CCS RPN Research Agenda - Community Schools Research and Impact Theme 2: Leadership Practice, Role Design, and Workforce Capacity

The following is a major theme of the Community Schools Research Agenda. Click here to return to the CCS RPN homepage.

Leadership Practice, Role Design, and Workforce Capacity

There is a need for a clearer and measurable definition of collaborative leadership and relational trust, including how they manifest in routines, decision-making, and shared power. Research should identify leadership structures such as functional site-based teams that involve administrators, coordinators, educators, families, students, and partners. It should also explore how decisions are made and how conflicts are resolved. Enhancing superintendents’ and principals’ capacity is particularly critical, involving mentoring and coaching models that improve principals’ ability to share power with partners and families and to support coordinators as co-leaders.

The coordinator role requires a clearer definition and additional support, focusing on competencies like managing partnerships, facilitating shared planning, organizing community engagement, and using data for improvement. It should also include realistic workload and supervision structures to prevent the role from becoming a default solution for all unmet needs.

The teacher’s role also demands greater focus, including understanding what effective teaching looks like in a Community School setting, how teachers are prepared for community-connected practice, and how districts attract and retain educators. Research should also explore staff stability and retention as key factors for successful implementation, including how leadership styles influence teacher retention and how role clarity can be established without excessive documentation that takes time away from relationship-building. Common indicators of collaboration and leadership should be developed so schools can track progress in trust and shared decision-making, beyond just outcomes.

Suggested research questions:

1. What specific leadership practices and structures foster relational trust and authentic power sharing among principals, coordinators, teachers, families, students, and partners?
2. Which mentoring and coaching models most effectively strengthen principal capacity to lead Community Schools, especially in sharing power and fostering cross-sector collaboration?
3. What competencies define effective Community School coordinators, and how can capacity building be measured?
4. How can the teacher’s role in Community Schools be described to support teaching and learning objectives?
5. Which preparation, recruitment, and retention strategies are underexplored?
6. How can role clarity be established without creating burdensome documentation?
7. What essential leadership skills are needed for superintendents, district leaders, principals, coordinators, and educators to effectively implement Community Schools, and how can professional learning systems be coordinated across roles to develop and maintain those shared competencies?
8. How do role design elements like titles, formal authority, supervision, and decision-making rights influence the measurement, sustainability, and institutionalization of shared leadership, community voice, and student voice in Community Schools beyond initial grant funding?