Instructional Leadership By DesignInstructional Leadership by Design Wheatsheaf School Division No....

Instructional Leadership by Design Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99

Developed By: Lyle Lorenz (Lorenz Consulting)

35 Cameron Close Lacombe, AB T4L 2N6

Phone: (403) 782-5158 (403) 318-9179

Lorenz Consulting: July 2015 1

Instructional Leadership by Design Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99

I. Outstanding Instructional Leadership: Why, What and How?

The goal of instructional leadership is to optimize student learning. How? By building a sustainable culture of outstanding leadership, exemplary teaching and excellence in learning and personal development! A sustainable culture of outstanding leadership, exemplary teaching and excellence in learning and personal development is defined as “the beliefs, knowledge and skills relative to high performance leadership, teaching and learning that are consistently, expertly and creatively put into practice by the entire staff of a school, relative to respective roles, thereby creating opportunities for each student to achieve optimal learning and personal development”.

The culture provides students with exceptional learning environments by giving them access to exemplary teachers and outstanding leadership. In so doing, the culture creates the conditions for students and staff to succeed at high performance levels.

II. From Theory to Practice

In The Six Secrets of Change, Michael Fullan makes a strong case for using reflective and conceptual insight tied to underlying theories to guide instructional leadership practice. Fullan maintains that a theory is a way of organizing ideas that seems to make sense of the world—i.e. “have theory will travel”. According to Fullan, theories that “travel well” are those that practically and insightfully guide the understanding of complex situations and point to actions likely to be effective under the circumstances. Similarly, in the absence of “practitioner wisdom”—i.e. if you cannot explain why a particular practice should enhance performance—then you are likely engaging in superficial learning. In other words, instructional leadership action plans and tools need to be tied to underlying theory and insight. This cause-effect relationship might look like this:

Theory Insight (Practitioner Wisdom) Instructional Leadership Practice The notion of linking instructional leadership practice to underpinning theory and insight is the basis of this monograph. One might describe this link as “instructional leadership by design” which serves as the underlying theory of the monograph (acknowledgements to Wiggins and McTighe for their concept of “by design”).


III. Instructional Leadership Theory

This monograph is based on the following theory:

“Instructional leadership by design” is a research-supported, conceptualized, strategic, and practical approach for building a sustainable culture of outstanding leadership, exemplary teaching and excellence in learning and personal development. In its simplest form, instructional leadership by design involves creating the conditions for high performance. These conditions are created by way of the following five core components and accompanying objectives, insights, strategies and leadership tools:

1. Visionary leadership 2. Teacher recruitment and selection 3. Teacher induction 4. Staff development/building capacity 5. Commitment to the province’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and

Evaluation Policy.

IV. Five Core Components of Instructional Leadership By Design

1. Visionary Leadership

Objective: To optimize student learning and personal development by developing a vision of a high-performing school, including a research-informed shared vision of exemplary teaching.

Reflective Insights:

(1) Outstanding leaders are visionary/“big-picture”/“blueprint” thinkers and

builders. Their eyes are on the horizon, not just the near at hand. They rally their staff members around an ambitious vision of high performance. Visionary leadership provides purpose, meaning, direction, coherence, parameters, targets, possibilities, inspiration and hope. Similarly, visionary thinking and visionary leadership give staff members something to aspire to. It helps staff members see where they fit into – and how they can contribute to – the “big picture”. It helps staff members think “outside the box” of conventional thought. By seeing the “pattern that connects”, staff members can devise innovative strategies for actualizing their vision.

(2) High-performing schools are not created with programs, mandates or directives. Instead, they are the result of the cause-effective relationship between outstanding leadership, exemplary teaching, and excellence in student learning and personal development. In other words, high-performing schools are created by building a sustainable culture of outstanding leadership, exemplary teaching and excellence in learning and


personal development – i.e. the knowledge and beliefs relative to high performance leadership, teaching and learning that are consistently, expertly and creatively put into practice by the entire staff of the school, relative to respective roles, thereby creating opportunities for each student to achieve optimal learning and personal development.

(3) Culture is a group phenomenon rather than an individual one. If the actions of the group consistently reflect a commonly-held belief system, then the group is more likely to have a strong, identifiable culture. When the group has such a culture, its members are more likely to succeed together.

(4) Highly effective, school-wide interdependent and influence relationships are a prerequisite to developing a high-performing school. According to Michael Fullan, identifying with an entity larger than oneself expands the self, with powerful consequences. Furthermore, enlarged identity and commitment are the social glue that brings cohesiveness to the collectivity (i.e. moving from “I thinking” to “we thinking”).

(5) One of the most powerful statements in the educational literature is found on P. 23 in Michael Fullan’s Six Secrets of Change: “The quality of the education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers”. [Question: Who is primarily responsible for “quality assurance” at each school site? Answer: The school principal!]

