Balanced Leadership® professional development

Product or Programme · All products and programmes
Evidence · 3 claims (1 for, 1 mixed, 1 against) · 1 study (1 causal), q3 · 1 of 1 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description

A McREL International professional-development programme for current and aspiring school leaders, delivered through facilitated training with optional coaching and online support to develop leadership actions and behaviours.

Components

• Balanced Leadership® professional development program for school leaders: Balanced Leadership® is a professional development program for current and aspiring school leaders, developed by McREL International, aiming to improve student outcomes by helping leaders "understand and implement a set of actions and behaviors of school leaders that may be associated with improved student outcomes." It delivers in-person sessions with trained facilitators over one or two years, with optional one-on-one coaching and online support. In the reviewed study, principals attended 10 two-day sessions across three school years using a consortium training model. (What Works Clearinghouse et al. (2020))
• Balanced Leadership framework of 21 leadership actions and behaviors associated with improved student outcomes: The content of the Balanced Leadership® professional development is organized around a framework of leadership actions and behaviors derived from research on school leaders. The report states that "The professional development focuses on 21 specific actions and behaviors of school leaders that may be associated with improved student outcomes, including designing and implementing school curriculum, instruction, and assessment; fostering shared beliefs and community; and monitoring teaching and student learning." Year-one sessions cover the framework overview, initiating and leading school change, maintaining a focus on school performance, and fostering shared beliefs and a purposeful school c (What Works Clearinghouse et al. (2020))

Claims

• Comparison-group contamination occurred in the Balanced Leadership® trial [~W] — (also cited [-W])
• Effects of Balanced Leadership® on student achievement, teacher retention, and leadership practice are not established by standards-meeting evidence [-W]
• Balanced Leadership® may increase school leader retention at the school (potentially positive effects rating) [+W]
• The retention effect of Balanced Leadership® was not statistically significant in the contributing study [~W]

Related Products and Programmes

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Key Sources

• What Works Clearinghouse, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. (2020). Balanced Leadership®. https://whatworks.ed.gov

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	product
id	balanced-leadership-professional-development
title	Balanced Leadership® professional development
description	A McREL International professional-development programme for current and aspiring school leaders, delivered through facilitated training with optional coaching and online support to develop leadership actions and behaviours.
status	review
moved_from	element/balanced-leadership-pd-program, theory/balanced-leadership-21-actions-framework
product_kind	programme
generated	by process:sweep-kinds on 2026-10-10
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — what-works-clearinghouse-2020

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