Support-and-pressure principal leadership framework for productive school improvement¶

Theory · All theories
Evidence · 3 claims (2 for, 1 mixed) · 2 studies (2 associational), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 3 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The article's central framework holds that principals of improving Chicago elementary schools lead by combining support and pressure on the adults who work with children. The authors state that such principals "skillfully use a combination of both support and pressure to enable and vitalize the efforts of adults who work directly with children." The framework organizes four leadership-style characteristics (inclusive/facilitative orientation, institutional focus on student learning, efficient management, and support-and-pressure) and three strategies (quick hits, long-term focus on the instructional core, strategic orientation) that together drive three substantive foci: strengthening parent/community ties, developing teachers' knowledge and skill with school-based professional community, and building trust, all aimed at improved student learning.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Principals must hold authority and resources under local control, including four-year performance contracts subject to Local School Council review and discretionary funds

Constraints¶

• Derived from Chicago elementary schools under the 1988 decentralization reform; the article does not claim generalization beyond that setting

Target Learners¶

• Elementary school students in grades three through eight in Chicago public schools

Target Learning Objectives¶

• Improved student achievement in reading and mathematics

Claims¶

• Chicago Elementary Achievement Growth 1990 1999 [+M]
• Strong relational trust and cooperative adult effort distinguish improving schools from schools with flat or declining test scores [+W]
• Elementary principals in low-achieving schools spend more time on instruction while those in high-achieving schools spend more on external management [~W]

Related Theories¶

• Framework of five essential supports and contextual resources for school improvement
• Five Essential Supports framework for organizing school improvement measures
• The Fund's theory of action: concentrating talented teachers and leaders in a school moves it toward improvement

Examples¶

• Use the School Improvement Plan and a strategic orientation to attack program incoherence
• Begin reform with quick hits on highly visible problems to build collective agency, then sustain a long-term focus on the instructional core
• Principals manage test-score pressure through targeted improvement, instructional coherence, and maximizing uninterrupted instructional time

Key Sources¶

• Penny Bender Sebring and Anthony S. Bryk. (2000). School Leadership and the Bottom Line in Chicago. Consortium on Chicago School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/school-leadership-and-bottom-line-chicago