(6) Everybody needs to know where they are going and why – hence the need to define what it means to perform in an exemplary manner. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for most of us to become exemplary teachers unless we know what exemplary teaching looks like. We have the Teaching Quality Standard but it is a minimal standard. The staff’s focus must therefore be on developing/utilizing a research-informed shared vision of exemplary teaching, and all staff members must understand their role in achieving the vision. By working from a shared vision, the staff will create a clear identity for itself and the school. In essence, it will provide meaning for individual staff members and the collectivity by addressing the question, “Who are we, what do we stand for, and what are our aspirations in terms of teaching and learning?” The focus and vision are developed from common beliefs and values, thereby creating a consistent and cohesive direction for all involved.

(7) The intent of a research-informed shared vision of exemplary teaching is not to create standardization, uniformity of instruction or “paint-by-number” teaching. Instead, the purpose is to optimize student learning by creating greater consistency of exemplary instructional practice and reducing variations in teacher effectiveness. This can be accomplished by developing a framework of common, compelling and enduring beliefs and action statements that staff members can unite around. This framework or “shared vision” will provide clear parameters that can and should lead to a high-performing school culture featuring both cohesion and diversity. (Michael Fullan refers to this as creating the right balance between ‘tightness’ and ‘looseness’.) It should also lead to a school culture that has a strong internal accountability system based on shared expectations and standards – that is, there is a collective responsibility for


improving teaching practice and learning, a high degree of agreement among staff members about what constitutes exemplary teaching, and a set of processes for ensuring that shared expectations and standards are being met (see Component #5 Commitment to the Province’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy).

(8) Exemplary teaching “travels as a package”. A shared vision of exemplary teaching needs to cover a broad domain of instructional practice.

(9) Mother Teresa once said, “Don’t look to do great things but rather look to do small things with great love”. To paraphrase her advice in the context of professional instructional practice, we might say, “Doing great things as a teacher is to consistently perform the fundamentals of teaching in an expert and creative manner”. Exemplary teaching therefore might be defined as “the expert, consistent and creative application of the fundamentals of instructional practice”.

(10) An important “balancing act” involves consistency and innovation. An instructional leader must ensure the staff is consistently using the practices that are known to make a difference (i.e. alignment with the shared vision of exemplary teaching) but also acquiring the new learning required for continuous improvement. In other words, consistency of effective instructional practice and continuous improvement are not mutually exclusive – in fact, their “strategic co-existence” is a must!

Strategies:

(1) Use Climbing the Cultural Ladder of High Performance as a reflective tool that staff members can use – individually and collectively – to “see what it takes” to build a high-performing school culture. The “ladder” can be used to help staff members reflect on their own attitudes and beliefs – i.e. “look in the mirror” rather than “out the window” (“know thyself”). As noted on the cultural ladder, a staff will achieve its greatest successes through interdependent relationships involving collaboration, cooperation and reflective practice in dynamic learning communities.

(2) Use A Vision of a High-Performing School in Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99 as “big-picture” leadership tool. It outlines the nine core cultural attributes of a high-performing school.

(3) Use A Shared Vision of Outstanding School Leadership in Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99 to guide your leadership work.

(4) Address the question: “What do we believe about teaching and learning?” Sub-questions include:

• What is the fundamental purpose of schooling? What is central to schooling? What is our “reason for being”? What role does Alberta Education’s Program of Studies serve?

• How important are quality teaching and leadership in the equation? What do we believe about student and staff efficacy, and setting high performance standards? Are students’ destinies primarily determined by their demographics, or do teaching and leadership “really matter”?


• How important is relationship-building?

• How can we describe/define exemplary teaching across a broad domain of instructional practice (i.e. planning, lesson design and implementation, classroom leadership and management, assessing and reporting students’ progress)?

• How important is it for staff members to make out-of-classroom contributions to the total school effort?

• How important is career-long learning? How important are interdependent staff relationships in our school? Do we believe in learning with and from each other?

(5) Identify the critical, non-negotiable teacher actions or behaviors that reflect each of the core beliefs.

(6) Connect the core beliefs and teacher actions to develop a research-informed “Shared Vision of Exemplary Teaching”, which must be aligned with Alberta Education’s Teaching Quality Standard (see Component #5, Commitment to the Province’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy).

(7) Use the Shared Vision of Exemplary Teaching as the foundation for all teacher selection and professional development/growth activities (e.g. instructional coaching; consideration in PGP’s)—i.e. make it pervasive!

(8) Create a “hunger for improvement” and a “burning focus on student and adult learning” within the school.

