A School Leaders Impact

 Janet Clinton, Dylan Wiliam, Jenni Donohoo, Michael Fullan, Zaretta Hammond, Peter M. DeWitt, Douglas Fisher, Nancy, Frey, Dominique Smith, Laura Link, Sugata Mitra, and Jim Knight, Edited by John Hattie & Raymond Smith 10 MINDFRAMES for LEADERS The VISIBLE LEARNING Approach to School Success

What has been stated repeatedly by leading practitioners and researchers in education is what we as leaders choose to do matters immensely for our students and the teachers we have the opportunity to serve and support. They advocate for the laser focus needed on the essential components of teaching and learning while reminding us to cancel the relentless noise of multiple distractors.

This is our work. 

10 Mindframes for Leaders provides the key insights and actions for school leaders to pursue and engage. “Mindframes are our Why. They represent an internal set of beliefs we hold near and dear to our hearts.” The Visible Learning strategies and process are the How to our Why. And What refers to the result—the outcomes we intend to accomplish or the evidence of our collective impact on student progress and achievement.

One Mindframe is featured in each of the ten chapters, authored by a treasure of educational leaders. The chapter starts with a relatable school vignette, followed by a detailed description of the Mindframe, factors from the “Visible Learning” research supporting the Mindframe, and where a school leader can start. The end of the chapter features a  checklist with exercises you can work on independently or in collaboration with a school leadership team. 

The power of one’s impact as a school leader is stated repeatedly in the title of each chapter. The word “I” starts each chapter, but considering the power of collective action, the reader/leader could collectively use “We.” 

“I am an evaluator of my impact on teacher/student learning.”—Janet Clinton

“I see assessments as informing my impact and next steps.”—Dylan Wiliam 

“I collaborate with my peers and my teacher about my conceptions of progress and my impact.” —Jenni Donohoo

“I am a change agent and believe all teachers/students can improve.”—Michael Fullan

“I strive for challenge rather than merely ‘doing my best’.”—Zaretta Hammond

I give and help students/teachers understand feedback, and I interpret and act on feedback given to me.”—Peter M. DeWitt 

“I engage as much in dialogue as in monologue.”—Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, and Dominique Smith 

I explicitly inform teachers/students what successful impact looks like from the outset.”—Laura Link 

“I build relationships and trust so that learning can occur in a place where it is safe to make mistakes and learn from others.”—Sugata Mitra

“I focus on learning and the language of learning.”—Jim Knight 

Leaders can align a Mindframe to where greater understanding is needed for success in our schools. For example, chapter one evaluates your impact on teacher/student learning. The author of this chapter, Clinton defines evaluative thinking as “a cognitive process; it is a way of being” (p.14).  Leaders who think evaluatively engage in open questioning with an effective size of 0.48 to “improve the current status during the process of leading teaching and learning” (p. 15). Using authentic questions allows leaders to learn what teachers know and do not know…yet. 

“Effective school leaders 

talk about their Mindframes and their beliefs 

and prove them through 

their practices and skills.” 

Clinton provides the reader with five core evaluative questions for school leaders. These authentic questions are strategic and utilized to generate the teacher’s thinking on student learning, evidence-based interventions, seeking evidence, monitoring impact, and considering others’ perspectives. Most importantly, the center of the student’s learning is at the heart of each question.

“The focus of evaluative thinking, 

in the context of schools, 

always has learning at its core.” 

“Mindframes—your internal set of beliefs about your role as a school leader—determine the high-impact leadership practices you chose to implement” (bc). 

“It’s not what you do, 

it’s how you think about what you do.”

Choose well.