The ELAN Knowledge Categories represent a framework of performance areas that contribute to effective school leadership. Performance areas describe both individual skills and systemic conditions which link leadership to student achievement.
The Tools & Resources section is organized according to emerging knowledge - from both research and field-based work - that collectively creates a compelling picture of effective leader performance and how that connects to improved student achievement:
Cohesive Leadership System - Since 2000, The Wallace Foundation has supported a range of efforts aimed at significantly improving student learning by strengthening the standards, the training and the performance of education leaders, along with the conditions and incentives that affect their success – long a neglected area of school reform. The potential as well as the challenges of a more systemwide, coordinated approach to state-, district- and school-level policies and practices has evolved into a working hypothesis – what the foundation calls a “cohesive leadership system” – which holds potential for helping speed and make more permanent the advances being made in developing leadership that benefits the learning of all students. Such a cohesive leadership system are the basis for organizing the research reports, case studies, practical tools and stories that are posted in the Tools & Resources section.
Leadership Standards - Standards spell out clear expectations about what leaders need to know and do to improve instruction and learning – and form the basis for holding leaders accountable for results. Over the past several years, states and districts across the country have increasingly revised or added standards to encompass these knowledge and skills. Well-aligned state and district standards can provide an appropriate and effective leverage point for reform by encouraging diverse stakeholders to drive improvement efforts along a variety of fronts: licensure, program approval and candidate assessment. Under this category are the following topics:
Developing Leaders - State and district leaders must support the human capacity to lead instructional improvement by guiding the training and development of teachers, principals and other district and school personnel. Findings from a recent study by Stanford University show that “high-performing principals are not just born, but can be made. Those who are prepared in innovative, high-quality programs are more likely to become instructional leaders who are committed to the job and efficacious in their work.” Effective training programs, aligned to state standards, help ensure that school leaders are well prepared to meet the realities and demands of their jobs in particular schools and districts. Districts – and increasingly their local university partners – play a significant role not only in recruiting well-prepared leaders, but in providing continuing, job-relevant professional development and support to new and sitting principals. Under this category are the following topics:
Improving Conditions - High-quality training is necessary to ensure that school leaders know how to improve teaching and learning, but it is not enough. The long-term success or failure of leaders is dependent upon the working conditions that support their success; for example, the presence or absence of necessary data to inform decisions; the authority leaders either have, or lack, to direct needed resources (people, time and money) to meet all students’ needs; and whether or not state and local policies affecting the recruitment, hiring, placement and evaluation of school leaders support the meeting of standards and student learning goals. Many states and districts are making significant progress in adopting policies and practices that address these conditions and incentives, some of which are addressed in this section. Under this category are the following topics:
Leading Change - It is not enough for state commissioners, district superintendents, principals, assistant principals, teacher leaders and others to have extensive knowledge about schools, curriculum and instruction. To be effective, today’s leadership must know how to bring about lasting change that will improve education for students. Doing this requires innovative ideas and solid content knowledge; but, just as importantly, it requires an understanding of the dynamics of change and how they could affect desired reforms. This aspect of bringing about change is often ignored, to the peril of accomplishing school improvement goals. Resources in this section are devoted to how leaders at all levels of the system – state, district, school – set and communicate a clear and coherent direction in order to promote and sustain organizational change and learning gains. Under this category are the following topics: