Project Tomorrow identified a cohort of principals, termed the New Learning Leaders (NLL), based on Speak Up 2017 data findings. The results were shared in a Blackboard Trends in Digital Learning report. This analysis examines the activities and attitudes that make certain principals more effective in this dual role of instructional leader and digital evangelist.
40% of District Administrators believe effective school-based leadership is key to improving student outcomes, only 11% held the same view in 2010.
55% of urban district leaders also agree with this statement
Leading from the front: “Digital Evangelist”
95% of NLLs say effective use of technology in the classroom is important for students’ future success
Two-thirds of the NLL principals say that effective digital learning is extremely important.
Innovation matters!
Principals' implementation of new learning models
| Principals who have implemented: | Flipped Learning | Competency-based Learning | Blended Learning |
| All Principals | 35% | 46% | 51% |
| Digital Evangelists | 53% | 67% | 74% |
Improved student outcomes matter!
NLLs identify the following benefits of blended learning:
Leading from the back: “Instructional Coach”
Educational equity matters!
58% of NLLs say educational equity is a serious challenge in their school
52% of NLLs are addressing that challenge by providing students with access to mobile devices to use at school
Modeling good use of data matters!
| Leadership tasks | % of NLLs who regularly use data for this task |
| Developing strategies for school improvement | 91% |
| Provide feedback to teachers about how to improve their classroom practices | 89% |
| Setting schoolwide goals and objectives | 85% |
| Determining teachers’ needs for professional development | 83% |
| Tracking trends over time and within certain student cohorts | 78% |
| Sharing information with parents | 74% |
Modeling professional learning matters!
| Professional Learning Actions Taken | Watch TED Talks by edu thought leaders | Participate in a webinar | Follow experts on Twitter | Use social networking sites to get advice | Participate in a Twitter chat | Subscribe to blogs |
| New Learning Leaders | 70% | 65% | 49% | 45% | 34% | 25% |
| Blended Learning Teachers | 51% | 42% | 27% | 39% | 23% | 23% |
| All Teachers | 46% | 34% | 23% | 33% | 17% | 17% |
Are you a New Learning Leader?
Learn more from "Trends in Digital Learning: The New Learning Leader - the emerging role of the agile school principal as digital evangelist and instructional leader"
SOURCE: Speak Up Research Initiative, 2017 Findings, the authentic, unfiltered views of 406,779 K-12 students, parents, and educators from around the world, including 1,992 principals. Data was collected from October 2017 to January 2018. Speak Up is an annual research initiative of Project Tomorrow, a global nonprofit organization. Learn more about Speak Up and other research findings from Project Tomorrow at tomorrow.org.
