School leaders serve many important roles in our communities, with their reach often extending beyond the school walls and traveling across distance and time. For those toiling in the trenches, however, the workload can feel heavy and it's hard to know if you are making a difference or simply imitating Sisyphus.
In a recent study published by the Wallace Foundation, we sought to quantify exactly how much a principal influences student achievement (as measured by standardized test scores). We combed through twenty years of academic research to identify the highest-quality studies that have been conducted in this area. What these six analyses share is a reliance on longitudinal, student-level data and a rigorous, quasi-experimental research design that permits the analysts to make causal claims about the impact of having an effective principal. Synthesizing these studies allows us to leverage data on over 22,000 principals residing in four U.S. states. What we learned will no doubt confirm what many have already long suspected but been unable to quantify with hard numbers: Access to an effective principal has a detectable effect on student learning in that school. In fact, replacing a below-average principal with an above-average leader, leads to an increase in student learning that's equivalent to about three additional months of learning in math and reading.
In the comments section, it would be great to hear from current or former school principals about how you knew you were making a difference in your student's lives. Perhaps you received a thank-you note or a message from a former student or parent years later that let you know your efforts mattered. For you, how did you know the struggle was worth it?
Check out the full study for yourself at http://WallaceFoundation.org/principalsynthesis.
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