1. Learning Together: THE ESSA LEADERSHIP LEARNING COMMUNITY (ELLC)
A partnership of:
Learning Together: THE ESSA LEADERSHIP LEARNING COMMUNITY (ELLC)
Will Miller
President, The Wallace Foundation
Sept. 26, 2016
Baruch College
Good morning. I’m Will Miller, president of The Wallace Foundation.
I want to add my personal welcome to that of Jody Spiro to the first ever meeting of the ESSA Leadership Learning Community. It’s great to see so many distinguished leaders in education from the five participating states: Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
The Wallace Foundation is honored to be in partnership in the creation of this learning community with the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Council of the Great City Schools, and the National Urban League.
As Jody mentioned, together we have found common cause in this moment of opportunity: To seek to help leading states use the Every Student Succeeds Act to improve public education for our nation’s children, especially those who are disadvantaged, and to do so by strengthening school leadership.
We are delighted that those of you on the state teams found our offer of help in creating your ESSA plans well-aligned with your own goals.
When developing a new plan, many strategists believe it’s helpful to begin with the end in mind. So in that spirit, let me offer the end as we see it:
Our hope is that, when this process is over, you will look back and say: “The ELLC really helped us. We learned a lot from our colleagues. We found the resources very useful. And our ESSA plans are stronger as a result.”
I’d like to take a few minutes to sketch out why we think that this is the case.
Supported by:

2. Today’s presentation Wallace and our approach to policy
Why focus on ESSA?
Why focus on education leadership?
Learning communities
The ELLC: Goals and organization
The power of collaboration
This morning, I am going to share…
A word about Wallace.
What’s different about ESSA.
Why we are focusing on leadership.
How learning communities in general work.
How we will work together in this one in particular.
And an example from my own experience of the potential payoff from collaborating together.

3. Today’s presentation Wallace and our approach to policy
Why focus on ESSA?
Why focus on education leadership?
Learning communities
The ELLC: Goals and organization
The power of collaboration
Let me begin with a word about our role.

4. About The Wallace Foundation
The mission of The Wallace Foundation is to foster
improvements in learning and enrichment for disadvantaged children and
the vitality of the arts for everyone.
The mission of The Wallace Foundation is to foster
improvements in learning and enrichment for disadvantaged children and
the vitality of the arts for everyone.
This mission springs from the values of our two co-founders, DeWitt Wallace and his wife Lila Acheson Wallace, the founders of the Reader’s Digest.
At its peak, The Reader’s Digest was the most widely read publication in the world. It made a fortune for the Wallaces. Fortunately for all of us, they dedicated that fortune to philanthropy, so much so that in 1998 the US Postal Service honored them with the special edition stamp shown on this slide.
DeWitt’s abiding interest was education and youth development, while Lila’s passion was for the arts. The mission of our foundation today honors their legacy.

5. We seek two kinds of benefits
In all of our work we seek two goals:
First, to benefit the relatively small number of grantees we are able work with directly so they can deliver benefits at the local level to those whom they serve.
And second, to simultaneously develop credible, relevant evidence and insights from our work with our partners -- knowledge that can help many more organizations and people than we are able to fund improve their own efforts.
In the case of the ELLC, we seek direct benefits for the states of Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin – and indirect benefits for our other states and territories through documenting and sharing what we learn about your work. The research firm Policy Studies Associates will be capturing lessons from this work to share broadly.
I should add that, as is our usual procedure, your teams will have the chance to offer comment on any description identifying work in your particular state well before publication.
Direct benefits for grantees and those they serve, e.g. improved plans, and capacity
Indirect benefits for the field through credible knowledge
Our goal

