Nimble, Resilient, Resonant Leaders for Equity

Effective professional learning delivers emerging innovative practices for those  at the forefront of schools and districts

A gentle nod, a stern word or expert advice from someone we respect are all part of becoming effective leaders. In fact, professional learning takes place throughout our lives — from sources near and dear to us to those who might be held as esteemed, experienced and sometimes even distant.

No one-size-fits-all model exists for effective professional learning among educational leaders, yet we can identify some universal elements. Perhaps most importantly, we learn from each other as we reinforce our capacity for demonstrating the commitment to serving every student.

Professional learning should not be a “sit-and-git” model nor should our learning be based on archival folk wisdom. Research, common sense and practical experience inform how we can best serve all students and school communities. We learn, grow and take action as educational leaders, with the exhilarating and sometimes exhausting understanding that we are the key authors of what works.

Evolving research reveals that nimble, resilient and resonant leaders find the necessary focus for their work.

Leading for equity is a national priority. As an essential part of sustained and effective leadership learning, a focus on equity should include support for leaders to understand, apply and model equity-driven strategies and processes. These include techniques for supporting student efficacy and belonging, addressing areas of underachievement and ensuring all students’ capacity for entering and succeeding in coursework and programs required for success in the 21st century.

Considering the ongoing evident and research-documented scourge of national, regional and local underachievement by underrepresented subgroups, education leaders must model staff techniques, strategies and dispositions needed for open and honest dialogue: How are we doing in educating all our students? What are we doing to address underachievement in core areas? How can we minimize the effects of unconscious bias among members of our learning community?

Sustained, Holistic Learning

Philip Martell, superintendent of the River Valley School District in western Pennsylvania, is like many of the leaders who are part of the AASA Leadership Network. Martell reinforces the importance of professional development at all levels of his rural, 1,500-student system.

Martell describes it this way: “If professional learning opportunities are aligned to the district’s mission, vision, goals and priorities, and data are effectively analyzed to monitor the utilization of evidence-based strategies that meet individual student needs, then students will be exposed to opportunities that lead to increased academic achievement, diversified career choices and the opportunity to be successful in future life tasks.”

Education leaders like Martell are most effective when they are lifelong learners themselves. Working closely with their boards of education and administrative colleagues, they serve as the chief learners in their districts. They need to model for staff, students, families and their community the importance of continuous growth and development as a cornerstone for promoting student achievement and equity. Such leaders are committed to growing and improving their skills, dispositions and habits of mind to sustain an organizational culture in which all have voice, value and efficacy.

To support this priority, the AASA Leadership Network provides a range of professional learning opportunities tied to these core principles. In alignment with the Professional Standards for Educational Leadership, we support district leaders as they move along a professional learning continuum from their early careers to the point where they too can serve as mentors and coaches.

Equity-driven and sustained leadership development reflects a key set of unifying principles and core values, including (1) integrating the power of collaboration as communities of practice committed to investigating and resolving identified problems of practice; (2) sharing and addressing staff insights and concerns; (3) reinforcing continuous learning, with leaders modeling their commitment to their own professional learning and growth; and (4) addressing the participant as a whole learner, including their social, emotional and ethical growth and development.

Reinforcing Best Practices

As leaders prepare students for an uncertain, rapidly changing and highly complex world, we know that professional learning must reflect the emerging research and practical application of what we are learning about effective and successful leaders. Leaders must receive support to understand the importance of resiliency and nimbleness to lead within ambiguous or unpredictable conditions.

Emerging research by Hanover Research reinforces key attributes of leadership, underscoring that today’s leaders must be resilient, nimble and resonant. (See related story, below.) This research helps to create new models of leadership that are a remarkable match to attributes of equity. Resilient leaders are uniquely positioned to champion growth for all students by strengthening and supporting teachers and other education leaders as they hone their professional skills and dispositions.

The resonance and resilience of leadership through the lens of equity creates a culture where not only the leaders but all who serve learners support individual and collective respect and responsibility for oneself and for others.

Effective leadership is ethical leadership, which understands and acts to create safe and engaging learning environments for each learner. Current and future leaders are challenged to engage in ongoing self-reflection about their core values, mission and vision for education.

