Re-Defining School Leadership Responsibilities



      In Chapter 2 of Improving School Leadership, Volume 1: Policy and Practice, the authors focus on four categories of leadership responsibilities; supporting, evaluating, and developing teacher quality, setting learning objectives and implementing intelligent assessment systems, strategic use of resources and their alignment with pedagogical purposes, and taking school leadership beyond the school’s borders. (Pont, Nusche, and Moorman, 2008) These areas are further explained in detail throughout the chapter and include several subcategories. Because it goes into so much detail, I am going to dig into the first category and its subcategories in this post and will briefly discuss the other three categories in the next post. I will, however, refer back to all categories in future posts, when I discuss how my school would benefit from leadership distribution.

       The first major category, supporting, evaluating, and developing teacher quality, is arguably the most important responsibility for school leaders. The teachers have the most impact on students, both their performance and their improvement. It would stand to reason then, that supporting, evaluating, and developing teachers’ skills would be vitally important. This is done by managing the curriculum and teaching programs. Even the most talented teachers can be limited by a poor curriculum – one can create engaging lessons but if the content does not align with state standards, or is not rigorous enough, the learning will fall short.

       Another way to address this leadership responsibility is with teacher monitoring and evaluation. According to Pont, Nusche, and Moorman, there are many studies that show when a school leader is involved in classroom observations and feedback it positively affects student achievement (2008). The authors do not hypothesize as to why this might be, but speaking from experience, it helps to have acknowledgement that I am doing my job correctly. I also would like to know how to improve, and would like tools to be able to do so - being motivated to improve and having the tools with which to improve will increase my effectiveness as an educator.

      The third subcategory in this group covers developing teacher quality and this is, of course, done by supporting professional development. There is so much that goes into managing and supporting professional development that I will not have the space to go into all of it here. I would like mention the study on Leadership for Organizational Learning and Student Outcomes (LOLSO) that found effective organizational learning requires a trusting and collaborative climate, a shared and monitored mission, the capacity to take initiatives and risks, and ongoing relevant professional development.(Pont, Nusche, and Moorman, 2008) These are helpful guidelines when thinking about our professional development in the future, but also lead to other questions about how to build a trusting and collaborative climate and how to get everyone on board with missions and purpose. 

      Which leads to the fourth, and final subcategory in this group, supporting collaborative work cultures. School models in Sweden that are focused on learning organizations found success in this area when they challenged teachers to be learners. They did this by asking the staff questions like “How do we know that?” and “Could we test another way of doing it?” These questions led to teachers forming working teams where learning-directed discussions could happen and the school leaders communicated with the staff through these team leaders. I personally like the idea of “working teams” that are teacher driven – this makes me think of a school one of my co-workers told me about where new teachers have to pick at least one school committee on which to serve. To me, this practice seems the best way to promote and support a collaborative work culture.

       Again, as teachers are the ones with the most influence on student achievement, ensuring that they are capable and qualified is paramount. Strong curriculum, teacher evaluations, and relevant professional developments are areas in which this particular leadership responsibility can be supported. There are, of course, other responsibilities which will be discussed in part two of Re-defining School Leadership Responsibilities.


Works Cited


Pont, B., Nusche, D., & Moorman, H. (2008) Improving School
      Leadership Volume One: Policy  and Practice. Retrieved
      from http://www.oecd.org/education/school/44374889.pdf

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