6. Guiding principles for Wallace’s work in policy engagement
Policy is a challenging area for private foundations, because, candidly, not everyone welcomes our participation in the policy process.
Recognizing the legitimacy of some criticisms of our sector, we’ve adopted a bounded approach. It’s rooted in the idea of informing policy with evidence; it’s not about advocacy.
We seek actively not to get out over the tips of our skis.
We recommend specific policies and practices only when we have experience and evidence of their effectiveness. In other words, we say more only as we know more.
Similarly, we try always to acknowledge the critical role of the adaptation of any policy approach to the local context and circumstances.
We scrupulously avoid choosing sides in political debates; our role is as an honest broker of information, and we work to protect our reputation for credible, reliable information.
Foundations are restricted from lobbying legislative bodies or seeking to influence elections; we are careful always to comply fully with the law.
Finally, we try to see things as they are – and not as we wish they were – by seeking out and acknowledging contrary evidence.
“Say more only as we know more”
Promote specific policies and practices only when we have experience and evidence of their effectiveness
Always act as a nonpartisan “honest broker” of useful lessons and evidence.
Protect our reputation as a prime source of reliable, credible information and ideas
Comply fully and at all times with the laws
Seek out counter indicators and acknowledge contrary evidence

7. Today’s presentation Wallace and our approach to policy
Why focus on ESSA?
Why focus on education leadership?
Learning communities
The ELLC: Goals and organization
The power of collaboration
Now, I’d like to turn to why Wallace is partnering with CCSSO (the Council of Chief State School Officers), the Council of the Great City Schools and the National Urban League to focus on ESSA.

8. Why focus on ESSA?
Requires focus on equity and college and career ready outcomes
Shifts locus of decision-making to states and their districts
Greater emphasis on principals and other school leaders
Increased focus on evidence and continuous improvement
The newest version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act requires a focus on equity and college and career readiness.
Partly in reaction to NCLB, it shifts the locus of decision-making to states and their districts. States are in charge of their own destinies, creating opportunities both for progress and for losing ground on these issues.
Our read, and that of many others, is that the law puts greater emphasis on principals and other school leaders – creating an opportunity to use leadership as a lever for school improvement.
The law also puts a greater focus on evidence, opening the door to using leadership interventions that are backed by research as effective.
Finally, the law also emphasizes continuous improvement– the process of developing, and using, evidence to improve ongoing effectiveness. This is important, as it acknowledges there’s much we don’t know about what works. With a continuous improvement approach, we can and should build our collective knowledge over time on how best to use scarce resources in ways that help children succeed in school.

9. Today’s presentation Wallace and our approach to policy
Why focus on ESSA?
Why focus on education leadership?
Learning communities
The ELLC: Goals and organization
The power of collaboration
Fortunately, we have learned a great deal in the past decade about school leadership. These lessons are behind our common interest in it.
Let me share a few highlights of what that evidence base looks like. I won’t try to be comprehensive. As Jody noted, further references are in your packets.

10. Leadership key to student learning
“Leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all school-related factors that contribute to what students learn at school.”
“Indeed, there are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader. Many other factors may contribute to such turnarounds, but leadership is the catalyst.”
-- How Leadership Influences Student Learning,
Kenneth Leithwood, et al,
University of Minnesota,
University of Toronto, 2004
In a review of the evidence base in 2004 researchers from the university of Toronto and Minnesota found that school leadership is second only to teaching among school-based factors in its effects on student achievement. A more recent review of subsequent studies by the same authors made them even more confident in this finding.
Leadership’s impact is greatest in low-performing schools, where many of our most disadvantaged children attend, reinforcing its importance in school improvement.
The researchers noted that “there are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader.”

11. Principals strengthen the impact of effective teaching
Effective principals strengthen the impact of effective teaching by ensuring it is consistent across an entire school – and not isolated in specific classrooms.
“Principals are multipliers of effective teaching.”
--Developing Excellent School Principals to Advance Teaching and Learning: Considerations for State Policy--
Paul Manna, The Wallace Foundation,
2015

12. Principals key to retaining good teachers
Principals are key to keeping good teachers who might otherwise flee challenging schools. As Linda Darling-Hammond has observed: “the number one reason for teachers’ decisions about whether to stay in a school is the quality of administrative support.”
Simply put, good teachers need effective leaders to help them do their job well.
“It is the leader who both recruits and retains high quality staff. Indeed, the number one reason for teachers’ decisions about whether to stay in a school is the quality of administrative support – and it is the leader who must develop this organization.”
-- Preparing School Leaders for a Changing World,
Linda Darling-Hammond, et al, Stanford University, 2007

