This course is designed for DCSD principals, assistant principals, deans and other district leaders.

McREL’s Balanced Leadership

Learning Services has adopted McREL’s Balanced Leadership as the primary framework for leadership development for building leaders.  McREL’s Balanced Leadership is a series of four two-day professional development sessions designed specifically for building leaders.  It is based on McREL’s research on the effects of principal leadership on student achievement.  The sessions will be offered throughout the year for all building leaders to participate in as part of their essential development. 

The rationale for adopting a common framework for leadership is guided by the following notion:  “Lateral capacity building involves strategies in which schools and community learn from each other within a given district or region or beyond.  Learning from others widens the pool of ideas and also enhances a greater “we-we” identity beyond one school.” (Fullan 2005)

The intended outcomes for Douglas County building leaders are to:

• Facilitate the use of research-based practices to determine focus, lead change, and develop purposeful communities in order to improve student achievement; and

• Increase personal and collective capacity to sustain continuous improvement efforts.

The measurements for these intended outcomes can include:

• Identified district and site-level student assessments relative to the DCSD Student Learning goals

• Stakeholder feedback results relative to leadership performance

Managing Change
This session focuses on managing change.  Leaders will learn McREL’s view of the change process, reflect on their own leadership practices, and learn strategies to support their efforts throughout a change initiative.  The primary learning outcomes are to increase:

• Understanding of McREL’s research indentifying leadership responsibilities correlated with student achievement,
• Awareness change theory and McREL’s view of change,
• Knowledge and use of tools and activities for effectively leading change, and
• Knowledge about research-based leadership responsibilities associated with leading change.