(9) Establish the cultural value of “respect” – i.e. “All students will respect the right of teachers to teach and right of students to learn. At no time will student behavior interfere with either of those rights!”

(10) Set high expectations for student and staff performance. Defy rather than affirm the “normal/bell curve” of performance.

(11) Create a strong sense of efficacy within the staff—i.e. share your confidence in their individual and collective capacities to profoundly impact and significantly improve student learning.

(12) Celebrations of teacher and student accomplishments need to be embedded in your school’s culture.

Note: See the toolkit items entitled Climbing the Cultural Ladder of High

Performance; A Shared Vision of Outstanding School Leadership in Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99; A Shared Vision of Exemplary Teaching in Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99 and A Vision of a High-Performing School in Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99.


2. Teacher Recruitment and Selection

Objective: To optimize student learning and personal development by recruiting

and selecting exemplary teachers, or proficient teachers who have the capacity to develop into exemplary teachers.

Reflective Insight:

The most significant factor affecting student learning is the quality of teaching in the classroom. Therefore, one of the most important activities of an instructional leader is the recruitment and selection of teachers. In the words of Todd Whitaker, “the best way to provide an exceptional learning environment for students is to give them outstanding teachers”.

Strategies:

(1) Recruitment and selection practices across the province vary in terms of

the level of centralization and decentralization. Nevertheless, it is strongly suggested that a team approach be used when engaging in this important facet of instructional leadership. It is important to balance school system and school perspectives when filling vacant teaching positions.

(2) Avoid duplication of effort during the recruitment process (e.g. principals

reviewing the same teacher applications/resumes; principals phoning the same references).

(3) Remember that successful candidates are employed by the school system, not by an individual school.

(4) Remember that successful candidates will potentially influence their students, colleagues and communities for 30+ years.

(5) Remember that poor selections may result in significant resource expenditures on performance issues.

(6) Advertise internally and externally. You want to be able to start from a long-list of outstanding candidates.

(7) Attend career fairs. You are competing with other school jurisdictions and drawing from the same talent pool.

(8) Recruit and select for talent – not experience, convenience, familiarity or loyalty. Look for the total package. A key component of that package is a “pro-social” disposition—i.e. the ability to work cooperatively and collaboratively with colleagues.

(9) Select someone who will be a role model for the rest of the staff. You want someone who will be exceptional in the classroom but also influential in the school – someone who will help make your school a better school. You are not necessarily looking for someone who will “fit in” and become like the rest of the staff.

(10) Check references thoroughly by telephone and ask the right questions – questions that will disclose the person behind the application and reveal


the characteristics you want to see in the teachers you select (see Reference-Checking Guide in the toolkit).

(11) One of the best predictors of future success is past success. A strong academic record isn’t everything but it may reflect a strong work ethic, intelligence, and inherent skills. A candidate who did “just enough to get by” in high school and university, including the practicum, may take the same approach to their teaching assignment. Also look for involvement and leadership in high school, university and community activities.

(12) Prepare carefully for the interview and ask the right questions – questions that will disclose the person behind the application and reveal the characteristics you want to see in the teachers you select (see the Interview Guide in the toolkit).

(13) Consider using a performance component as part of the selection process (e.g. teaching a mini-lesson to a group of students; using a PowerPoint presentation during the interview; observing the teacher in his/her present school – the latter especially applying to in-system transfer requests).

(14) Remember that beginning teachers will need time to mature – do not expect them to be “exemplary teachers” out of the starting gate.

(15) If your school jurisdiction uses the regular practice of advertising or “opening up” all positions occupied by teachers on probationary contracts, ensure that all candidates are aware of this practice before they sign a probationary contract. (Do this in the spirit of “ethical leadership”).

3. Teacher Induction

Objective: To optimize student learning and personal development by providing

teachers new to the profession with appropriate support during their initial years of employment.


(1) It has been estimated that 25-40% of teachers in North America leave the profession within five years due to isolation, poor interpersonal skills, and a lack of effective instructional strategies. High turnover drains a school system’s limited resources, negatively impacts school cultures, and may provide students with an inferior quality of teaching. It is therefore important to attract and retain high-quality teachers. Support structures can be a key factor for new teachers considering where to apply and an important factor in getting beginning teachers off to a successful start in their chosen profession. Furthermore, support structures can and should result in low expenditures on performance issues in the future. Despite our efforts as administrators, beginning teachers will develop. The question is: How do we want them to develop? In fact, the manner in which they develop may define the next 30+ years of their influence with regard to their students, colleagues and communities. It makes sense to influence


that development in the direction of our shared vision of exemplary teaching and our desired cultural characteristics.

(2) A comprehensive induction program can be a drawing card in your recruitment efforts. It is reassuring for prospective teachers to know that a strong support system awaits them if they join your teaching staff.

