District Leadership That Works : Striking the Right Balance

by Marzano, Robert J.

• ISBN13: 9781935249191
• ISBN10: 1935249193
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-06-01
• Publisher: Solution Tree

Summary

District leaders need not direct educational policy and progress from a distance. District Leadership That Works: Striking the Right Balance explores the research that proves district leadership does have an impact on student achievement in the classroom. When leaders strike the right balance between establishing overarching goals and supporting building-level autonomy on how to meet those goals, student achievement flourishes. The authors show how to strengthen and support the educational process through dynamic collaboration-with schools, teachers, boards, unions, and community members-that ensures every student's success.

Table of Contents

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