McREL’s 21 Leadership Responsibilities

John P. Kowalcyk

McREL’s 21 Leadership Responsibilities

            In recent years, Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning or McREL has conducted numerous studies in order to determine what school leaders in every area of education can do to help improve student achievement by knowing what to do, how to do it, when to do it, and why (Waters & Cameron, 2007).  Through their research, they developed the Balanced Leadership Framework, which “help[s] school leaders apply findings from our recent research on effective principals to their own leadership behaviors” (Waters & Cameron, 2007, p. 1).  They identified 21 leadership responsibilities, which they found directly correlated to positive improvements in student achievement. 

The 21 leadership responsibilities begin with culture, order, discipline, and resources.  Great educational leaders help to develop a positive culture in the school and the greater community, and they are sure to provide teachers with the necessary materials or resources in order to best support their students’ learning.  These leaders also help to maintain order and discipline in everyday operations in the school so as to promote an environment where teachers are able to focus on their teaching (Waters & Cameron, 2007).

The 21 leadership responsibilities also include the leader’s involvement in and knowledge of curriculum, instruction, and assessment.  Great educational leaders are visible in the school, focused on clear goals, and are able to clearly communicate these goals to faculty.  They gather teacher input when making important decisions that impact student learning, but also have a passion for education, holding strong convictions, ideals, and beliefs about education.  Great educational leaders recognize exceptional individual and collective work among their faculty and students within the school, but they are also aware of the importance of looking outward to the stakeholders within the surrounding community.  The exceptional educational leader is concerned for each member’s personal well-being (Waters & Cameron, 2007). 

The best educational leaders are not afraid to question the status quo or to promote challenging initiatives that may best serve their students.  They carefully monitor or evaluate the school’s progress toward educational goals.  They are flexible in their leadership style and adapt easily to changes in circumstance or when managing different people within the school’s organization.  These great leaders also have situational awareness by being in tune with various factors that may impact student learning at all levels within the school community.  Finally, the best educational leaders promote intellectual stimulation among faculty, staff, and students by creating an environment where learning and discussing best practices is a part of each and every day (Waters & Cameron, 2007). 

The balanced leadership framework “groups the 21 responsibilities into an organizing structure: Leadership, Focus, Magnitude of Change, and Purposeful Community” (Waters & Cameron, 2007, p. 15).  The element of this organizing structure that I found most interesting is the purposeful community.  A purposeful community is defined as “one with the collective efficacy and capability to use all available assets to accomplish purposes and produce outcomes that matter to all community members through an agreed-upon process” (Waters & Cameron, 2007, p. 46).  Everything in a school occurs within the context of a community, which includes school staff, community members, local businesses, the school board, and others.  The more each of these entities is able to collaborate to support student learning, the more likely it will be that meaningful changes will occur in the school.  There are four key components to the purposeful community, which include 1) outcomes that matter to all, 2) agreed-upon processes, 3) collective efficacy, and 4) use of all available assets (Waters & Cameron, 2007). 

References

Waters, T., & Cameron, G. (2007). The balanced leadership framework: Connecting vision with action. Denver, CO: McREL.