Strategies:

(1) Level One: Orientation and “Survival”

• Orientation at the school system level often involves one or two days before school opening, and spread out over several days at the school level. This level of orientation is all about providing information and direction – policies, procedures, goals, priorities, beliefs, vision, expectations, forms, names of colleagues and Division Office staff, contacts, etc. Try to focus on critical or need-to-know information to prevent the teacher from being overwhelmed. At this level we want to relieve anxiety and stress rather than create more. It is also important to make the newcomers feel welcome to the school and jurisdiction.

• Meet individually with your beginning teacher(s) before school opening in the fall to ensure that behavioral expectations/rules, consequences, and procedures are in place. There should be no more than five rules and they should be posted in the classroom. Consequences should be fair and reasonable, and based on a system of progressive discipline. Procedures should include how routine daily chores will be handled, how lessons will begin and end, what students are to do when in need of help and when finished with seatwork, responding to the teacher’s signals, and how transitions will be handled. Encourage each new teacher to invest sufficient time during the first two weeks to clearly establish procedures and routines.

• The first day of the school year is the only day that can’t be repeated. Encourage your beginning teachers to use these strategies on Day One:

- Pull students toward you as a person, teacher and leader. Create a sense of belonging. Smile. Show that you are a positive, friendly, and caring person. Demonstrate that you are well-organized.

- Pull students toward working and learning. Arouse interest, stir excitement and create anticipation. Reveal enthusiasm. Offer hope (“Everyone can and will succeed!”). Create a partnership agreement (“We will work together to . . .” “Our responsibilities as teacher and students are…”).

- Pull students toward appropriate behavior and self-regulation. - Establish the principle that student conduct will not interfere

with teaching and learning. Review your classroom rules and


begin to establish classroom procedures and routines (“This is the way we do things around here”.)

• Carefully monitor the teacher’s classroom situation during the first month of the school year. Many if not most novice teachers are overwhelmed at the outset and need support and advice from their administrator(s). Don’t abandon them! Instead, be there for them! Suggestion: Make daily contact with your first-year teachers during the first month, including regular walk-though visits. Be sure to gradually include some full-lesson observations to obtain the total picture. Let them know it’s alright to ask for advice and assistance.

(2) Level Two: Comprehensive Induction Program

• Whereas orientation tends to be about “surviving”, comprehensive induction is all about “thriving” or achieving significant success in the classroom. It may involve one or more weeks before school opening (e.g. skills training in specific methodologies) but must occur, at minimum, throughout the first year of teaching. In short, induction is a systematic acculturation program – usually coordinated by the Division Office – that has three purposes: i. To reduce the intensity and stress associated with the transition

into teaching; ii. To familiarize them with the division’s shared vision of

exemplary teaching; iii. To move their instructional effectiveness as closely as possible

to the shared vision of exemplary teaching; and iv. To increase the retention rate of highly proficient teachers.

• Suggested activities include:

- A formal mentoring/instructional coaching program in which the beginning teacher is paired with an accomplished teacher on staff (i.e. the “talent exchange”—beginning teachers working with your “best” teachers)

- Reflective observation in which the beginning teacher observes a more experienced, exemplary teacher. A key reflective question is “What did you see that you would like to try in your own classroom?”

- Providing time for the beginning teacher to work together with colleagues to solve problems, share ideas, develop units, etc.

- Ongoing coaching by the principal/vice-principal by way of walk-through classroom visits, observations of classroom instructional practice, and meetings before and after school.

- Participation in jurisdiction sessions or workshops for beginning teachers.

• When evaluating beginning teachers for contract purposes, use a growth-oriented approach and be sure to spend sufficient time explaining the process and clarifying expectations.


• Remember that the up-front time you spend with your beginning teachers is time you won’t have to spend later “picking up the pieces”.

(3) Try to protect (at least limit!) your beginning teachers from added duties such as coaching, committees and special events.

4. Staff Development/Building Capacity

Objective: To optimize student learning and personal development by providing a

setting in which teachers reflect on and share their practice, and engage in collective inquiry about teaching and learning – i.e. they collectively and persistently search for causal relationships between exemplary instructional practice and excellence in student learning.


(1) Our primary role as an instructional leader is to build the capacity of our students and teachers. Outstanding principals focus on student learning by focusing on teachers. They don’t simply turn their teachers loose to do their own thing. Instead, they ensure the creation of an ongoing school-based staff development program that is aligned with their school’s vision of exemplary teaching and education plan, as well as with jurisdiction and provincial planning documents. In the words of Ken Leithwood, staff development is part of “learning the way forward”.

(2) The most effective staff development practices include learning in context—i.e. in the settings that classroom teachers work on a daily basis.

