to increase equitable access to all of the benefits of our society for our students and families. He loves the work he does in both his day job as a site leader and as an adjunct professor.

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