An Evidence-Based Approach to
the Practice of Educational
Leadership
First Edition
Ronald W. Rebore
Angela L. E. Walmsley
Saint Louis University
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Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Chapter 4: The Learning
Community and an EvidenceBased Approach
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Instructional Objectives
• To learn how to create a culture of
evidence in a school district that will
enhance the learning community
• To provide information that can be used to
engage stakeholders in discourse, which
will strengthen the learning community.
• To understand the importance of the
learning community, as the school is
situated within a surrounding community
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Instructional Objectives
• To understand the operationalization of shared
responsibility among members of the learning
community
• To understand the “concept of duty” and why it is
a learning community’s responsibility to educate
a younger generation.
• To provide examples of evidence for different
members of the learning community to show
progress or changes within a school, and to
develop these into a school improvement plan
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Introduction
• Educational leadership is a shared
responsibility which is focused on the
promotion of learning by all members of
the community.
• All people involved in the learning
community need to see results of the
learning effort as evidence in the form of
data.
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The Culture of the Learning
Community
• Every school is a reflection of the
community surrounding it.
• Administrators must work to develop a
positive learning culture.
• This requires the administrator to reflect
on his or her own practices to facilitate
such an environment.
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The Culture of the Learning
Community
• The culture of learning communities can be
negative or positive.
– Negative: high turnover rate, high absenteeism, high
drop-out rates
– Positive: low teacher turnover, mentor programs, low
absenteeism, low drop-out rates
• The administrator must start where the school
and community is at and work towards improving
the learning community.
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The Culture of the Learning
Community
• An administrator should evaluate both
informally and formally the learning culture
and suggest changes as needed.
• A network or team of instructional leaders
should be built to continually strive
towards the best learning community.
• An administrator should match the
school’s or community’s goals and
expectations.
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The Culture of the Learning
Community
• In order to lead a professional learning
community, the following attributes of culture
must be analyzed:
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–
–
–
–
–
–
Collaboration
Leadership
Focus on learning
Goal development
School improvement plans
Celebration
And persistence
R. Eaker, R. DuFour, and R. DuFour, Getting Started: Reculturing Schools to Become Professional Learning
Communities (Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service, 2002) p.10
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Mission Identification
• “The first critical role of building a learning
community is to build a solid foundation of
shared mission, vision, values, and goals”
• An administrator should develop an idea of
what he or she sees as a vision or mission
of the school.
• The administrator should open up the idea
for others to contribute to the mission.
Ibid.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Mission Identification
• The mission statement becomes the vision
and values of the school and community it
reflects.
• It becomes the school improvement plan.
• This mission must be accepted by the
community in order to produce actions and
results.
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The Organizational Structure of the
Learning Community
• Individual agendas and politics can get in
the way of an overall vision of the good of
the community.
• Focusing on the common purposes can
help to overcome these issues.
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The Organizational Structure of the
Learning Community
• The superintendent is the link between the
community and school representing what
the board of education believes and what
the schools and its teachers and students
require.
• The superintendent must be able to
communicate well politically and
educationally.
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The Organizational Structure of the
Learning Community
• The learning community not only includes
superintendent, principal, teachers, and
students but also:
– Taxpayers
– Politicians
– Business leaders
– Religious organizations
– Places of student employment
– Volunteer organizations
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Organizational Structure of the
Learning Community
• Learning communities do not work from a
top down or trickle down stance.
• Learning communities allow for a bottom
up approach, where those involved at the
closest level with students work together
collaboratively to improve student learning.
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Membership in the Learning
Community
• Membership involves all stakeholders and
community members who use the school
as some part of their lives and
encompasses a large part of the
surrounding community.
• Membership should be valued and open9,
collaborative, and respecting of diversity.
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Communication with the Learning
Community
• The administrator often leads
communication and should use language
that is easily understood by all.
• The administrator should be honest and
encourage the same.
• The administrator should not discuss
issues that he or she does not fully
understand or know the answer to.
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Communication with the Learning
Community
• Make a point that all community members are
informed and heard. This may be accomplished
through:
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The media
School tours
Board meetings
Annual reports
Webpages
Calendars
J.R. Hoyle, F.W. English, and B.E. Steffy, Skills for Successful 21st Century School Leaders (Arlington, VA: American Association of
School Administrators, 1998), p. 44
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Communication with the Learning
Community
•
In the past, administrators spoke for
three purposes:
1. To provide information
2. To persuade
3. To mark a special event
Ibid
•
A good leader should move towards
providing opportunities for dialogue
among community members.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Communication with the Learning
Community
• The administrator must understand:
– Political issues in the community
– Budgetary or tax issues for the community
– Cultural issues within the community
– The cultural, ethnic, and political involvements
of the community
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The Operationalization of Shared
Responsibility
• An administrator should realize that he or
she cannot lead alone.
