Superintendent and principal involvement and providing supportive
conditions are key factors in a school’s efforts to become a
professional learning community (Huffman & Hipp, 2003). The role of
the administrator is to build capacity for learning communities by
communicating support for democratic efforts, personally participating
in such efforts, and providing time for discussing the school’s
movement toward professional learning communities. Newmann and
Associates (1996) find that the most effective leaders delegate
authority, advance collaborative decision-making, and refrain from
being the central problem solver. They emphasize that leaders did not
resolve differences, but rather encourage and support an environment
that builds the potential of staff to lead. In effective learning
communities, administrators view each individual as a learner and
leader in the quest for the shared vision.
Research by Marzano,
Waters, and McNulty (2005) emphasizes the importance of the principal
as a leader of educational reform, understanding the changes that
impact student learning and what these changes require of the teachers.
Principal leadership continues to be identified as the key factor in
the success of professional learning communities (Dufour & Eaker,
1998; Huffman & Hipp, 2003; Sergiovanni, 2001), yet the principal’s
role has changed dramatically. Recent studies on school restructuring
clarify the evolution of educational leadership from the isolated role
of bureaucratic manager, then to instructional leader, and finally to
the current highly interactive transformational leader of the school
learning community (Sergiovanni, 2001).