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Educational Leadership » Introduction

Schools today face unprecedented challenges and pressures that have changed the demands on school principals and our understanding of what it takes to be an effective school leader. More than ever before, schools must be responsive to diverse constituencies outside the school walls. Parents, community groups, businesses, and the government all make demands—many of which conflict with one another (DuFour, 2003). At the same time, students’ social and emotional development, as well as their academic growth, have come to be seen by many as an essential school responsibility (Bencivenga & Elias, 2003). Given these pressures, it is not surprising that new programs that promise to help schools address a variety of critical issues are being developed all the time. New programs and policies are regularly introduced by external sources as the latest solution to low-performing schools and student achievement. Fullan (2000, 2001) warns school leaders that there is no magic solution to making schools successful. Rather, leaders should make an effort to learn good leadership practices to help ensure that whatever changes and change process they do adopt are as successful as possible.

Although effective leadership is an essential ingredient of any successful school improvement effort, it is particularly important to SEL programming. SEL is as much about adult change as it is about its ultimate target, improvements in student development and school performance. Most SEL initiatives fall under what Waters, Marzano, and McNulty (2003) refer to as second-order changes. They describe these changes as new, complex, nonlinear, and requiring a break from the past as well as new knowledge and skills. Such changes often meet with resistance, and therefore are even more dependent on effective leadership. In addition, while school leaders may rely on their staff to carry out the nuts and bolts of such change initiatives, they are the ones responsible for creating the school climate or culture that supports change. Leaders must set a clear sense of direction and help staff to develop a shared vision and set of goals (Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004; Fullan, 2001).

Section Overview

This section is designed to share information and resources for those interested in working with educational leaders in order to expand the practice of effective, evidence-based social and emotional learning in schools. Specifically, you'll find:

Descriptions of CASEL's work to support SEL leaders
Standards for effective leadership
Professional development opportunities and resources for leaders
A review of the literature on the role of the school leader in effecting school change for improved student learning, healthy development, engagement, and life success.

Beyond adopting good leadership practices more generally, successful and sustained SEL programming in a school specifically requires the leader to:

Make SEL a priority by creating the “Big Idea” of SEL and articulating it to the entire school community
Prepare staff for change and be supportive throughout the process
Model the social and emotional competencies he or she expects students to learn and teachers to teach and model
Advocate and be a visible and vocal supporter of SEL to the entire school community

(More information on how to execute each of these leadership tasks can be found in Chapter 6 and associated tools in CASEL’s Sustainable schoolwide SEL implementation guide, "Leading an SEL School: The Principal’s Role.")

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