Defining Roles of District Leadership

at the site level. It is critical that we pose the question of all who serve at the district level: “How can we be seen as providing a service to the sites by doing everything within our power to minimize our disruptive influence at the site level?”

Our business department demonstrated a real shift to servant mentality in the way it changed its usual practice of calling principals to come into the district office to meet with staff regarding budget issues. The business office realized how much time away from the sites it demanded of the principals. To reduce this impact, the district office went to the site and met with the principals there. The time spent on the sites led to a clearer understanding of the district work by the district office business team and a greater desire to find more ways to serve the sites. If we want to build the capacity of leaders, we must start with an understanding that the role of the leader is to serve.

Defining Roles of Site Leadership

Leadership at the site level has changed dramatically. In the past, an effective principal was someone who managed his or her site well, knew the names of students, and kept problems away from the district office. The role of the principal was not really linked to learning outcomes. While an effective principal must be able to manage the operations of the school, recent research findings regarding the role of principals and their impact on student learning have changed:

In short, a justifiable conclusion one can glean from the research is that the more skilled the building principal, the more learning can be expected among students. Stated differently, the research now supports what practitioners have known for decades: powerful school leadership on the part of the principal has a positive effect on student achievement. (DuFour & Marzano, 2011, p. 48)

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