13. Improving principal preparation is a cost-effective strategy
Because of their influence in schools, focusing resources on strengthening leaders – their recruitment, preparation, evaluation and ongoing support – is cost-effective. This is important, especially in an era of tight budgets.
It’s partly a matter of numbers: there are about 100,000 public school principals in the U.S., compared to about 3 million teachers. A focus on leadership can be a high leverage improvement strategy.
Superintendents and principals are the leaders with the most influence in schools.
“Efforts to improve their recruitment, training, evaluation and ongoing development should be considered highly cost-effective approaches to successful school improvement.”
-- How Leadership Influences Student Learning, 2004

14. Good leaders are hard to find
There is no shortage of certified principals – but there is a shortage of qualified principals
-- Beyond the Pipeline, The Wallace Foundation, 2003
50% of superintendents around the country report difficulty finding qualified principals. 61% of superintendents in urban areas can’t find the leaders they need
-- Preparing School Leaders for a Changing World, Stanford University, 2007
If we were already awash with all the effective principals our teachers and students need, there might be less urgency to our work together.
But research – and the experience of districts we speak with – suggests that while there are large numbers of people certified to be principals, there are fewer who are qualified to turn around low-performing schools.
The study by Linda Darling-Hammond found that more than half of superintendents in urban areas couldn’t find the school leaders they needed.
This isn’t surprising given that the job principals are being asked to do today – which is to ensure high levels of student achievement – is more demanding than it was decades ago. And training and support for the men and women in these roles is still catching up.

15. But good leaders can be developed
Graduates of effective programs are:
Better-prepared
Perform better in high-needs schools
Twice as likely to actually become principals (60 percent vs percent)
Fortunately, the evidence shows that leaders in education, as in most sectors, can be developed. Independent research has identified the characteristics of high quality principal preparation programs and found that graduates of programs with these characteristics are better-prepared to lead high-needs school, and twice as likely to actually become principals.
So, if principals are crucial to having school improvement efforts pay off, if there are not enough effective principals available, and good ones can be developed, what can be done?
Source: Preparing School Leaders for a Changing World,
Linda Darling-Hammond, et al, Stanford University, 2007

16. States and districts both have roles in improving principal preparation
States use their authority to set standards for program accreditation, principal certification and financial support for highly qualified candidates
Districts exercise their consumer power so graduates better meet their needs
Source: The Making of the Principal: Five Lessons in Leadership Training (The Wallace Foundation, June 2012)
Both districts and states have key roles to play in improving education leadership.
Let’s take principal preparation as an example.
States can use their authority – which is often underutilized in this area – to set standards based on evidence for program accreditation and principal certification. They can also offer financial support for programs and participants.
Districts hire the graduates of these programs, making them the “consumers” if you will of the programs’ “products.” We have examples of districts exercising their consumer power by working directly with principal preparation programs at universities and nonprofits to help ensure their training programs meet the district’s needs.

17. Principal supervisors play an important role in supporting principals
Principals need support from principal supervisors, including relevant evaluation, in order to maximize their impact
Focus on strengthening teaching and learning is crucial
Representative survey of principals nationwide finds principals value their supervision and mentoring more when it’s focused on instruction
86% of principals in six urban districts who were advised to improve received support to do so from their supervisors
Beyond preparation, effective ongoing support for principals is essential. It’s becoming clear that supervisors of principals – who have often been neglected as key actors – play an important role in ongoing support.
A nationwide survey of principals by the RAND Corporation found that they value their supervision and mentoring more when it’s focused on instruction, which often requires reconfiguring the job of the supervisor.
Among six large urban districts we funded to work on building pipelines of effective principals – after they provided additional training to their supervisors and reduced the number of principals they oversaw to a number the supervisor could coach effectively– close to 9 of 10 principals surveyed who were advised to improve said they received support to do so from their supervisors.
Source: Support for Instructional Leadership, RAND, 2016; Evaluating and Supporting Principals, Building a Stronger Principalship: Volume 4, Policy Studies Associates, 2016)

