The Principals Role as a Leader of Learning

-Presented to the Department of Educational Leadership

and Postsecondary Education
University of Northern Iowa
-In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the
Master of Arts in Education
-by
Dana E. Schrader
Davenport Central High School
Davenport, IA
(December 8, 2015)
-Dr. Susan Alborn-Yilek

THE PRINCIPALS ROLE AS A LEADER OF LEARNING

The Iowa Standards for School Leaders (ISSL) describes what is required of a leader of
learning. The School Administrators of Iowa (SAI) website states that these criteria represent
a set of knowledge and skills that reflects the best evidence available regarding effective
leadership for Iowa schools. The standards and criteria are linked to the evaluation of
administrators and the professional development plans for administrators. The standards address
six areas: shared vision, culture of learning, management, family and community, ethics, and
societal context (School Administrators of Iowa, 2007). These research-based standards are
implemented differently in each district. These standards also look different in each building
depending on a variety of factorsincluding who is in the role of the leader of learning.
Lets look at the skills, knowledge and dispositions of successful leaders through the
ISSL lens and the related research. The first area is feedback. According to Hattie (2008),
feedback is a crucial tool needed to help students make gains in their learning. The same holds
true for teachers. Effective teaching is developed partly through the guidance of the instructional
leader who conducts teacher observations and provides meaningful feedback before and after
those observations. There are three types of feedback: appreciation, coaching, and evaluation
(Stone & Heen, 2014). As a leader of learning, administrators might be more concerned with the
evaluation or coaching feedback as a way to improve the instruction and learning opportunities
for the students. It is important to keep in mind that people seek all three types of feedback.
Appreciation feedback is often overlooked, but should actually be at the forefront. Appreciation
feedback includes motivating and thanking. They determined the best communicators were the
individuals who listened and asserted themselves while actively managing the conversation
(Stone & Heen, 2014). Administrators can manage the conversation by providing feedback about
how a teacher is doing in efforts to reach the goals determined in the observation process.

THE PRINCIPALS ROLE AS A LEADER OF LEARNING

School culture is the second area of emphasis. ISSL standard two states, An educational
leader promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school
culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional
development (School Administrators of Iowa, 2007). School culture ranges from basic safety to
developing a nurturing and challenging learning environment for both students and teachers. It
should be one of the highest priorities. One factor in school culture and climate is the role of the
school leader in evaluating the effectiveness of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. That
includes providing student supports, instructional resources, best practices, rigorous curriculum,
aligned curriculum, meaningful assessments, actionable data, distributed leadership, researchbased strategies, and on and on. The list is long and an effective leader recognizes the need for
shared leadership and invites teachers into the decision-making process.
Related to school culture and shared leadership is relationship building with both staff
and students. Marzano, Waters, and McNulty (2005) composed a list of The 21 Responsibilities
of the School Leader. Relationship building is near the top. In fact, effective professional
relationships are central to the effective execution of many of the other responsibilities
(Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005).
The evaluation process for teachers is another responsibility of the leader of learning. It
provides an excellent opportunity to open the dialogue between teacher and supervisor. The preand post-conference conversations are among the most vital conversations for teachers and
administrators. They are one-on-one, meaningful for the teacher, and are intended to provide
feedback for teachers to continue to succeed. Teacher evaluation is also a process that requires
skill, practice, and an awareness of district and legal guidelines.

THE PRINCIPALS ROLE AS A LEADER OF LEARNING

The pre-conference is the start of that conversation. By asking the teacher meaningful
questions, they jointly establish what to look for during the observation. The questions asked
during the pre-conference should be ORID (Objective, Reflective, Interpretive, and Decisional).
Some examples of ORID questions include: What do you want students to accomplish during
this lesson, and what specific objectives do you want the evaluator to look for during the
observation? Why should this lesson be one to observe? Where might there be difficulties and
how will they be adjusted in the lesson? How have you planned to engage all students in the
lesson? Overall, it is important to establish what the students will be learning during the lesson,
instead of simply what the students will be doing.
After the observation, the post-conference provides the bulk of the discussion. ORID
questions are also effective ways to converse and open dialogue in the post-conference. Some
examples of questions that a leader of learning might ask include: What impact did the teaching
have on student learning? What surprised you about the student engagement during the lesson?
What has occurred in the classroom related to the learning target since the observation? What
additional supports do you need from the district or the principal? It is important to give the
teacher time to reflect and express their views on the lesson, without imposing your views on the
lesson. The feedback given should be tailored towards the goal the teacher and administrator
determined during the initial meeting. Administrators should remember to not pass judgment,
instead present the information gathered in a way the teacher can discover, understand, and
adapt. The meaningful feedback and support from the school leader is key to helping teachers
develop and grow professionally.
The administrator needs a toolbox of strategies and skills to develop their own learning.
That toolbox might be filled by reading research, attending seminars and conferences, or taking

THE PRINCIPALS ROLE AS A LEADER OF LEARNING

advantage of professional development classes (often for recertification) that explain the research
based on books such as Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance Schools by Costa
and Garmston; The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups by
Garmston and Wellman; Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes Are High by
Patterson; or Fierce Conversations: Achieving Success at Work and in Life, One Conversation at
a Time by Scott.
An additional responsibility that is weighted heavily as a leader of learning is knowledge
of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Administrators do not need to be an expert in each
subject, but they do need to be experts in instruction and best practices. Class discussions have
led us to conclude that good teaching is good teaching and it is not difficult to identify. Simply
recognizing good teaching is not enough. Richard DuFour (2002) said that as he developed as
a principal he found that he needed to start asking the right questions in order to help teachers.
Examples include: To what extent are the students learning the intended outcomes of each
course? What steps can I take to give both students and teachers the additional time and
support they need to improve learning (In Hot Pursuit of the Wrong Questions section, para. 1)?
DuFours reflection about asking the right questions resonates with me as an aspiring
leader. In fact, an action will be to make reflection a habit and learn more about becoming a
reflective educator through Marzanos writings. I participate in professional learning
opportunities, which shows initiative to develop and grow as a learner. I study about adult
learners and observe how adults differ from K-12 students in their learning preferences. All of
these actions are important because as an administrator I will be involved in identifying,
developing, and delivering professional learning opportunities with teachers. I look at these as
foundational learning or skills to meet a bigger challenge described by Sorenson. Learning must

THE PRINCIPALS ROLE AS A LEADER OF LEARNING

be done together. By creating systems that promote growth and most important, by participating
in learning with teachers, principals model the lifelong learning necessary to address adaptive
challenges (Sorenson, Goldsmith, Mendez, & Maxwell, 2011). When I have an administrative
position, I will also build upon that foundation by ensuring that we, as a school, have developed
a clear mission. The mission will need to set a climate of high expectations for student and staff
success.

THE PRINCIPALS ROLE AS A LEADER OF LEARNING

References
Abrams, J. (2015). Having hard conversations [handout]. Retrieved from http://www.saiiowa.org/Abrams%20Iowa%2075%20min_%20HHC%20Pkt.pdf
DuFour, R. (2002). The Learning-Centered Principal. Educational Leadership, 59. Retrieved
from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/may02/vol59/
num08/The_Learning-Centered_Principal.aspx
Hattie, J. (2008). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to
achievement. New York, NY: Routledge.
Marzano, R. J., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. A. (2005). School leadership that works: From
research to results. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
School Administrators of Iowa (2007). Iowa Standards for School Leaders. Retrieved from
http://www.sai-iowa.org/iowa-standards.cfm
Sorenson, R. D., Goldsmith, L. M., Mendez, Z. Y., & Maxwell, K. T. (2011). The principals
guide to curriculum leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.