RAND Education, a division of RAND Corporation, recently released a report commissioned by the Wallace Foundation entitled "Improving School Leadership: The Promise of Cohesive Leadership Systems" by Catherine H. Augustine, Gabriella Gonzalez, Gina Schuyler Ikemoto, Jennifer Russell, Gail L. Zellman, Louay Constant, Jane Armstrong, Jacob W. Dembosky. (RAND Education 2009).

The study examines the actions taken by Wallace Foundation grantees "...to create a more cohesive set of policies and initiatives to improve instructional leadership in schools; describes how states and districts have worked together to forge such policies and initiatives around school leadership; and examines the hypothesis that more-cohesive systems do in fact improve school leadership."

According to the report, "Effective school leadership is evidenced by principals who have high expectations for students, use data to inform their decisions, and focus attention and resources on improving instruction. It is also achieved by school leadership teams that plan, implement, and evaluate improvements in instruction for all students. The outcome of interest-improved teaching and student achievement-is facilitated by effective school leadership." (p. 4)

The study is based on research that shows that teacher and principal quality are essential school-based factors that contribute to student success.  Building on that information the Wallace Foundation posited that, "..... well-coordinated policies and initiatives to develop leadership standards, provide high-quality training, and improve the conditions that affect principals' work will increase their ability to improve instruction in their schools."

According to the report, "The study found that it is possible to build more-cohesive leadership systems and that such efforts appear to be a promising approach to developing school leaders engaged in improving instruction."

The study identified effective strategies and local conditions that fostered success, but was not able to find a correlation between improved conditions for principals and their engagement in instructional practices.

The report makes the following recommendations to develop closer working relationships between states and districts in order to better align policies for building a cohesive leadership system:

• Consider local contexts and address the challenges they pose. The study found that "building cohesive systems under challenging conditions, such as limited resources, cultures of independence, or reform "burnout," was difficult. However, some sites found ways to surmount barriers."
• Identify strong lead organizations and individuals. "We recommend that sites determine which of their agencies or organizations is best poised to lead the effort to develop a CLS. [Cohesive Leadership System] In particular, sites should question whether the SEA [State Education Agency] is the best choice for this role, factoring in its overall capacity and credibility and its willingness to think and work outside the boundaries created by categorical federal programs."
• Capitalize on external funding and expertise.
• Build trust and mend fences. "Sites may need to address possible trust issues before undertaking efforts to develop CLSs. Once trust has been established, it should be easier to develop common understandings, shared goals, and joint ownership of the work."
• Engage a broad coalition of stakeholders. "Sites should recognize the importance of involving relevant stakeholders and giving them the authority to make decisions, thereby fostering buy-in. Key state and district leaders would also benefit from meeting in the same room to discuss leadership and to develop policies and initiatives for improving it."
• Hone skills at applying pressure while providing support. "Applying pressure was effective when people perceived the state as willing and able to exercise its powers, and offering support was effective only when state actors and agencies could provide expertise that districts needed."
• Recognize innovative districts as "lead learners." "State officials would benefit from partnering with such "lead learners" and creating mechanisms for scaling up relevant initiatives."
• Connect school leadership efforts to standards and to other reforms in the state. "To bolster the success of leadership efforts, new sites could integrate leadership policies with other educational reforms in their districts and state.
• Solidify programs and funding through legislation and regulations. "Widespread and long-term reform was achieved through legislation and mandates that ensured that initiatives such as mentoring, evaluation systems, and the redesign of pre-service programs were implemented and funded."
• Engage in continuous learning and improvement. "Leaders and organizations involved in building a CLS sought and shared expertise by participating in networks, attending conferences, and sharing ideas from research. They collected data to demonstrate that building a CLS had made a difference and to attract future funding. Other sites would benefit from similar commitments to continuous improvements."
• Commit to engaging in this work over the long term. "Even leaders in sites that have relatively advanced CLSs reported that only after nine years of effort were they beginning to see a real difference. Those who choose to embark on such an initiative should be prepared to engage in the work over the long term."

The full report is available.