(3) Staff development must include a transparent, evidence-informed component—i.e. openness about data; conversations and debates regarding the underlying relationships between instructional practice and results; and making evidence-informed adjustments to improve performance.

Strategies:

(1) Start by reminding your staff that its goal as a learning community is to practice, study, and refine the craft of teaching. In its simplest form, the aim of all staff development programs is to help teachers develop the ability to reflect on what they do and to modify their teaching practices based on that reflection. They can’t do this successfully without looking for the causal relationships between instructional practice and results. In that regard, you must engage teachers in professionally responsible conversations about instructional practice.

(2) Establish the cultural norm that all teachers have a professional responsibility to contribute to the learning of colleagues – i.e. learning with and from each other.

(3) Build your school’s staff development program using a collaborative approach – i.e. build a “culture of collaboration”.


(4) The staff development program should be an integral part of the school’s education plan – i.e. it should be a key strategy for achieving one or more school goals or objectives.

(5) When formulating your staff development program, use ‘evidence’ to inform decision making (e.g. student assessment results; student discipline data; satisfaction survey results; action research results). Ask questions such as, “What are our collective needs?” and “Where is the evidence to support those needs?”

(6) Inservice regarding new curricula should also be addressed when formulating your staff development program.

(7) Your program should be directed at promoting long-term professional growth and sustainable school improvement rather than single, unconnected “training” events.

(8) Your program should contain a strong interactive component. Teachers tend to resist programs that are designed as something that is done to them – they want to be active participants rather than passive listeners.

(9) Be sure to link your school division’s Shared Vision of Exemplary Teaching to your staff development program. It is always appropriate to ask the question, “How does this PD activity or instructional practice connect to our shared vision of exemplary teaching?”

(10) Your program should facilitate the de-privatization of instructional practice. In other words, an open-door culture is mandatory! A key strategy in this regard is to move learning community activity beyond the meeting room into the classroom (e.g. peer observations and coaching; mentorship; observing exemplary teachers in their classrooms).

(11) As a learning community, your staff can engage in the following key activities:

• Inquiry Groups – read articles and books together and discuss the implications of the ideas therein; exchanging points of view about how students learn and how to organize learning experiences; expose and challenge the assumptions on which instructional practice is based; analyze achievement data and plan improvements to instructional strategies and learning activities.

• Action Research Teams – identify a compelling question regarding instructional practice; engage in research to collect data (e.g. assessment results, survey results, observations, etc.); analyze and interpret the data; reach conclusions; and plan alterations to future instructional practice.

• Peer Coaching and Instructional Coaching – involves teachers helping teachers on a collegial, non-evaluative basis, to identify patterns of teacher and learner behavior. One of the most powerful staff development activities occurs when colleagues observe each other teach and serve as “critical friends” to each other. As stated earlier, learning with and from each other is a powerful process for enhancing instructional effectiveness.

• Mentoring – involves experienced, outstanding teachers helping beginning teachers.


• Grade-Level Teams – teachers from the same grade engage in intensive collaboration to discuss instructional and curricular issues, and plan jointly for units, projects or special events.

(12) It is important that you become actively involved, where appropriate, as a co-learner in staff development activities. Learning “with and from each other” also applies to school leaders! And it enhances your credibility as an instructional leader.

(13) Succession planning can be enhanced by way of a leadership development program. When implementing such a program, be sure to address both management and instructional leadership responsibilities, with the emphasis being on the latter.

5. Commitment to Alberta’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy

Ministerial Order: On May 14, 1997, the Minister of Education approved the

Teaching Quality Standard which applies to teacher certification, professional development, supervision and evaluation, and which is supported by descriptors of selected knowledge, skills and attributes appropriate to teachers at different stages of their careers.

Provincial Policy: School authorities, ECS operators, superintendents, principals

and teachers must work together to achieve the teaching quality standard. All teachers are expected to practice consistently in keeping with the standard.

Objective: To optimize student learning and personal development by

utilizing highly effective staff growth, supervision and evaluation practices.

Reflective Insight: Alberta’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy and

Teaching Quality Standard aim to ensure each teacher’s actions, judgments and decisions are in the best educational interests of students and support optimum learning. Outstanding instructional leaders do not view provincial policy as an administrative requirement. Instead, they go beyond compliance to commitment—i.e. commitment to accountability and high performance.

Strategies:

(1) The Teaching Quality Standard is a minimal standard and does not necessarily provide a “vision of exemplary teaching”. If exemplary performance is an instructional leadership goal (and it should be!), TQS needs to be “fleshed out” in terms of high performance descriptors and/or rubrics (see the Shared Vision of Exemplary Teaching in Wheatsheaf School Division No. 99). With


regard to the latter, it is suggested that you do not overwhelm your teachers with hundreds of rubric statements.

