Balanced Leadership for Student Learning - A 2021 update of McREL’s research-based school leadership development program

Oct 15, 2026

Balanced Leadership for Student Learning presents a 2021 update of McREL’s research-based school leadership development program, emphasizing that effective principal leadership improves student achievement. It highlights three imperatives for school leaders: establishing a clear schoolwide instructional focus, initiating and managing change across key school operations, and cultivating a purposeful community with shared vision and belief. The update integrates evidence from prior research and explains program application to real challenges faced during 2020, including leading through pandemic change.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

How leadership affects student achievement

The three leadership imperatives

Program update and application to 2020 challenges

Balanced Leadership for Student Learning A 2021 update of McREL’s research-based school leadership development program By Kristin Rouleau About the Author Kristin Rouleau, Ed.D., is the executive director of learning services and innovation at McREL International. She partners with schools, districts, and state departments of education as they navigate change and implement practices and structures to reduce variability and increase student achievement. Through consulting, coaching, and facilitation of professional learning, she offers services, strategies, and technical assistance to support change efforts. Kristin earned administrative credentials atthe University of Washington, and she holds an Ed.D. in leadership for educational equity from University of Colorado Denver, an M.A. in curriculum and teaching from Michigan State University, and a B.A. in elementary education from Western Michigan University. About McREL McREL International is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization committed to improving education outcomes for all students through applied research, product development, and professional services to teachers and education leaders. We collaborate with schools and school systems across the U. S. and worldwide, helping educators think differently about their challenges and providing research-based solutions and guidance that help students flourish. © 2021, McREL International. All rights reserved. To use a portion of this document for noncommercial purposes, please cite as follows: Rouleau, K. (2021) . Balanced Leadership for Student Learning: A 2021 update of McREL’s research-based school leadership development program. McREL International. 20210623 Balanced Leadership for Student Learning: A 2021 update of McREL’s research-based school leadership development program By Kristin Rouleau In more than a decade of working with school leaders across the globe in a variety of schools—small, large, rural, urban, and suburban—weare more convinced than ever that effective principal leadership has a positive effect on student learning. Research has demonstrated, as long ago as McREL’s original research, first reported in theASCD publication School Leadership That Works (Marzano et al., 2005) and as recently as in the 2021 Wallace Foundation report, How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research (Grissom et al., 2021), that effective school-level leaders impact student achievement. At McREL, we maintain that all principals can learn and implement the actions and behaviors that have the biggest effect on student learning outcomes, namely: • to establish a clear schoolwide focus on delivering quality instructional experiences for all students; • to initiate, lead, and manage change in school processes, programs, personnel, professional learning, and other operations necessary to create better learning conditions and outcomes; and • to cultivate a purposeful school community that shares a united vision for what they want to be and a shared belief that, working together, they have what it takes to make that vision come true. These three overarching imperatives of effective school leaders—establishing a clear focus, leading and managing change, and cultivating a purposeful community—and the specific actions and behaviors that support each of them, were articulated from the research and analysis that serve as the cornerstone of McREL’s Balanced Leadership® professional learning program for current and aspiring principals, school leadership team members, and central office administrators who supervise schools. In the years since School Leadership That Works was published and the first participants engaged in Balanced Leadership professional learning, the demands on school-level leaders and schools themselves have continued to increase. What hasn’t changed, however, is the relevance of the Balanced Leadership findingsand accompanying professional l

FAQs

What does the program claim about principal leadership and student learning?

It states that effective school-level leaders positively impact student achievement and that principal actions can be learned and implemented to improve learning outcomes.

What are the three overarching imperatives of effective school leaders?

The program identifies establishing a clear instructional focus, leading and managing change, and cultivating a purposeful school community with a shared vision and belief.

How did Balanced Leadership relate to school challenges in 2020?

Feedback indicated that Balanced Leadership informed how leaders approached their work across challenges, including maintaining emphasis on teaching and learning during virtual learning and pandemic change.

Oct 15, 2026

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