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What I've Learned

Support for educators leads to learning gains for students

By David I. Steinberg
August 2017
Vol. 38 No. 4
What gets measured gets done: Everyone with leadership training knows this management maxim. Intuitively, it seems to make sense. After all, employees will focus on whatever the leader is paying attention to. If the leader is a data-driven decision-making manager who relentlessly rivets everyone’s gaze onto certain key data points, then the message travels with lightning speed that your school or department’s success (as well as your career trajectory) depends on whether the graph is trending in the right direction. I was trained in this paradigm, too. In my leadership experiences as an elementary, middle, and high school principal, and later as a central office administrator, I realized that something was missing from this famous slice of leadership advice. The saying isn’t wrong — merely

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David I. Steinberg ([email protected]) is associate professor of organizational leadership in the doctoral program at Hood College in Maryland.

References

Guskey, T. (2002). Does it make a difference? Evaluating professional development. Educational Leadership, 59(6), 45-51.

Harris, D. & Sass, T. (2008). Teacher training, teacher quality, and student achievement. Washington, DC: CALDER Urban Institute.

Nye, B., Konstantopoulis, S., & Hedges, L. (2004). How large are teacher effects? Education and Policy Analysis, 26(3), 237-257.



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