District/School Administration Administration
The Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education

Update on Educational Leadership Development

The materials for our September meeting included highlights of the Department's work in educational leadership development. I am writing to provide you with a more in-depth update of our statewide initiatives in this area, particularly our work to develop new professional standards for school administrators.

This initiative is an integral component of my "Working Goals and Priorities," #1 Educator Development. Through our research, recent training initiatives such as NISL (National Institute for School Leadership) and outreach to administrators, their associations and other school leaders, we have concluded that the current Professional Standards for Administrators have gaps, are not adequately measurable, and do not sufficiently support the development of high-quality, high-impact school leadership. Given the importance of effective leadership to improved student performance, I will bring draft amendments to the Professional Standards for Administrators to the Board for discussion and ultimately for your vote this spring. Your questions and comments at this month's meeting will assist us as we draft the amendments.

Background

Since 2000, Massachusetts and most other states have seen a growing gap between the supply of and demand for well-prepared, experienced school leaders. Of particular concern are the small and diminishing numbers of educators who aspire to the role of principal and/or superintendent. Incumbent school leaders report difficult working conditions, accelerating demands to deliver results at a time of diminished resources, and a widening compensation gap with private sector roles of comparable responsibility. Too many of our educational leaders find their training inadequate for carrying out their work to close achievement gaps and drive higher levels of student achievement.

The Department's foundational work earlier this decade on leadership standards and development was supported by funding from the Dewitt Wallace Foundation. This funding allowed the Department to collaborate with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS), the Massachusetts Secondary Schools Administrators Association (MSSAA), the Massachusetts Elementary School Principals Association (MESPA), the Massachusetts Association of School Committees (MASC), and the Springfield Public Schools' Project LEAD initiative as we focused on defining and addressing the educational leadership challenges confronting our state.

Key achievements that resulted from the early Wallace-funded work include:

• launch and approval of eight district-based licensure programs for administrators;
• engagement with stakeholder groups on needed changes to the regulations for administrator licenses; and
• aspiring leader meetings to recruit prospective administrator candidates.

Professional Standards for Administrators

The current Massachusetts Professional Standards for Administrators were adopted by the Board as part of a major overhaul of educator preparation and licensure regulations in 2001. A growing body of national and international research on effective school leadership over the past ten years documents the importance of clear and measurable professional standards in the development of effective instructional leadership. Standards that sufficed at the beginning of this decade are now falling short. Superintendents and principals have found the current standards an inadequate measure of preparedness to deliver improved instruction, curricula and district/school management. Preparation programs find the current standards inadequate to drive needed changes to their curricula and practicum experiences.

The Department and the University of Massachusetts Center for Educational Policy have been working in partnership with the field to draft professional standards that will support leaders prepared for the challenges and opportunities of 21st century schools and districts. Lessons learned from the difficulties of changing professional practice, input from principals and districts, as well as other state's experiences since 1996 have helped shape two principles for developing the standards:

1. The process must include input from as many stakeholders as possible during the development stage in order to benefit from the considerable knowledge and experience of practitioners, to build consensus, and to sustain momentum for change.

2. The product should be a set of policy standards that are teachable, actionable, and measurable. This is essential in order to drive the changes in leadership practice needed to close achievement gaps and increase student achievement.

Thus far in the process, four overarching standards have emerged:

Standard I: Leadership for Learning and Instruction

The principal promotes the success of all students by cultivating a shared vision that prioritizes the core technology of schooling: teaching and learning.

Standard II: Organizational Management & Operations

The principal promotes the success of all students by ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.

Standard III: Community Partnerships

The principal promotes the success of all students by developing partnerships with families and community members that support the mission of the school.

Standard IV: Reflective Leadership

The principal promotes the success of all students by providing appropriate, skilled and reflective leadership.

"Key practices" that demonstrate each standard have also been drafted with the objective that they are teachable, actionable, and measurable (i.e., lend themselves directly to the development of candidate performance assessments). Preliminary drafts of the professional standards and key practices for administrators have been vetted by the Department with the Educational Personnel Advisory Council (EPAC), MESPA, MSSAA, and the MA Association of School Personnel Administrators (MASPA). In addition, 110 administrators completed a web-based survey, and a series of focus groups were convened with principals, administrators, and other stakeholders around the state during fall 2007 and winter 2008.

Last year the Department received a new three-year grant from the Wallace Foundation to work with the Boston and Springfield Public Schools to incorporate elements of the draft standards into their district-based administrator preparation programs. Findings from these district-based pilots will enable us to refine the standards based upon "on the ground" practice prior to presenting them to the Board for consideration in 2009. Once adopted, these new standards will serve as the cornerstone of the preparation, licensure, hiring, evaluation and ongoing professional development of school administrators.

National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) Executive Training for Principals

We know that pre-service training and licensure are just the first step in growing effective leadership. The National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) in-service training model promotes ongoing development of individual leaders as well as the conditions under which strong leadership is fostered and enabled.

In 2005, the Department launched an ambitious plan to provide executive leadership training to all principals in the state through NISL. This intensive two-year training is designed for principals during their first years of service. The program focuses on instructional leadership and uses a standards-based system to drive increased student achievement. The Massachusetts NISL initiative originally focused on the nine urban districts with the largest number of schools under NCLB "corrective action" or "restructuring" status. It has expanded over time with almost 900 principals from 26 districts benefiting from the program. With district/school teams often participating together, the impact of these trainings extends beyond individuals to entire schools and districts.

Additional Leadership Development Initiatives:

Two additional leadership development initiatives are worth mentioning:

• Leadership Alliance: A coalition of the Department and professional organizations (MESPA, MASS, MASC, MSSA) to provide training and support for leaders at all levels, from aspiring principals to superintendents to school committees.

• ExEL Team: Brings together administrators and staff from the Department and four urban districts (Springfield, Boston, Chelsea, and Worcester) in collective study and problem solving for issues in MA education. The Team's first project is to build up a systems approach to serving our increasingly diverse student population of second language learners.

A More Cohesive Leadership System: Remaining Challenges

The professional standards for administrators will form the foundation for a coordinated system of leadership development that is designed to ensure that school and district leaders promote continuous improvement of student learning. The standards will undergird:

• Redesigned training at 35 approved campus and district-based administrator preparation programs;
• Licensing, hiring, induction and ongoing leadership development structured to provide support for rigorous practice; and
• Performance evaluations for accountability and for formative professional self-reflection.

The Wallace Foundation's "Measuring What Matters: Standards, Assessments and Leader Performance" Forum - November 6 and 7

As I announced previously, the Wallace Foundation is hosting this forum in Boston on November 6-7. The conference will bring together over 75 Wallace-funded researchers with state and district leaders to learn about work underway nationally on using formative assessments to strengthen leaders' performance.

You have been invited to attend the Town Hall Meeting and dinner at the Westin Copley Place in Boston on November 6 at which time the New York Times will conduct a panel discussion with Massachusetts education leaders on the question, "What kind of leaders do our schools deserve?" The Wallace Foundation selected Boston as the site for the forum in order to highlight the progress being made in Massachusetts on Wallace-funded initiatives to strengthen education leadership for learning and improvement in high-need schools and districts. The forum will provide a national perspective on our accomplishments to date, as well as context for our upcoming discussions and decisions pertaining to leadership standards, preparation, and assessment.