four paths of influence kenneth leithwood

How Leadership Influences Student Learning

An Evidence-based Perspective

Kenneth LeithwoodOntario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE)

University of Toronto

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

What We Know About the Size of Leadership Effects

The Quantitative Evidence• Large scale studies of leadership effects on student

learning (e.g., Hallinger & Heck, 1996)

• Large scale quantitative studies of individual leadership practices on student learning (e.g., Waters, Marzano & McNulty, 2003)

• Large scale quantitative studies of leadership effects on student engagement in school (e.g., Leithwood & Jantzi, 1999; Silins & Mulford, 2002)

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

What We Know About the Size of Leadership Effects

The Qualitative Evidence

• Qualitative case studies of exceptional or “turnaround” schools (e.g., Reitzug & Patterson, 1998)

• Leadership succession studies (e.g., Hargreaves & Moore, 2004)

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Key Starting Points

Leadership is the exercise of influence.

The effects of leadership on student learning are mostly indirect.

So….the fundamental question is…

What pathways does leadership influence travel when it has an impact on student learning?

Four Paths of Leadership Influence on Student Learning

Leadership Practices

FamilyPath

OrganizationalPath

EmotionsPath

RationalPath

School-wideExperience

ClassroomExperience

StudentLearning

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Rational Path

Engages staff knowledge and skill which have an impact on:

• quality of instruction

• teacher retention

• teacher self and collective efficacy

• student learning

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Rational Path

examples of Consequential Variables

In the classroom• instructional time• content coverage• instructional quality• diagnostic adaptation

In the school• academic press• disciplinary climate

Calls for leaders’ knowledge of the “technical core” and expert problem-solving processes

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Emotions Path

Engages teachers’ motivations which have an impact on:

• quality of instruction

• engagement in the school

• teacher retention

• student learning

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Emotions Direct Cognition

• Emotions structure perception, direct attention, give preferential access to certain memories, and bias judgment in ways that help the individual respond to the environment in ways that we recognize as valuable aspects of our humanity.

Oatley & Jenkins, 2006

• Emotions are a solution to a general problem: they set priorities among the very different goals that impinge upon individuals at any moment in time.

Simon, 1967

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Emotions Path examples of Consequential Variables

• Teacher efficacy

• Commitment

• Stress

• Trust

• MoraleCalls for leaders’ “social appraisal skills” and “emotional intelligence”

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Organizational Path

Engages the context in which teachers’ work, the school’s infrastructure, and teachers’ working conditions -- with an impact on:

• teachers’ emotions

• opportunities for teachers to do what they know how to do

• student learning

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Organizational Path

examples of Consequential Variables

In class• Instructional time

• Complexity of teachers’ workload

In school• Professional networks

• Structures to support collaboration

Calls for leaders to engage in holistic “systems thinking”

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Family Path

Engages the family’s educational culture which has an impact on students’:

• educational aspirations

• vocational aspirations

• retention

• learning

This pathway also influences staff’s understanding of students’ social capital “useful” for their learning

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Family Path

Examples of Consequential Variables

• Parental expectation

• Parent role models

• Connections with other adults

• Space and time in the home for school-related work

Calls for leaders understanding of student learning as “co-produced” by families and schools

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Leadership Practices Which Exercise Influence

• Setting Directions

• Developing People

• Redesigning the Organization

• Managing the Instructional Program

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

SettingDirections

GroupGoals

Communication

Vision

Expectations

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

DevelopingPeople

IntellectualStimulation

Modeling

IndividualizedSupport

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Redesigningthe

Organization

Families and

Communities

Connections

Culture

Structures

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Managingthe

Instructional Program

ResourceAllocation

Monitoring

Staffing

Buffering

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

The Distribution of Leadership Practices

Leadership Practices

School

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Study One: Influence and Achievement

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Leadership Sources

Q 1

Q 2

Q 3

Q 4

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How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Rating of Leadership Sources by Quintiles Based on Student Achievement

• Schools in the highest quintile attributed relatively high levels of influence to all sources of leadership

• Schools in the lowest quintile attributed relatively low levels of influence to all sources of leadership

• Highest quintile schools, as compared to the lowest, differed most in ratings of teams, parents and students

• Principals were rated as having highest influence in schools in ALL quintiles

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Study Two: Alternate Patterns of Leadership Distribution

Planful Alignment

Planful Alignment

SpontaneousMisalignment

SpontaneousMisalignment

SpontaneousAlignment

SpontaneousAlignment

AnarchicMisalignment

AnarchicMisalignment

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

“Academic Optimism” as the Dependent Variable – Hoy, Tarter & Woolfolk Hoy (2006)

• Faculty trust in parents and students• Teachers’ collective efficacy• Academic emphasis

Strong effects on student achievement in reading, writing, social studies, science and math

Academic Optimism Under Coordinated and Uncoordinated Patterns of DistributionPlanful AlignmentPlanful Alignment

Planful AlignmentPlanful Alignment

Spontaneous Spontaneous

MisalignmentMisalignment Spontaneous Spontaneous

MisalignmentMisalignment

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Optimism

Pessimism

0.00

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Optimism

Pessimism

How Leadership Influences Student LearningKen Leithwood

Concluding Thoughts about Leadership

• Second only to classroom instruction

• Central to realizing “synergistic” effects

• We know a lot about what successful leaders do

• Their influence travels along at least four paths

• Leadership needs to be distributed –but in a coordinated way