Doug Winkelstein

McREL’s 21 Responsibilities for School Leaders

In education, we are always hearing about the responsibilities of three main groups; the parents, the teachers, and of course, the students. Yes, these three groups of stakeholders are extremely important to the success of the educational system, the school, and of course, the students’ ability to learn. However, there is a forth group that is equally as important, and that is the school leaders. In the past, a school leader was seen as “the boss”, the one on top who makes the decisions, and people follow them. A reasonable person would most likely assume that the way in which a leader takes on this role has a lot to do with the success rate of the students and school as a whole. However, up until recently, there was little scientific evidence to show exactly what a school leader should do in order to be successful. School leaders were not held accountable to running the school in a certain way. In other words, there were no major responsibilities placed on school leaders in terms of leadership models. As long as they ‘got the job’ done, it was seen as okay.

This line of thinking is starting to change. Thanks to a report released in 2003 known as McREL’s 21 Leadership Responsibilities, educators now understand that there are certain behaviors that one MUST take in order to be successful. When Tim Waters, Robert Marzano, and Brian McNully conducted their research, they were able to back up their findings with data that showed a correlation between success of a school building and following the 21 behaviors. Although I will not go through each one, all 21 can be found by following the link on the bottom of this blog, there are several that I would like to touch upon.

Intellectual Stimulation: This factor states that the principal should give time for the staff to be up to date on current theories and practices. Professional development should come into play here. Teachers and administrators should be given the time to research, debate, and discuss current research and practices. Not all teachers have the luxury of attending higher education. Giving them time to do this in school would be highly beneficial to their teaching skills.

Change Agent: This factor can be touchy. Yes, I agree that an administrator must be a change agent, and not be afraid of change or upsetting some people in the process. However, I believe this factor should have a SLOW DOWN warning attached to it. School leaders who try to create change too quickly, before understanding the culture of a school, may not be able to make that positive difference that they were hoping for.

Monitor and Evaluate: This factor states that a principal must “monitor the effectiveness of school practices and their impact on student learning.” This is true, however teachers must be helped to understand that evaluations are not about ‘catching’ them doing something wrong. They are positive experiences created to help improve student achievement.

Flexibility: This factor is important now more than even in our current political climate. Leaders must be flexible with their staff, students, and community members. They must see what is right for their school at any given time, in any circumstance.

Some other important factors would be making sure that teachers have input, affirming and rewarding staff, understanding one’s role in discipline, focusing on goals and a vision, being involved in the curriculum, reaching out to all stakeholders, building relationships, finding resources, understand your school, and visibility. The great thing about these responsibilities is that they are common sense. However, they are extremely important to the success of a school. If principals do NOT act on these behaviors, there school will not be successful, and students will not be given the education that they rightfully deserve.



Sources:

http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/ldr/summarybl.pdf

http://www.aea11.k12.ia.us/ldr/responsibility.html