18. Leadership is a critical ingredient in school improvement
“The chance of any reform improving student learning is remote unless district and school leaders agree with its purposes and appreciate what is required to make it work…. There seems little doubt that both district and school leadership provides a critical bridge between most educational-reform initiatives, and having those reforms make a genuine difference for all students.”
-- How Leadership Influences Student Learning,
Kenneth Leithwood, et al, 2004
“Especially during the last five to ten years, states have pushed forward ambitious education initiatives that will be unlikely to succeed without principals actively leading the work on the ground.”
-- Developing Excellent School Principals
to Advance Teaching and Learning,
Paul Manna, 2015
Scholars who have examined school leadership have drawn an important conclusion: without leadership, it’s unlikely education reforms will pay off.
Kenneth Leithwood and his colleagues concluded that the chance of any reform improving student outcomes without leadership is “remote” – because it is leaders who make sure the staff understands the reform, and is supported in carrying it out. Leadership, he noted, is a “critical bridge” to having most reforms make a genuine difference for kids.
Scholar Paul Manna of the College of William and Mary came to a similar conclusion. States, which have moved ambitious education initiatives forward in recent years, will be unlikely to see them succeed “without principals actively leading the work on the ground.”
In other words, leadership is important to advancing the reforms that make sense in your states, no matter what they are.

19. Today’s presentation Wallace and our approach to policy
Why focus on ESSA?
Why focus on education leadership?
Learning communities
The ELLC: Goals and organization
The power of collaboration
So how is being in a learning community going to help your efforts?
Let’s first be clear what we mean by a learning community.

20. Defining a ‘learning community’
A learning community supports and enhances the work of individual teams pursuing a common, larger goal [or “tackling related goals”] by jointly developing insights and lessons
Through an ongoing series of coordinated learning experiences;
For a defined set of committed members;
With specific purposes and outcomes that meet the strategic objectives of participants and a larger goal
The way we use the term at Wallace, a learning community is
a group of people
pursuing similar goals
in a structured effort
aimed at learning from each other
in order to advance towards their goals.
Over many years of experiences, we’ve found this happens best and the experience is most valued by the participants:
When the learning experiences are not one-time event– but part of a series of activities that build on one another
When there is a stable set of participants
And when both the teams of participants – and the larger group – have well-defined purposes and outcomes.

21. Key characteristics of learning communities
Clear vision of what is to be accomplished
On-going and results-oriented
A “real-time” strategy where participants address a “real-world” problem and devise ways to address it
Often involves “working groups” that each address the “real-world” problem in between meetings and bring their observations and learning back to the larger group
A great learning community begins with setting a clear vision of the work ahead – which as Jody mentioned is this afternoon’s focus.
We’ve found people are more willing to invest their time and effort when the focus is on tackling real-world problems in real time.
It’s essential that work continue between meetings of the larger group, which can then focus on cross-team sharing and learning.
I should note that it’s likely that not everyone in a working group will agree with everyone else, nor will each state team see issues the same way as the other state teams. That’s good. It is the diversity of experience and perspective brought to the conversation that adds value to these discussions.

22. Today’s presentation Wallace and our approach to policy
Why focus on ESSA?
Why focus on education leadership?
Learning communities
The ELLC: Goals and organization
The power of collaboration
These principles are reflected in the design of the ESSA Leadership Learning Community.

23. Proposed goals for the ESSA Leadership Learning Community
To assist states and districts in using ESSA funding to build the capacity of education leaders to implement supports and interventions to turn around schools most in need of improvement.
We will pursue these goals by working with a group of states and districts prioritizing this issue to create models and to capture and share lessons learned.
The goals for the ELLC were developed collaboratively by CCSSO, the Council of the Great City Schools, the National Urban League and Wallace. They are shown on this slide.
In a nutshell, we want this process to help states and districts use ESSA funding to build the capacity of principals and other school leaders to improve our lowest performing schools.
In doing so, we hope that you, as leading states in this work, will create models for other states to emulate. As noted before, we will capture and share what you develop and learn as part of this process.

