Educational Leadership » Leadership Standards

There are numerous published standards for educational leadership. In many cases, the standards identify key social and emotional skills and underscore the importance of developing and wielding these skills in the principalship. The standards range from those established by a national consortium and adopted by 35 states to individual district-level standards. In general, most standards align with the consortium standards, better known as "ISLLC standards."

Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards

In November 1996, the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) adopted a set of six standards with supporting knowledge, dispositions, and performances, that define a vision of educational leadership excellence for both principals and superintendents. ISLLC Standards were based on available research linking leadership and learning outcomes, and the experience of Consortium participants. They were designed to be compatible with the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) curriculum guidelines for school administration programs, and major reports on reinventing leadership for tomorrow’s schools. In developing the Standards, the Consortium took into account major social and economic changes affecting our society and changes occurring in the organization and operation of schools.

Standards
ISLLC Standards define six ways in which school administrators should provide leadership that promotes the success of all students.
A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by:

• Standard 1
  … facilitating the development, articulation, implementation, and stewardship of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community.
• Standard 2
  … advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
• Standard 3
  … ensuring management of the organization, operations, and resources for a safe, efficient, and effective learning environment.
• Standard 4
  … collaborating with families and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources.
• Standard 5
  … acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner.
• Standard 6
  … understanding, responding to, and influencing the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

CASEL’s current research to promote development of school leaders with high levels of social and emotional competence—high “emotional intelligence”—is expected to directly and positively impact leaders’ abilities to meet the ISSLC standards.

Leadership Standards Defined by Professional Organizations

Other national professional standards based on ISLLC Standards include those adopted by the National Association of Elementary School Principals, Leading Learning Communities: Standards for What Principals Should Know and Be Able to Do and the National Association of Secondary School Principals, 21st Century School Administrator Skills Self-Assessment and Observer Assessment. The NAESP standards are closely aligned with those of ISLLC with a focus on teaching and learning. The NASSP self-assessment instrument is much more detailed with several assessment items in each of the following areas: setting instruction direction, team work, sensitivity to others’ concerns, judgment, results orientation, organization ability, oral and written communication, development of others, and understanding one’s own strengths and weaknesses. While more far-reaching than the NAESP Standards, the NASSP self-assessment instrument frequently relates the assessed skills to a focus on teaching and learning.

The Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) Critical Success Factors for Principals. Although these success factors are not specifically aligned with ISLLC, like ISLLC, they do repeatedly reference student success. The factors were identified in SREB studies of principals published in 2001 as Preparing a New Breed of School Principals: It’s Time for Action, which focuses on principals recognized for leading school change that resulted in raising student achievement levels. These success factors provided the framework for SREB’s 14 training modules for redesigning leadership preparation programs.

New Leaders for New Schools’ Selection Criteria. These 10 criteria stress social and emotional competencies and values such as commitment to on-going learning and belief in the potential of all children. There is less explicit linkage of the criteria to student success.

Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning’s (McREL) 21 Principal Leadership Responsibilities. These responsibilities constitute a leadership framework based on a comprehensive analysis of research on school leadership and its relationship to student achievement over the last 30 years conducted by Waters, Marzano, and McNulty. The framework includes specific practices, knowledge, strategies, tools, and resources that principals need to be effective leaders. It also includes a “knowledge taxonomy” that organizes the relevant theoretical literature so that it can be applied to the 21 leadership responsibilities.

Technology Standards for School Administrators (TSSA) Collaborative. These standards specify the integration of technology into the learning environment and culture, curricular design, instructional strategies, professional leadership practice, administrative systems, and assessment and evaluation. These standards also address social, legal, and ethical issues related to technology and responsible decision making.

The National College for School Leadership in the UK has developed what it calls “Ten School Leadership Propositions.”

In addition, many state and local education agencies have developed their own standards for educational leaders. Many are of these are aligned with ISLLC standards. An example is the Chicago Public Schools Principal Competencies.The CPS competencies organize 24 skills into the following five categories (see page 4 of the linked publication for all 24 skills):

• Develop and Articulate Belief System through Voice and Actions
• Engage and Develop Faculty
• Assess the Quality of Classroom Instruction
• Facilitate/Motivate Change
• Balance Management