Leadership Team Functions

What are seven responsibilities associated with school leadership that impact second order change in a school?

In their book School Leadership that Works, Marzano, Waters and McNulty conducted a meta-analysis of 69 independent studies related to the specific behaviors related to principal leadership. Through this analysis, they identified 21 “responsibilities” which provide some insight into school leadership. (see Handout). In their study, they found that all 21 responsibilities are important for first order change. That is to say, these responsibilities all should define the standard operating procedures in a school. This list of responsibilities can be daunting. However, Marzano, Waters and McNulty found that not all of these are related to second order change. Those responsibilities most strongly correlated to second order change are:

Change agent (Is willing to challenge and actively challenges the status quo)
Flexibility (Adapts his/her leadership behavior to the needs of the current situation and is comfortable with dissent)
Ideals/Beliefs (Communicates and operates from strong ideals and beliefs about schooling)
Knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and assessment (Is knowledgeable about current curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices)
Intellectual stimulation (Ensures faculty and staff are aware of the most current theories and practices and makes the discussion of these a regular aspect of the school’s culture)
Monitoring/Evaluating (Monitors the effectiveness of school practices and their impact on student learning)
Optimizer (Inspires and leads new and challenging innovations)

In these modules will focus upon these seven responsibilities of a school leader, and specifically how they translate into practices and responsibilities of a leadership team as they impact second order change of school improvement.

Watch the following video as Marsha Smith explains how she used the 21 responsibilities mentioned earlier during her leadership team retreat as she opened a brand new school building and worked to identify a “focus” for her team.