Transformation in Action

All of these controlling principles are present in the AASA Learning 2025 Lighthouse Systems, which are considered examples of effective professional and organizational transformation in action.

Mehlville School District in suburban St. Louis, Mo., is highly intentional in its focus on personalized student preparation, multiple student pathways, a sustained focus on equitable opportunities for all learners, employee support and efficient systems. Similarly, the Shaler Area School District near Pittsburgh, Pa., reinforces student preparation for 21st-century experiences and career pathways.

“Our programming and staff mindset are inclusive,” Sean Aiken, Shaler’s superintendent, says. “We instill in our students the need for self-advocacy and celebrating differences. Professional development is essential and ongoing.”

Another Lighthouse designee from Northgate School District in Pittsburgh emphasizes the power of the whole learner model, including a focus on a continuum of learning, personalized learning, social-emotional development and the need for a comprehensive Multi-Tiered System of Support. Northgate’s superintendent, Caroline Johns, stresses that “students tell us there is a strong sense of community within our district that allows them to feel like they belong. Students are able to develop into well-rounded individuals.”

Emphasis on Networking

Techniques for reinforcing this kind of supportive and engaging learning environment are an essential part of professional learning in Northgate. All of these Lighthouse Systems reinforce professional learning for staff aligned with local and state frameworks emphasizing future-ready student learning.

In California’s San Ramon Unified School District, major focus is on promoting understanding of key strategies related to social-emotional-academic learning.

“We utilize our strategic directions framework to implement actionable steps, advance our goals and broaden the definition of success for all our students,” says superintendent John Malloy, noting that staff members receive sustained support in analyzing and using student performance data to monitor progress and make adjustments as needed.

Similarly, the Fox Chapel Area School District, northwest of Pittsburgh, includes sustained professional learning and data analysis involving students’ social-emotional learning. It includes evaluation of the impact of programs and services involving emotional management, problem solving and self-regulation.

All AASA Learning 2025 Lighthouse Systems emphasize the power of collaboration, networking and cross-institutional support. The College Community School District in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, offers extensive outreach to all families, collaborative partnership opportunities and efforts to cultivate the concept of parents as teachers. District staff also provide families with practical strategies, information and support.

The Mineola Union Free School District on New York’s Long Island also stresses the power of building learning continuity, including early learning. It takes a distinctive approach, using a badging system to ensure every learner is an advocate for and partner in their own learning process.

Synergy Across Lines

Collaboration in the Lighthouse Systems extends synergy and networking across district and state lines. The Collegiate Edu-Nation is a statewide network in Texas that facilitates rural student achievement and rural workforce development to prepare future-ready learners. The organization partners with 12 local school districts as well as community and business leaders to support P-20 educational systems.

The Collegiate Edu-Nation acts as an intermediary by connecting member school districts with training and resources in capacity building, intentional service supports, statewide networking, professional learning and continuous improvement systems.

Artist Pablo Picasso once said: “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” In these tumultuous times, the core principles of leadership development evident in the ideas and work of these AASA Lighthouse Systems reflect Picasso’s point of view. We are engaged in the continuous process of moving and improving education as we know it — and that process must begin with us as lifelong learners who are discovering what the new educational, cultural, political and economic landscape demands of us, and most importantly, what this and every generation of students deserves of us.

One of us (Sherman) likes to tell the story about studying one summer with John Goodlad at the University of Washington, just after A Place Called School was published in 1983. By that time, Goodlad had written extensively of the need for change, having visited over 110,000 classrooms with his team of researchers. He often wondered what decade he was in as he observed those classes, still with lined-up desks and locked-down minds.

He asked Goodlad how he could still be writing after all those years and all those classrooms. The author’s answer: “I’ll keep writing until someone listens!”

Our belief is that through AASA Learning 2025 and the extraordinary dedication of our school district teams, we have found the right audience for the transformation of educational leaders’ professional growth and development. Goodlad would be pleased to see our work. 

Mort Sherman is AASA senior associate executive director. Valerie Truesdale is AASA assistant executive director. John Brown is AASA Learning Network consultant.