Leadership not only matters: it is second only to teaching among
school-related factors in its impact on student learning [1]
Through an established and active partnership with The Wallace Foundation, the Council of Chief State School Officers is working with national organizations and state education policymakers to implement sound policy and practice in the area of education leadership.
The State Action for Education Leadership Project (SAELP) is a key lever for the Council’s work in education leadership. The focus of SAELP is to not only develop and support effective leaders in an educational system but change the conditions of leadership at all levels of the state system to improve student achievement. It is anticipated that this systematic approach to advance education leadership will result in the improvement of student achievement throughout a state and produce important lessons learned for application across the nation.
Through SAELP, the Council, along with its national partners, has been able to focus on a critical mass of states where there is political leverage and legal responsibility for improving public education policy and an interest in developing sound leadership policy and practice. Currently 22 states are active in this project: Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
These SAELP states receive targeted technical assistance from a National Consortium comprised of the Council, the National Association of State Boards of Education, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the National Governors Association. Since the NC member organizations are individually and collectively linked to a diverse set of state policymakers, decision makers, and educational researchers across America, they are able to help states mobilize key stakeholders to implement effective strategies and conditions for leadership excellence in their communities and states.
The Council is honored to lead this National Consortium of national organizations and is committed to raise the awareness of the importance of education leadership and its tie to student achievement. We also plan to document and disseminate information, to our constituents, on the transformations in leadership we are seeing in states and districts to spark further action as the knowledge base grows in this field.
While we, as a group of national, state, and local partners, are still studying the specific characteristics and qualities of leaders that yield specific results, we know the key changes in policy and practice must be developed to transform leadership today. The leverage points are clear, and states and districts are beginning to examine the changes required at the state, district, school, and, classroom levels. They are implementing policies and practices that will make dramatic changes in leadership for the benefit of our nation’s students.
Project Staff
Lois Adams-Rodgers, Director, 202-312-6435, loisar@ccsso.org
Melissa Zack Johnston, Senior Associate, 202-326-8697, melissaj@ccsso.org
Tracy Malcom, Senior Administrative Assistant, 202-336-7030, tracym@ccsso.org
[1] From How Leadership Influences Student Learning, a comprehensive review of the available evidence on school leadership, by researchers from the Universities of Minnesota and Toronto.
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