The Work Before the Work
LEADING SCHOOLS FORWARD
Decades of research establish what makes schools improve. Most leaders — and the programs that prepared them — have never been taught how to collectively create it. Culture.
THE MISSING PIECE OF SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
Leadership matters. Instruction matters. But sustainable improvement depends on the organizational conditions that shape trust, relationships, shared responsibility, and collective action.
Heavily Invested in Leadership and Instruction. Underinvested in What Makes It Stick and Last.
Building Sustainable School Improvement
THE MODEL
Is your school built for compliance or commitment?
THE CORE DISTINCTION
Compliance-Driven
Improvement rises and falls with individual leaders
Trust and coherence vary across teams
Meetings focus on logistics and mandates
Initiatives outpace organizational capacity
Improvement feels episodic or externally driven
Culture-First
Shared purpose and responsibility endure
Trust, clarity, and support are strengthened
Meetings reinforce purpose and priorities
Systems strengthen alongside expectations
Continuous improvement becomes part of the culture
A CULTURE-FIRST SCHOOL FRAMEWORK
The Missing Piece of School Improvement
A research-grounded working framework for building improvement that endures through stronger organizational conditions.
New to the work? Start with the Executive Summary, then, if you want the research behind it, review the evidence and learning.
Rich is an educator, school leader, and doctoral researcher focused on the organizational conditions that help schools sustain improvement over time. In 2009, after leading the collaborative turnaround of three schools, K-12, he became increasingly interested in a question that followed him across schools and systems.
Why did improvement efforts so often depend on changing leaders, programs, initiatives, and mandates rather than a coherent framework for continuous improvement? That question ultimately led to the development of Leading Schools Forward in 2016.
About Rich Sinclair
ABOUT THE WORK
The Influences
BEHIND THE WORK
Gayle Watson
Co-founder of People Ink and an organizational culture specialist. Over years, she helped Rich adapt the model for K-12 education — to build shared purpose, values, and organizational health.
Ann Rhoades
Founder of People Ink and internationally recognized culture strategist. Her pioneering work on values-based organizations shaped the principles reflected throughout LSF.
Mukara Meredith
Founder of MatrixWorks and pioneer in helping organizations unlock collective intelligence and creativity. Her teachings and coaching transformed Rich's understanding of collaborative leadership and culture.
Dr. Charles R. Coble
Internationally recognized authority on teacher preparation and educator development. Through years of conversation and challenge, he has helped galvanize LSF's value proposition.
Christopher T. Cross
Nationally recognized education policy leader whose work has influenced American education for more than five decades. He has been a strong advocate for LSF's distributed leadership approach.
Dr. Neil Hawkes
Oxford-educated educator and international consultant pioneering values-centered school culture. His support and guidance have sharpened the continued development of LSF.
Pam Andrews
One of Rich's early teachers and the primary reason he went into education. Her commitment to students and belief in the transformative power of teaching continue to inspire the purpose of LSF.
Martin Terrell
Author and community leader who reflects the power of growth and contribution. As a longstanding influence in Rich's life, his values and beliefs are reflected throughout LSF.
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Scholarship & Publications
PEER REVIEWED & PRACTITIONER WORK
Built for Continuous Improvement: Professional Accountability in the Academic Setting
2023
Colorado’s Alignment to Reduced Educator Turnover Based on the Work of Its Teaching and Learning Conditions Initiative
2025
Journal of Values-Based Leadership
Educational Research: Theory and Practice
Compliance to Commitment: A Culture-First School Framework
2026
Working Paper
2027
Leadership Before the Leader: How Principal Preparation Program Heads Perceive and Conceptualize Fostering Internal Cohesion in Schools
DISSERTATION IN PROGRESS
Have a question, a critique, or a school in mind? I'd love to hear from you.
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