Philosophical Foundation for the School Executive Standards
The standards are predicated on the following beliefs:
Today, schools must have proactive school executives who possess a great sense of urgency.
The goal of school leadership is to transform schools so that large-scale, sustainable, continuous improvement
becomes built in to their mode of operation.
The moral purpose of school leadership is to create schools in which all students learn, the gap between high and
low performance is greatly diminished and what students learn will prepare them for success in their futures, not
ours.
Leadership is not a position or a person. It is a practice that must be embedded in all job roles at all levels of the
school district.
The work of leadership is about working with, for and through people. It is a social act. Whether we are discussing
instructional leadership, change leadership or leadership as learning, people are always the medium for the leader.
Leadership is not about doing everything oneself but it is always about creating processes and systems that will
cause everything to happen.
Leadership is about the executive’s ability to select and develop a strong executive staff whose complementary
strengths promote excellence in all seven functions of leadership identified in this document.
The concept of leadership is extremely complex and systemic in nature. Isolating the parts of leadership completely
misses the power of the whole. It is not just knowing what to do, but why to do it, how to do it and when to do it.
Within a school district there are nested leadership systems (local boards of education, central office, school, and
classroom). For the organization to be successful these systems must be aligned and supportive, and function as a
team.
Leadership is about setting direction, aligning and motivating people to implement positive sustained improvement.
Leaders bring their “person” to the practice of leadership. Matching the context of leadership to the “person” of the
individual is important to the success of the leader.
The standards are predicated on the following beliefs:
Today, schools must have proactive school executives who possess a great sense of urgency.
The goal of school leadership is to transform schools so that large-scale, sustainable, continuous improvement
becomes built in to their mode of operation.
The moral purpose of school leadership is to create schools in which all students learn, the gap between high and
low performance is greatly diminished and what students learn will prepare them for success in their futures, not
ours.
Leadership is not a position or a person. It is a practice that must be embedded in all job roles at all levels of the
school district.
The work of leadership is about working with, for and through people. It is a social act. Whether we are discussing
instructional leadership, change leadership or leadership as learning, people are always the medium for the leader.
Leadership is not about doing everything oneself but it is always about creating processes and systems that will
cause everything to happen.
Leadership is about the executive’s ability to select and develop a strong executive staff whose complementary
strengths promote excellence in all seven functions of leadership identified in this document.
The concept of leadership is extremely complex and systemic in nature. Isolating the parts of leadership completely
misses the power of the whole. It is not just knowing what to do, but why to do it, how to do it and when to do it.
Within a school district there are nested leadership systems (local boards of education, central office, school, and
classroom). For the organization to be successful these systems must be aligned and supportive, and function as a
team.
Leadership is about setting direction, aligning and motivating people to implement positive sustained improvement.
Leaders bring their “person” to the practice of leadership. Matching the context of leadership to the “person” of the
individual is important to the success of the leader.