24. How the ELLC is organized
The real work will be carried out by the state teams, which have been assembled at the invitation of CCSSO, the Council and the National Urban League. Each working group is separate, but united under the umbrella of the learning community’s common purpose.
The work of each state team and our collaboration together will be supported by Education Counsel, the New York City Leadership Academy, and Policy Studies Associates.
So, you have the chance to learn both from your peers and from expert resources.
National partners
CCSSO
CGCS
NUL
Wallace
State Team Working Group
State Team Working Group
Supported by
Education Counsel
NYCLA
Policy Studies Associates

25. ELLC timeline July Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun July
Here’s the timeline of our work together.
It’s all in support of submission of the consolidated state plans, which are due either in March or July, assuming those dates don’t change.
As the orange boxes show, today’s is the first of three meetings we will all have together.
In between these national meetings, each state team working group will meet monthly, or as often as you determine helpful.
We expect to publish two documents that will offer useful guidance, as shown in the white boxes:
In November, Becki Herman, whom we’ll hear from this afternoon, and her colleagues at RAND are expected to publish an updated guide to how the evidence base in education leadership meets ESSA standards.
And in December, CCSSO will publish a field guide on using ESSA to advance leadership.
We think both will be helpful in advancing your work.
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
July
July 29 ESSA LLC Planning Meeting
Sept
National Meeting
Jan
National Meeting
May 22-23
National Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
State Working Group Meeting
November 2016:
RAND Report
December 2016:
Field Guide
March 2017:
Draft Consolidated
Plans Due
July 2017:
Draft Consolidated
Plans Due

26. Charter for state team working groups
Work in real time on the development of state school improvement plans emphasizing the role of principals and other school leaders
Participate collaboratively
Meet monthly
Every three months this will occur at the ELLC national meeting
Share learnings about steps that are taken, barriers that are encountered, and how they can be overcome
Here is the charter for your state teams which lays out what the convening partners are hoping you will do as part of this learning community.
The team’s focus will be on the development of state school improvement plans emphasizing the role of principals and other school leaders. Each state team has representatives of multiple stakeholders on it. To be effective, you will need to work together collaboratively.
What’s crucial is that all team members exchange ideas and lessons about what steps are being taken, along with barriers they encounter and how these are overcome. Learning communities are effective when participants are able to bring lessons to the table, share them and jointly learn from each other. This will be as true at your monthly meetings in your states as it will be at our national convenings.

27. Participating states Nebraska Ohio Pennsylvania Tennessee Wisconsin
Let me say a word about the states that are represented in this room.
First of all, thank you. We are grateful that you have raised your hand on this important topic. We see you as already being leaders in leadership. Through this process, we believe you can become exemplars for other states on how ESSA can be used as a means to strengthen school leadership in support of broader education goals.
I do want to emphasize what you may already have gathered: This is not an effort to have Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin develop identical plans to strengthen leadership.
Our intent is to help each of you develop plans for strengthening leadership through ESSA that are informed by evidence, and help you meet your goals for public education. We want you to do so in ways that are a fit with your own state.
There are good practical reasons for this.
As Paul Manna has observed, every state has its own particular blend of educational, political and financial circumstances. While governing bodies may look similar, up close, there is tremendous variety in how they manage their affairs, wield authority and interact with other institutions and stakeholders.
I am from Indiana. I have first hand experience in the public policy arena with both the reality and limitations of the widely held belief that “Hoosiers are different” and the political and practical necessity of behaving as if they are.
All of you are in the best position to judge what will work in your state.
As Manna notes, “there is not a cookbook recipe for policy development or implementation that will work equally well in all states.“ It’s for this reason that Wallace hopes a variety of model approaches will emerge from this learning community, ones in which states of all stripes will find elements of value – to emulate and adapt to their local contexts and circumstances.
Our intent is to help each state develop plans for strengthening leadership in ESSA that are informed by evidence and help you meet your goals for public education – and in ways that are a fit with your own state.

