Load Reduction Leadership

Staff overload prevents schools from experiencing consistent long-term improvement. Overload is a primary driver of school stagnation and decline. 

Load Reduction Leadership (LRL) is a new framework for school improvement that seems like common sense to the best school leaders. LRL helps create conditions where teachers thrive. It empowers staff to think clearly, learn faster, and be more responsive to students. This is accomplished through applications of cognitive science to decrease the frequency with which teachers experience cognitive overload. Better teaching leads to better student performance.

LRL applies insights from cognitive load theory (CLT) to schoolwide practices so leaders can avoid overloading teachers. Extrapolations of CLT phenomena led to the four categories of LRL-aligned and -misaligned practices. A cheat sheet below summarizes those categories, their subcategories, and a few examples. The "implementing LRL" outlines how a leader might use it for school improvement.