Be visible and approachable. Unpack necessary conversations with care. Build capacity based on strengths. Author Delia E. Racines offers these powerful protocols and more to support instructional leaders in building a community of trust in which positive change can occur. All current and aspiring instructional leaders ready to work collaboratively to improve teaching and learning will value this book. Instructional leaders will use this essential guide to: Understand the importance of fostering trust and competence across all relationships within their school Utilize a wide variety of reproducibles for both team building and personal reflection Dive into Educator Spotlights that provide unique perspectives on chapter tools Strategize for effective goal setting and achievement Become more intentionally present as leaders Contents: Introduction Chapter 1: Be Visible and Approachable Chapter 2: Listen Closely to the Complaint for a Request Chapter 3: Invite All Voices Chapter 4: Use a Strengths-Based Approach Toward Building Instructional Leadership Capacity Chapter 5: Unpack Necessary Conversations With Care Conclusion References and Resources Index
"School leadership has been identified as a key function in assuring quality in education. The instructional leadership model refers to the role and the functions of school leadership to employ different management tasks with regards to teaching and learning. Instructional leadership role includes (a) developing mission and goals, (b) managing the educational production function, (c) promoting an academic learning climate, and (d) developing a supportive work environment. Instructional leaders were described as leading from a combination of both expertise and charisma focused primarily on the improvement of student learning outcomes. The monograph, entitled Instructional Leadership and Effective Teaching and Learning and written by Nazmi Xhomara, is dedicated to school instructional leadership as an important factor that influences teaching and learning at school. In the first chapter, the author presents and analyzes educational leadership vs educational management, as well as models of educational leadership and management. The author argues on the importance of different leadership models, such as managerial leadership, transformational leadership, participative leadership, interpersonal leadership, transactional leadership, postmodern leadership, moral leadership, and contingent leadership. Chapters Two, Three, and Four shed light on instructional leadership and teaching and learning, understanding of instructional leadership, the concept and practice of instructional leadership, instructional school leadership and learning environment, attributes of instructional leaders, instructional excellence, instructional leadership time management, effective teaching and teachers, as well as teaching challenges and learning environment. Meanwhile, the author has analyzed constructivism, student intelligence, understanding of supervision, instructional collegial supervision, supervision approaches, understanding of evaluation of teaching and learning, teacher evaluation, and instructional observing instruments in chapters Five, Six, and Seven. Chapters Eight and Nine are focused especially on the research work of the relationships between instructional leadership and teaching, learning, and students' achievements, as well as on an empirical study designed and conducted in Albania as a case. Chapters Ten and Eleven are dedicated to instructional leadership preparation and the future of instructional leadership As a conclusion, Xhomara indicates that principals are responsible for developing school climates and cultures that support the very best instructional practices. The new era of instructional leadership has predictably placed significant demands for accountability for student success and equity on the principal as well as for the university programs that prepare them. Working in twenty-first-century schools, the instructional leader is held more accountable than ever for student success"--
Updated Edition of Bestseller! The updated and expanded second edition of this classic text provides new research and insights into how principals can encourage the teacher development that enhances student learning.
This book explores the principal’s role in meeting high expectations for student achievement. It provides detailed tips and strategies to show you what principals need to do to: assess and promote a culture and climate for school improvement, build teams and support the work their work, create the conditions so that teacher leaders can emerge, and monitor school improvement efforts
Updated Edition of Best Seller! "You won′t find a more practical, detailed guide to improving school effectiveness than is contained between the covers of this book!" Leonard O. Pellicer, Dean School of Education University of La Verne La Verne, CA "Few books on school leadership have effectively brought together the best of educational theory and practice for school administrators as Elaine McEwan′s Seven Steps to Instructional Leadership." Michael Pladus 1999 MetLife/NASSP National Principal of the Year Have the courage and the vision to lead your staff to achieve their highest instructional goals! Make a substantive impact on the lives of your students and your staff. This practical, hands-on guide can help you become a more effective instructional leader. Here are research-based activities to help you lead your staff though McEwans′s seven steps: Establish, implement, and achieve academic standards Be an instructional resource for your staff Create a learning-oriented school culture and climate Communicate your school′s vision and mission to staff and students Set high expectations for your staff and yourself Develop teacher leaders Develop and maintain positive relationships with students, staff, and parents Integrate these seven steps into your daily behavior. Chapters on each step include research data, discussion and advice from instructional leaders, and practical suggestions from dozens of leading principals that you can use right now in your own school. Use the Instructional Leadership Checklist to: Assess your current level of instructional leadership Find out how your staff thinks you′re doing Set goals for improving your instructional leadership practice Evaluate your progress toward your goals Attaining a new and higher level of instructional leadership will make a difference for each person in your school. Staff, students, and parents will get the message that all students matter. Everyone will start expecting that all students can learn, and your school will achieve its mission—improving education.
Sharpen your instructional leadership skills and guide your school toward equity and excellence for all. Just think about how great schools could be if every instructional leader exercised their influence to create change—maximizing the efforts of others and mobilizing those efforts to work toward a shared goal. How Leadership Works: A Playbook for Instructional Leaders walks educators through the processes of clarifying, articulating, and actualizing instructional leadership goals with the aim of delivering on the promise of equity and excellence for all. Grounded in Visible Learning® research, the exercises in this easy-to-use playbook illuminate the essential mindframes necessary for effective instructional leadership and prompt veteran, new, and aspiring educators to identify challenges and determine next steps. It includes: Ten essential mindframes for leaders, together with the leadership practices that illustrate each mindframe in action Teaching practices, such as teacher clarity or student engagement in learning, that support teachers in delivering quality instruction, along with tools to document the impact of those practices on learning Strategies for leading learning, including establishing school culture, utilizing feedback, and supporting professional learning communities as a pathway to building collective teacher efficacy. Tools for applying the principles of change, conducting an initiative inventory, and implementing and de-implementing initiatives Exercise-by-exercise, educators and front office staff will deepen their knowledge, frame their priorities and practices, and gain new tools for supporting the instructional focus and initiatives designed to support learning at your school.