28. Today’s presentation How Wallace approaches policy Why focus on ESSA?
Why focus on education leadership?
Learning communities
The ELLC: Goals and organization
The power of collaboration
I want to acknowledge what we all know: That working collaboratively, as you will be doing here, can at times be more difficult than going it alone.
But while it’s sometimes difficult, the rewards for effective collaboration can be great.
I’d like to share a story from my own experience that illustrates this point.

29. Collaborating to make progress: An example from Columbus, IN
It’s about how my home town used the power of collaboration to meet a challenge in public education.
I grew up in Columbus, Indiana, about an hour south of Indianapolis. After going to college, graduate school and working other parts of the country, in 1984 I returned to this town of 75,000 people to raise a family of my own. I stayed there for the next 27 years.

30. A crucial moment: Columbus, IN
Opportunity: Keeping 3,000, well-paying, advanced manufacturing jobs in Indiana
Challenge: Local colleges were not preparing graduates qualified to take those jobs
While I was chair of the local economic development board in the mid-1990s, it became clear to us that the biggest constraint on our future economic vitality was that students were not graduating from our local two- and four-year colleges with the skills needed for the 3,000 advanced manufacturing jobs surveys of local employers indicated could be created in the area over the next decade.
We had a sense of urgency because we also knew that, if the skills could not be found locally, the employers would take the jobs elsewhere.
These jobs required workers with capabilities in math, problem solving, and teamwork at many levels – from the shop floor to the research and engineering center. But our local community colleges were focused primarily on enrollments, rather than completion rates, and the largest undergraduate major locally was psychology.
Of course I have nothing against people studying psychology. But we weren’t graduating enough students, and the skills of those who reached graduation did not match the job opportunities that were available in the area.
If we were going to make the best of the economic opportunities in Columbus, our entire education system needed to evolve.

31. Successful collaboration, successful results
The collaboration: Colleges and Community Education Coalition developed shared vision, metrics and refined programs
The result:
From 2000 to 2014, the percentage of the county’s population with a high school degree or higher increased from 83.8% to 89.7%
Percentage with a bachelor’s degree or higher from 22.0% to 27.9%
To address both the problem and the opportunity, local business leaders and school officials had to work together to align the supply with the demand. It was far easier to say this than to do it.
We formed the Community Education Coalition in 1995 to work on these issues. The two state-funded post-secondary institutions in town both had dire needs for more space, driven by their focus on increasing enrollments. However, these institutions were so far down the list of state building projects, they were not likely to see construction until 2030 or Our Coalition wanted to encourage these institutions to offer more courses and degrees directly relevant to local economic opportunities. The proposition we developed was that the community would design and own a building, and allow the two universities to use the space, if they would offer programs aligned with community needs.
Together, we forged a plan and advocated collectively with the SEA, the Commission for Higher Education, the statehouse, and local foundations for authority and funding for both the programs and facilities. This shared agenda and the persistence to stick with it for ten years resulted in the opening of this state-of-the-art Learning Center in 2005.
[BUILD]
More importantly, thanks to what is being taught there, the people of our community are now acquiring the skills necessary to keep those advanced manufacturing jobs from leaving our town.
From 2000 to 2014, the percentage of Bartholomew County Indiana’s population with a high school degree or higher increased from 83.8% to 89.7% and the percentage with a bachelor’s degree or higher from 22.0% to 27.9%.
Put another way, in order to serve our kids well and offer them a future, we had to repair our learning system to meet the needs of potential employers. Otherwise, we risked being replaced as the location for their most attractive jobs. And the county’s young people would have missed the opportunities for high-paying jobs that allow them and their families to thrive.
Your state teams have a short-term goal in this learning community of creating a first consolidated ESSA plan that uses a focus on leadership as a key strategy to turn around schools. It will, of course, just be one piece in a broader and longer-term process of moving towards your state’s goals for improving the educational outcomes and, thereby, the lives of all the children in your state.
Although all of your circumstances are different, I believe I speak for the Council of Chief State School Officer, the Council of the Great City Schools, and the National Urban League in saying we believe you are much more likely to get there working collaboratively. It is why we have committed our time and resources to this learning community – so you can help each other achieve your own respective visions for the future of the children of Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin.
Thank you for being here.
And now, I’d like to introduce Dr. Kent McGuire.