Research on effective schools is unanimous in its direct linking of school quality to school leaders and long-term planning: strong leadership drives school improvement, and effective governance is essential to maximize the efficiency of organizational operations and achieve optimal results. Strong leadership and governance, in sum, sets forth the conditions necessary to implement change, the integral component of continuous quality improvement.

Perhaps most importantly, effective leadership and governance of a school or district is collectively constructed and not the result of any one individual. Indeed, exemplars of successful leadership in this “Age of Accountability” share several key traits of distributed leadership: stakeholder input and involvement, collaboration, shared goal-setting, continuous review and re-assessment. When management reflects the vision and organization of the community, it not only provides direction for a district’s instructional programs and policies, but also sustains professional development for school personnel and positive, learning-centered school environments for all students.

ECRA has partnered with hundreds of educational organizations to define and develop highly effective leadership and governance structures and processes, and to empower individuals to improve leadership performance and document accountability.

The services listed below, which can be packaged as a comprehensive suite of strategic planning quality improvement initiatives or as targeted individual services, help leaders and their institutions maximize the efficacy and efficiency of district management, encourage stakeholder participation, and provide comprehensive formative and summative assessments of performance at the individual, school, and/or district levels.

What direction is your leadership moving?