Learning Leadership: It’s Not a Cult of Personality

• In Event: Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: Improving Our Understanding of School Leadership: Using the Urban Excellence Framework for Research and Practice

Abstract

This paper focuses on the question of how strong leaders gained the skills and qualities that helped them drive improvements in student achievement. We conducted in-depth analysis of the practices of school leaders who had driven strong student achievement gains in their schools, and learned that powerful school leadership is not dependent upon WHO the principal is, but rather WHAT they know, and HOW they implement practices. Successful leaders can be loud or soft-spoken, male or female, white or a person of color. We learned that leadership can be developed, acquired, and expanded over time—it is not inborn or fixed, but a series of skills.

Author

• Brenda E. Neuman-Sheldon, New Leaders