Guided Leadership for Principals

We can all agree that quality teachers make a profound difference in the lives of the students they serve. Learning is inevitable when students are taught by someone who cares about their academic, social, and emotional success. However, what is often forgotten is that school leadership also plays a significant role in a student’s overall success. A Wallace Foundation (2021) study found that highly effective principals can “increase annual student learning in math and reading by almost three months.” 

In past years, the principal’s hiring pool was full of quality candidates, allowing districts to place leaders in positions without needing high support or guidance. Today, with teacher incentive pay, complex certification requirements, and overall social and political challenges, fewer educators are seeking a school leadership position. This places districts in the position of filling leadership positions with less experienced candidates who need much more support and ongoing development. Furthermore, retaining highly effective school leaders is becoming a greater challenge post-pandemic, with an alarming 11% leaving the profession altogether and over 40% having less than three years of experience (NCES, 2024). This has often left our school leaders to be novice, overworked, underpaid, or all three.  Without the necessary guidance and intentional support, these school leaders are more likely to struggle to meet the position demands, which may result in lower success rates. 

This is why it is common today to hear about school districts routinely demoting, moving, or terminating a school leader for low student performance, low satisfaction ratings, or poor student behavior. While this may be a temporary solution, replacing the school leader may not be the best decision as it creates unnecessary disruption and results in more turnover, mistrust, change, etc. Therefore, we propose that districts take a different approach, “guided leadership.” 

Guided leadership is systematic support offered to novice or struggling administrators by high-performing, experienced leaders (HPEL). It includes on-site guidance and modeling, routine coaching, goal-setting, performance tracking, personalized development, and transparent, consistent feedback. When providing guided leadership, school districts should ensure that the HPEL has adequate time to dedicate to the administrator they are supporting. This allows them to spend multiple days on-site initially, gradually releasing support over time as the administrator meets defined performance targets. Just as evidenced-based instructional practices advocate scaffolding for students learning new skills, guided leadership provides a scaffold for novice school leaders as they learn with the assistance of a more knowledgeable leader.  

Although district leadership must devote a great deal of time and commitment to this approach, the rewards far outweigh the costs. The district gains a consistent, well-prepared campus leader who can effectively facilitate a campus's learning, culture, and operational needs while improving student performance. This underscores the crucial role of district leadership in implementing guided leadership, empowering them to make a significant difference in their schools.

If you would like to discuss having our consulting team provide this support to a principal in your district or guide your district in creating its own guided leadership program, contact us. 

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