Instructional Leadership

1. Instructional Leadership Nancy Sharpe Strawbridge GSU/EPEL 7410 Fall 2008

2. Instructional LeadershipEPEL 7410 • Introductions • Overview of syllabus • Course content • Reading for this class meeting

3. Are schools special places? --Thomas J. Sergiovanni

4. Changing our thinking from organization to moral community . . . (Sergiovanni) Moral communities are based in covenants—”planted in the heart rather than written in stone.” "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” Jeremiah 31:33 Case Study from Sergiovanni

5. Why do we even need to talk about instructional leadership? . . . because things don’t just happen in the movies. . .

6. Course Content • Overview of instructional leadership, supervision, and evaluation • Adult learning; professional learning; nurturing teacher leadership • Talking about teaching; what does good teaching look like?

7. Formal and informal observation and evaluation; the walk-through • Confronting marginal teaching • Mentoring, coaching, and teacher induction

8. What is instructional leadership? What does it mean to you?

9. “The principal of a successful school is not the instructional leader, but the coordinator of teachers as instructional leaders.” Carl Glickman, 1991

10. School Leaders as Instructional Leaders—Questions to Consider . . . • What does effective instruction (instruction that causes learning) look like? (UBD, backward design, facets of understanding) • How do you know effective instruction is taking place? • How do curriculum, instruction, and assessment come together in the classroom?

11. Expanding views of instructional leadership . . . • Individuals other than principals engage in instructional leadership. Who? How? • Instructional leadership can (and should) extend beyond direct intervention in the classroom. How? Daresh, J. (2002). What it Means to be a Principal: Your Guide to Leadership

12. Direct Instructional Leadership • Staff Development • Plan for professional learning • Assess professional learning needs and plan for a year of ongoing activities • Provide training for support staff on how their roles relate to the instructional program

13. Teacher Evaluation and Supervision • What is the difference between evaluation and supervision? • Setting clear goals and objectives for instruction • What about the walk-through? • Work with the belief that all teachers can teach well • Conferencing with teachers • GTEP; state requirements

14. Indirect Instructional Leadership • Resource Acquisition and Building Maintenance • Adequate resources for teaching • Prioritize needs to support instruction • Maintain physical facilities • What other “resources” to teachers need?

15. Instructional Facilitation • Establish instruction as a priority in terms of activities and time • Support teachers who are innovative • Support risk-taking and possible failure • Demonstrate the belief that all children can learn

16. Student Problem Resolution • Assist teachers in discipline matters • Enforce attendance laws • Interact directly with students and parents who are having difficulty in school • Be the “bad guy!”

17. Behavior Patterns of Instructional Leaders • They provide a sense of vision to their school. • They engage in participative management. • They provide support for instruction. • They monitor instruction. • They are resourceful.

18. According to your text (Zepeda p.1). . . “perhaps the most important work a supervisor does—regardless of title or position—is to work with teachers in ways that promote lifelong learning skills: inquiry, reflection, collaboration, and a dedication to professional growth and development.” What do you think?

19. What about standards? • Content standards—National Council of Teachers of Mathematics • Grade level standards—National Middle School Association • State department standards—exist in many areas (Kentucky has standards for beginning and experienced teachers) • National standards—National Board Certification for Teachers • Standards for School Leaders Zepeda p. 3-7

20. Accountability and High Stakes Testing • Should teachers be evaluated on the success of their students? • Shouldn’t high stakes accountability apply to students and adults? • Should states be able to determine their own accountability benchmarks?

21. Supervision v. Evaluation • Supervision is formative—ideally leading to improved teaching. This is where professional learning should be generated. • Evaluation is summative—leading to a job performance rating.

22. School Culture & Work Environment What is the legacy of the one-room school?

23. From effective schools to school improvement—why culture matters . . . • 1960s and 1970s • The Coleman Report • Jencks’ findings about inequality • Ron Edmonds “all schools could be effective” (Glickman, p.33) • 1980s • Continuing emphasis on effective schools • Emerging emphasis on SBM, leadership, collegiality, professional learning, etc. • Beginnings of school choice & charter school movements

24. 1990s • Murphy asserts that we must move beyond narrow definitions of school effectiveness to broad principles: • All students can learn. • Focus on student outcomes (data-driven instruction) • Assume responsibility for student learning—stop blame • School communities should be structurally, symbolically, and culturally linked

25. According to Murphy and Datnow in Leadership Lessons from Comprehensive School Reforms . . . . . . successful principals build “dense leadership organizations.” More commonly thought of as “distributed leadership,” this leadership builds on collaborative skills and allows for the exercise of leadership to be accomplished by different people at different times.

26. Effective Schools to Improving Schools (Glickman, p. 37) • Varied sources of leadership • Consideration of individual school context and culture • Parental involvement • Shared vision • External and internal support • Focus on teaching and learning • Ongoing, imbedded professional development • Teacher collaboration—instructional dialogue • Democratic, collective inquiry—action research • Coherent improvement efforts • Data-based feedback on improvement efforts using multiple measures

27. Does school culture matter in improving schools? Where does it come from? • Beliefs and values about students, learning and leading shape our personal vision and our vision for our work. “Strong cultures don’t appear magically.” p. 18

28. Questions for reflection (adapted from Zepeda, p. 17): • What do I stand for? What are my core beliefs about teaching and learning and school? • What is good teaching? What make an excellent teacher? • What kind of support do teachers need to become excellent? • How do supervision, evaluation and professional learning contribute to excellent teaching? How do they ensure learning?

29. Principals in Healthy Cultures (from Zepeda, Figure 1.9 p.19) • Are visible • Communicate well and often • Are always role models • Are passionate about their work • Accept responsibility for the school’s culture • Are organized

30. Are positive • Take pride in the school’s physical environment • Empower others appropriately • Demonstrate stewardship—protect their school and its people

31. Principals in Unhealthy Cultures (cont.) • Communicate little and are not visible. • View themselves as “the boss.” • Are poorly organized. • Feel that others are responsible for the physical plant. • Make excuses—place blame on outside influences.

32. Glickman, et.al. reference a “paradigm shift” in supervisory practices marked by: • Relationships between supervisors and teachers are collegial not hierarchical • Supervision is practiced by all—teachers and administrators • Focus is on teacher growth not compliance with minimum competency • Teacher collaboration is facilitated • Teachers are involved in ongoing reflective inquiry

33. Supervision involves mastery of: • Knowledge • Interpersonal skills • Technical skills Glickman, et. al. p. 9

34. Darling-Hammond, et. al., view supervision as PREPARING TEACHERS FOR A CHANGING WORLD . . . • Teaching as a Profession • Learning in a Democracy • A Vision of Professional Practice • Knowledge of learners and their development • Knowledge of subject matter • Knowledge of teaching

36. Bridging the gap between supervision and evaluation (from Zepeda, pp. 32-33) • Emphasize the function of teacher evaluation in finding and recognizing good teaching • Include the teacher in the process • Use more than one person to evaluate • Use multiple sources of data to inform judgments about teacher quality—including student achievement data • Use evaluation results to support teacher growth and promotion • Attend to the sociology of teacher evaluation.

37. Differentiated Supervision. . . • What do teachers want?(Zepeda, p.34-38) • What should teachers be doing? • What does differentiated supervision look like in your building?

38. Supervisory Styles (Zepeda, Figure 2.2, p.37) • Directive control approach • Directive informational approach • Collaborative approach • Nondirective approach

39. What approach will you use withMr. Grimes?

40. Next class . . . • Adults as learners, • Professional Learning, and • Nurturing Teacher Leadership