Supporting teacher learning is a complicated and challenging task. This much-awaited book offers a practical, research-based framework for thinking about instructional leadership, along with the necessary resources and tools for improving practice. The authors identify specific structures, formats, and strategies that an instructional leader can use to support new and veteran principals and teacher leaders. They then discuss ways to think about which structures are most appropriate for particular settings, offering suggestions on the most effective way to work with these structures. This unique book combines theory with best practices to create a vision of how 21st-century instructional leaders can improve education for all students. This practical book: Describes a unique, adult learning framework.Includes a variety of tools and protocols that leaders can use to support teacher learning in schools, districts, departments, and teams.Offers instructional leaders both theory and practice-the what to do and also the why and how.Addresses a broad spectrum of instructional leaders at the district, school, and university level. “Students everywhere deserve teachers and administrators who have read this book, and who enact the ideas in it. It is a must read for principals, district level administrators, teacher leaders, instructional coaches and mentors - anyone charged with leading the learning of adults in their schools.” —Gene Thompson-Grove, Educational Consultant and Board Member, SchoolReform Initiative “Leading for Powerful Learning is the book every school leader needs. It provides the essential tools for carrying out what is arguably the school leader's most difficult task: supporting the learning of the teachers with whom they work. The authors’ insights and practical wisdom, drawn from their decades of experience in schools, will be useful not only to formal school leaders but to those serving as leaders in more informal ways.” —Tina Blythe, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Not just another book on leadership teams For school teams to succeed, they need leadership, independence, meaningful collaboration, and a shared conviction that they have real power to enact actual change. Educators know this, but they often lack an inquiry process that creates a community of learning leaders that is capable of deep collective impact on student learning and wellbeing. In this research-based, hands-on guidebook, school leadership coach Peter DeWitt introduces eight key drivers to integrating teacher and leader efficacy (mindset, well-being, context beliefs, working conditions, professional learning, organizational commitment, skills, and confidence) and harnesses it with a process to help you focus on the nuances of instruction and teaming to develop powerful collective leader efficacy. Readers will find: Activities and strategies designed to build collective efficacy in instructional teams and foster leadership and interdependence among teachers Theories of action to focus team efforts and how to create your own Tools, reflection prompts, and guiding questions to help you define your desired outcomes and the steps necessary to get there With this book and the research within it, your instructional leadership team will develop a learner’s mindset, a collective commitment to improvement, and a shared process for inquiry and continual growth so you can nurture greater impact together.
Leading for Instructional Improvement Educational experts agree that quality teaching is the single most important factor in improving educational outcomes for all students. Teaching is a highly sophisticated and complex endeavor requiring deep expertise on the part of teachers and school leaders. This book shows how teacher, school, and district leaders can cultivate the expertise of teachers to deliver high quality instruction for all students. Leading for Instructional Improvement captures the nationally acclaimed work conducted by the Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington in its effort to improve the quality of teaching and leadership in schools across the country. The book provides extensive practical guidance grounded in theory and research, along with powerful stories and examples from classrooms, schools, and districts. Many of the tools, protocols, and frameworks contained in this book can be accessed electronically by visiting the Center for Educational Leadership website at www.k-12leadership.org. Praise for Leading for Instructional Improvement "This book offers insights that are invaluable to educators who seek to enhance teacher effectiveness now. The ideas presented are practical and applicable to schools in a variety of settings." —PEDRO A. NOGUERA, Ph.D., Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Development and executive director, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education "A deep and thoughtful look at how the issue of expertise is cultivated. Seizing upon their Center's research-based instructional framework, the authors provide important insights and tools." —DR. BEVERLY HALL, superintendent, Atlanta Public Schools "In this age of intense focus on how we evaluate teachers, we have to remember that any evaluation is only as good as the evaluator. This extremely useful book provides an excellent roadmap for how principals can become more effective in the most important aspect of their work, instructional leadership." —JERRY D. WEAST, Ed.D., superintendent of schools, Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland "Fink and Markholt offer practitioners a guide to effective teaching. Leading for Instructional Improvement asks us to heed the lessons within and support the kind of teacher education that will improve student achievement for today's schools and those of tomorrow." —BARNETT BERRY, president, Center for Teaching Quality
Co-published with University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), this textbook prepares aspiring educational leaders for the important and challenging task of supporting instruction in their schools. Instructional Leadership in the Content Areas equips leaders—who might not have content backgrounds that align with those of the teachers they supervise—with research-based practices and knowledge specific to a range of subject areas. Presenting over 20 problems-based cases at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and across seven areas of content, this book deepens knowledge of exemplary instruction, improves feedback dialogues, and helps leaders work effectively alongside teachers and instructional specialists. Rich with activities, resources, and discussion questions, this casebook provides a broad overview of instructional leadership and the tools for school leaders to improve and support classroom practices across all content areas in intentional ways that support career-long professional growth. Case facilitation notes are available here: www.routledge.com/9781138578845