• The school or district is only as good as
the parents, teachers, and supportive staff
make it.
• Teachers must be given time and authority
to work together and create programs for
the betterment of the students.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Operationalization of Shared
Responsibility
• A principal should utilize teachers by
providing opportunities for leadership
within the learning community.
• An administrator can share leadership with
citizens or parents through promoting
parental involvement and volunteerism.
• Community members can lead by
providing additional or alternative forms of
education to students.
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The Principle of Subsidiarity
• “Subsidiarty, as a principle suggests that,
wherever possible, decision making
should take place at the point closest to
the people, not the other way around.”
• It is imperative to involve parents and
teachers in planning since they are closest
to the issues at hand.
R. Mason and S. Randell, “Democracy, Subsidiarity, and Community-Based Adult Education”, Convergence, 28, No. 1,
1995, p. 24.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Principle of Subsidiarity
•
Four assumptions are present when goal
setting is a learning community effort:
1. People involved on a daily basis best understand
concerns or problems best
2. Groups of people working together face-to-face
provide a successful situation
3. Those who developed the goals will work hardest to
achieve them
4. Creativity is spread throughout many members in
the population
Ubben, Hughes, and Norris, The Principal, p. 38
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
The Concept of Duty and the Social
Contract
• By providing public education for future
citizens of America, current citizens are
upholding a duty or social contract.
• The ideas of a concept of duty and a
social contract to educate the youth in a
community need to develop beyond issues
to taxes and bond levies.
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The Concept of Duty and the Social
Contract
• The duty of education transcends from
local to global.
• The success of the society depends on
how many citizens see education as part
of their duty to their society.
• Reciprocity is a key element to the
learning community.
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The Concept of Duty and the Social
Contract
• Taxpayers want to see student
achievement and feel that they will receive
something in return from their contribution.
• A true learning community offers those not
affiliated with the school something “in
return”, such as access to school facilities.
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Leading the Learning Community
• The most successful administrators in a
school are effected because of the indirect
actions taken, such as vision and goal
setting.
• The most effective principles are those
who center their leadership style on
collaboration and professionalism while
facilitating the work of members of the
learning community.
Davis, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, and Meyerson, School Leadership Study, p. 5.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Leading the Learning Community
•
In order for a school leader to be
accepted in the community, he or she
must retain two important aspects:
1. Trustworthiness
2. Competence
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Leading the Learning Community
• An administrator must be able to work with
a budget while campaigning for more
funding when necessary.
• The most important aspect for an
administrator in leading the schoolcommunity partnership is communication.
• The administrator must pair good
communication with evidence-based
programs to become an effective leader.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Evidence-Based Assessment to Evaluate Results
for Leaders and Consumers of Education
• Various members of the learning
community should be able to demonstrate
their own involvement to other effectively.
• Parents, teachers, administrators, and
citizens should be able to know about and
understand evidence of student learning.
• Teachers should be able to demonstrate
their abilities and successes to those in
the community.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Evidence-Based Assessment to Evaluate Results
for Leaders and Consumers of Education
• Technology can be used to make
information regarding school personnel
updated and available to the community.
• Community leaders who are actively
involved in the school can demonstrate
their effectiveness by making available the
various projects or way they are involved
in the school.
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Evidence-Based Assessment to Evaluate Results
for Leaders and Consumers of Education
• Citizens of the community should be able
to demonstrate their level of involvement
and the types of interactions they have
with the school.
• Administrators should show evidence of
the work they are completing within the
school and within the community.
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Evidence-Based Assessment to Evaluate Results
for Leaders and Consumers of Education
• Most importantly, the school or school
district must be able to show evidence of
the student learning and community
involvement in a school.
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School Improvement Plan
• The goal of collecting evidence is not to
have perceptions about the community,
but to have evidence on which to make
operational definitions.
• Every school should have a school
improvement action plan.
• The community should have input to
Changes or alterations to this plan.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007
Discussion Questions and
Statements
1. Explain the principle of subsidiarity and
provide an example in your school that
uses this principle.
2. Describe the culture of your learning
community.
3. Which citizens may value the concept of
duty and the social contract and why?
4. Describe the organizational structure of
your learning community.
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Discussion Questions and
Statements
5. In what ways is communication important
between an administrator and other
members of the learning community?
6. Describe some ways an administrator can
communicate with different members of
the learning community.
7. Provide an example of how a community
leader may be involved in the school.
Copyright © Allyn & Bacon 2007