(2) Follow your jurisdiction’s policy and/or administrative procedures regarding growth, supervision and evaluation, which should be consistent with provincial policy.

(3) The Professional Growth Plan (PGP) is designed to foster the personal and professional growth and development of teachers, to enhance their teaching effectiveness and the effectiveness of students’ learning. Each teacher is required to develop, implement, and complete annually an individualized PGP. Encourage your teachers to base their PGP goals on self-reflection using the shared vision of exemplary teaching and your supervisory suggestions (see # 6 below). Note: The PGP must be a relevant factor in the professional lives of teachers – i.e. moving beyond compliance to commitment!

(4) Develop a PGP format/template for your teachers to use (see toolkit sample) at their discretion. Components might include goals/outcomes, strategies, measures and timelines relative to each goal. Local policy or administrative procedures will likely require you to meet at least twice with each teacher to review his/her PGP (i.e. early in the school year and at the end of the year). A mid-year progress check is also suggested. (Note: The ATA website has a number of excellent formats that teachers can access.)

Note the following affirmation from A Shared Vision of Outstanding School Leadership: We are committed to implementing Alberta’s Teacher Growth, Supervision

and Evaluation Policy, and the division’s Administrative Procedures, to ensure each teacher’s professional practice supports optimum student learning. We therefore facilitate teacher growth by monitoring and reviewing—at least twice each year—each teacher’s Professional Growth Plan (PGP). In so doing, we ensure that each PGP: i. demonstrates clear expectations, processes, and timelines; ii. reflects goals and objectives based on an assessment of learning needs by the

individual teacher; iii. shows a demonstrable relationship to the Teaching Quality Standard; iv. takes into consideration the Shared Vision of Exemplary Teaching; v. takes into consideration the education plans for the school, jurisdiction, and

Alberta Education; and vi. is modified through ongoing reflection and discussion, and is supplemented and

supported by instructional supervision .

(5) Your supervisory program should communicate the following message to your staff: “What you do is important; you are important; teaching and learning are the most important aspects of my job, and spending time in your classroom, observing and helping, is the best way to communicate my commitment to you and our students”. Note: This monograph takes the position that instructional supervision should occur at two levels: (i) monitoring in the form of “walk-through’s”


or brief visits to the classroom; and (ii) “sit-down” observations of complete classes, or major parts of classes, and the follow-up use of observation data and feedback, reflective discussion and inquiry, coaching strategies, etc.

(6) The purpose of your supervisory program is to ensure that every classroom offers a highly effective teaching and learning environment. To accomplish this, you can’t monitor and coach from your office. You need to be “out and about” in classrooms and hallways – observing, listening, crafting and giving feedback, interacting, guiding, motivating, energizing, assisting, affirming, encouraging, reinforcing, modeling, and promoting and facilitating reflective practice. (Note: If you wear out the seat of your pants before the soles of your shoes, you are making contact in the wrong places!) This approach to instructional supervision should take you into each classroom at least twice a week and have you interacting with staff and students every day. To do so, set “sacred” time aside every day – i.e. make it an absolute priority – and keep a log of your classroom visits. It is imperative that instructional supervision includes a combination of monitoring visits and “sit-down” observations that involve a strong coaching component. If walk-through’s become the only method that is used, your supervision is likely to be superficial at best. You do not want to be the subject of the following teacher’s comment: “My principal made another ‘drive-by’ visit today. I wish he/she would stick around for a while and give me some constructive feedback.” Note the following affirmation from A Shared Vision of Outstanding School Leadership: We are committed to implementing Alberta’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy, and the division’s Administrative Procedures, to ensure each teacher’s professional practice supports optimum student learning. We therefore implement a varied approach to instructional supervision to ensure each teacher’s professional practice meets the expectations in the Teaching Quality Standard. This includes: i. building trusting, collegial and supportive relationships; ii. promoting continuous growth in the ability of each teacher to enhance student

learning; iii. regularly observing each teacher’s professional practice in the classroom and school-

wide setting; iv. using observation data to provide constructive feedback regarding the impact of the

teacher’s professional practice on student learning; v. assisting teachers to reflect critically on their professional practice; vi. generating and discussing alternative teaching practices to enhance student learning; vii. encouraging teachers to take reasonable risks to improve professional practice; and viii. differentiating instructional supervision based on each teacher’s needs.

(7) Instructional leaders must be competent in observing, analyzing and

impacting instructional practice. The Teaching and Learning Scan in the toolkit can be used for instructional supervision. It can help you be a “critical


friend” as well as serving as a “mirror” and springboard for reflective inquiry. Note that the scan should be used to record evidence of visible teaching and learning—i.e. What is the teacher saying and doing? What are the instructional tasks/learning activities? What are students actually saying and doing? Do not include judgmental comments when noting your observations.

