The Practices

• Setting Direction and Vision for Your Learning Community

• Monitoring Progress and Sustaining Momentum of Your Efforts

• Building Capacity to Teach

• Building Capacity to Collaborate

• Building Capacity to Lead for Everyone in Your Learning Community

• Reorganizing Systems to Accelerate Equity In Your Learning Community

How Were the Core Practices Developed?

The core practices were developed by CLEE Research from Rhode Island schools and supporting research:

CLEE Research in Rhode Island Schools

• Braun, Billups, Gable, Mullen, and LaCroix’s Improving Equitable Outcomes found that the more leaders and educators implement the Core Leadership Practices, the greater the outcome for students, especially those who have been underserved.

• Braun, Billups, and Gable’s, Closing Intraschool Achievement Gaps to Braun, Billups, and Gable’s Leadership Practices to Increase Equity

• Braun, Gable and Kite’s, Situated in a Community of Practice breaks “Building Capacity” into subcategories of Building Capacity to (a) Teach, (b) Collaborate, and (c) Lead.

Supporting research

• Bottoms, G., & O’Neill, K. (2001). Preparing a new breed of principals: It’s time for action.

• Elmore, R. (2006). Leadership as the practice of improvement

• DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & DuFour, R. (2005). On common ground: The power of professional learning communities.

• Fink, E., & Resnick, L. B. (2001). Developing principals as instructional leaders. Phi Delta Kappan83(8), 578-606.

• Grissom, J.A., Egalite, A.J. & Lindsay, C.A. (2021). How principals affect students and schools: A Systematic synthesis of two decades of research. The Wallace Foundation.

• Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (2002). What do you call people with visions? The role of vision, mission and goals in school leadership and improvement. In K. Leithwood & P. Hallinger (eds.). Second international handbook of educational leadership and administration (pp. 9-40). Dordrecht, UK: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

• Lambert, L. (2005). Leadership for lasting reform. Educational Leadership 62(5), 62-65.

• Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson and Wahlstrom. (2004). How Leadership Influences Student Learning

• Leithwood, Harris, and Strauss. (2010). Leading School Turnaround

• Marks, H. M., & Printy, S. M. (2003). Principal leadership and school performance: An integration of transformational and instructional leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly 39(3), 370-397.

• Murphy, J. (2002). Reculturing the profession of educational leadership: New blueprints. Educational Administration Quarterly, 38(2), 176-191.

• Radd, S.I., Generett, G.G., Gooden, M.A., & Theoharris, G. (2021). Five practices for equity-focused school leadership. ASCD.

• Theoharris, G. (2009). The School Leaders Our Children Deserve: Seven Keys to Equity, Social Justice, and School Reform

• Waters, J. T., Marzano, R. J., & McNulty, B. A. (2003). Balanced leadership: What 30 years of research tells us about the effect of leadership on student achievement.

How are the practices assessed? 

CLEE developed and uses a Learning Community Survey with schools to help them diagnose their current reality and next steps toward further enacting the core leadership practices.

• Braun, D., Gable, R., & Billups, F. (2015). Learning Community Survey Validity and Reliability Study. Center for Leadership and Educational Equity: www.clee-ri.org.