Fostering a Culture of Evidence-Based Leadership Development Planning

• In Event: Learning Our Way Forward: Research and Evaluation Informing System Change and Innovation

Abstract

Purpose and Perspective
This paper will examine Ontario’s efforts to support districts to take a cyclical, inquiry-based approach to leadership development through a self-assessment tool intended to uncover evidence and prompt reflection about the impact of their leadership development programs; to identify gaps; and inform their next steps in leadership planning. The hypothesis is that building districts’ capacity to conduct impact assessment will enable districts to understand the efficacy of their programming and to take ownership for continuous improvement.

The Ontario Leadership Strategy (OLS) was launched in 2008 to focus on leadership development across Ontario’s 5000 schools. The OLS included support for each of 72 districts to establish and implement leadership development programs to develop coherence and build leadership capacity among aspiring, new and experienced leaders. After four years there has been evidence of good progress by most districts in establishing the infrastructure to implement leadership development plans as well as evidence of high stakeholder satisfaction among school and district leaders. What was missing was significant evidence of the impact of these programs on the actual leadership practice in schools and districts.

A set of 35 impact statements was developed based on research about succession planning and talent development (The Learning Partnership, 2008), effective leadership practices and personal leadership resources and effective organizational practices (Institute for Education Leadership, 2012) and effective practices related to equity and diversity (Equity and Inclusive Education in Ontario Schools, 2009).

Methods and Data
Through an online data collection process, districts assessed the extent to which each impact was currently evident in four areas related to leadership recruitment, placement, development and supports. Results were rolled up to report on the number of districts self-assessing in each of the four categories.

The ministry used “at-a-glance” data maps to report individual results back to districts, together with contextual information and the provincial rating distribution for each category. Districts were asked to use the data map and a set of reflective questions to inform their next steps in the leadership planning cycle.

Discussions during district visits by ministry staff and poll questions posed in cross-district sharing sessions about the self-assessment process provided anecdotal and survey data about the effectiveness of the approach to measuring impact.


Results and Significance
Preliminary results indicate the self-assessment tool proved effective in shifting districts’ thinking from building infrastructure to measuring impact. A range of practice around assigning the self-assessment ratings allowed the ministry to identify successful practices in completing the self-assessment survey which could be shared with districts to improve the assessment process.

The self-assessment approach to improving leadership development practices is consistent with Ontario’s general approach to school improvement, namely capacity building with supports, which has proved successful based on international measures of student achievement. Districts have accepted responsibility for their own improvement and have appreciated the opportunity to tailor their leadership development efforts to their contexts. The approach and the successful practices identified through this process may prove useful to other jurisdictions seeking to improve leadership development on a large scale.

Authors

• Marg Warren, Ontario Ministry of Education

• Margaret Correia, Ontario Ministry of Education