(8) York-Barr, Sommers, Ghere and Montie (see Reference List) suggest the following supervisory/coaching questions to promote reflective inquiry:

• How do you think the lesson went? What happened that caused it to go that way? What worked best? Why?

• When you think about what you had planned and what actually happened, what were the similarities and what were the differences?

• As you think about the results you got, what were some of the ways you designed the lesson to cause that to happen?

• When you reflect back, what would you do differently next time you teach this lesson?

(9) If your school or school jurisdiction uses instructional coaches, use them to complement rather than replace your own coaching efforts. You don’t want your staff members to regard you solely as a supervisor and evaluator. The reality is that you do wear many hats.

(10) It is imperative that all supervision and evaluation be based on the Teaching Quality Standard.

(11) Be sure to document all of your classroom supervisory visits. And remember that “it didn’t happen if you didn’t document it”.

(12) The province’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy assumes that experienced teachers (on continuing contracts) are competent. This assumption does not equal an exemption from supervision. It does grant an exemption from evaluation, but only if performance is not an issue.

(13) When conducting a teacher evaluation (see Notice of Teacher Evaluation sample in the toolkit), the principal must communicate explicitly to the teacher:

• the reasons for and purposes of the evaluation;

• the process, criteria and standards to be used;

• the timelines to be applied; and

• possible outcomes of the evaluation. Remember that documentation is critical – i.e. it didn’t happen if you didn’t write it down!

(14) If an evaluation leads to a Notice of Remediation, follow your jurisdiction’s policy or administrative procedures. (Note: To ignore incompetence is to condone it. Teachers with serious deficiencies in their instructional practice must be challenged!) A sample Notice of Remediation is included in the toolkit. Note the following affirmation from A Shared Vision of Outstanding School Leadership:


We are committed to implementing Alberta’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy, and the division’s Administrative Procedures, to ensure each teacher’s professional practice supports optimum student learning. This involves addressing all professional practice that does not appear to meet the Teaching Quality Standard, Code of Professional Conduct, and/or conditions of employment. The process for doing so includes: i. considering information from multiple sources, including supervision, to determine the

need to provide a teacher with a Notice of Evaluation; ii. developing and implementing an evaluation plan to gather information over a period

of time and applying reasoned judgment in determining whether one or more aspects of a teacher’s performance exceeds, meets or does not meet the Teaching Quality Standard;

iii. providing a teacher with a Notice of Remediation and implementing an improvement plan when the evaluation process shows the teacher does not meet the Teaching Quality Standard;

iv. providing the teacher with reasonable time to improve; and v. recommending termination of the teacher’s contract of employment when remediation

follow-up and further evaluation shows the teacher’s performance does not meet the Teaching Quality Standard.

(15) In The Ten Traits of Highly Effective Schools, Elaine McKewan states that

“assertiveness is a positive, forthright approach to leadership that stands in stark contrast to less effective leadership styles characterized by aggressiveness or hesitancy”. To be an assertive leader, you must operate with a sense of certainty regarding the importance of accountability. This involves modeling and encouraging “accountable talk” in all of your teacher growth, supervision and evaluation activities. Remember that your teachers are accountable to you for their performance, and you are accountable to your superintendent for “quality control” or “quality assurance” in your school.

V. Classroom Management: A Prerequisite for Teacher Effectiveness

It is pointless to add more recipes to a restaurant that is poorly managed. It is senseless to add more plays to the playbook of a team that is poorly managed. It doesn’t make sense to add more songs to a choir that is poorly managed. And it is futile to talk about constructivism, differentiated instruction, inquiry, direct instruction, integration, multi-sensory learning, assessment for learning, 21st Century teaching and learning, etc. in classrooms that are poorly managed. The importance of classroom management is so important that it deserves its own section of this monograph. Researchers Good and Brophy in Looking in the Classroom identify three characteristics of an effective teacher:

1. Effective classroom manager. 2. Know how to teach for mastery. 3. Have very high expectations that students will succeed.


How do effective teachers manage their classrooms? By having procedures and routines in place! It is procedures and routines – rather than control and compliance – that set the stage for effective teaching and learning. They also help students develop responsibility and self-regulation.

Procedures + Routines = Responsibility + Self-regulation

Effective teachers invest a lot of time early in the school year teaching procedures and establishing routines. It’s an investment that reaps major dividends. Definitions: 1. Classroom management – the procedures and routines used by a teacher to

manage a classroom to ensure that two things happen:

• The teacher can instruct and function as a learning leader; and

• The students can learn.

2. Procedures – what we want students to do in the classroom; i.e., the “way things are done around here”.

3. Routines – what the students do automatically without the teacher telling

them what to do and when and how to do it. When procedures are practiced and rehearsed often enough, they become routines.

Note: Principals can create more time for instructional leadership by

maximizing self-sufficiency of teachers in terms of classroom management – i.e. less “troubleshooting” on your part with regard to classroom management will result in more time to devote to other aspects of instructional leadership.

VI. Concluding Comments

The children and young people in your school will pass through your hands and your lives but once. In the blink of an eye, children entering kindergarten are leaving high school with diplomas in hand. You only get one chance. How you act every day will impact their educational lives. Through the vision you pursue, the words you use, and the actions you choose, you will influence student learning. But what kind of impact and influence will you have? Instructional leadership by design is intended to improve student learning by enhancing the effectiveness of your teachers. To borrow from Todd Whitaker, remember all principals have an impact and exert influence; however, outstanding instructional leaders make a profound difference!


Appendix I: “Power Quotes” from the Literature

1. Douglas Reeves, author of Accountability for Learning: How Teachers and School

Leaders Can Take Charge, makes the following research-based statement:

The most important variable affecting student achievement is the quality of teaching. In fact, it is almost twice as important as every other variable.

2. Richard DuFour and Robert Marzano in Leaders of Learning state that:

Not all teachers are effective, not all teachers are experts, and not all teachers have powerful effects on students.

3. The co-authors of Breakthrough also make the following assertion:

Most important, we believe there is such a thing as expertise in teaching; that the nature of this expertise can be made explicit, to that it is capable of being replicated and validated; and that expert teaching translates into improved learning…The kind of expert systems we envisage need to assist in defining what it means to perform expertly in a fairly broad domain of classroom instruction.

4. Fullan, Hill and Crevola, co-authors of Breakthrough, state that:

Schools have learned to change massively on the surface while changing little at their core. Wave after wave of reform initiatives constantly disrupt the surface of schools but rarely penetrate deeply into the classroom to bring about systematic improvements in instruction.

5. Richard DuFour in Through New Eyes: Examining the Culture of Your School makes a similar claim:

As I have watched the different approaches schools have taken in their efforts to adopt the principles of a PLC [Professional Learning Community], I have come to realize that those who make the most progress are not those who simply adopt new policies and procedures, but rather those willing to examine their current practices from a fresh critical perspective [i.e. “seeing with new eyes”].

6. DuFour and Eaker, in their book Professional Learning Communities at Work,

define culture as the “assumptions, beliefs, values and habits that constitute the norms for the organization – norms that shape how people think, feel and act”.


7. In Building Leadership Capacity in Schools, Linda Lambert writes,

In schools with high leadership capacity, participants reflect on their core values and weave those values into a shared vision to which all can commit themselves. All members of the learning organization continually ask, ‘How does this instructional practice connect to our vision’?

8. In their book Professional Learning Communities at Work, DuFour and Eaker write,

What separates a learning community from an ordinary school is its collective commitment to guiding principles that articulate what people in the school believe and what they seek to create. Furthermore, these guiding principles are not just articulated by those in positions of leadership; even more important, they are embedded in the hearts and minds of people throughout the school.

9. Combs, Miser and Whitaker, in On Becoming a School Leader, state

Since people behave according to their perceptions or beliefs, it follows that how teachers teach and students learn is a function of their belief system.

10. In their book Learning Places: A Field Guide for Improving the Context of Schools,

Michael Fullan and Clif St. Germain write,

Revisiting what we stand for and questioning the fit between what we believe and what we do is fundamental to any improvement process.

11. In Breakthrough, co-authors Fullan, Hill and Crevola quote R. F. Elmore:

Where virtually all decisions about accountability are decisions by individual teachers, based on their individual conceptions of what they and their students can do, it seems unlikely that these decisions will somehow aggregate into overall improvement for the school. The authors use a quote from Burney to further make their point: Individual teachers . . . work in isolation, forging their own methods of practice behind closed classroom doors . . . Teachers have come to regard autonomy and creativity – not rigorously shared knowledge – as the badge of professionalism. This in turn has produced highly personalized forms of instruction and huge variations in teacher quality and effectiveness. In effect, each teacher is left to invent his or her own knowledge base – unexamined, untested, idiosyncratic and potentially at odds with knowledge from which other teachers may be operating.


12. In Turnaround Leadership, Michael Fullan states,

Class-to-class variations in teacher effectiveness within schools are large and most consequential. These variations exist in naturally occurring ways – that is, they persist if you do nothing explicitly to alter them. We must as a consequence focus on reducing bad variations within schools. Thus the more you develop active professional learning communities within schools in which teachers observe each other’s teaching, and work with school leadership to make ongoing improvements, the greater the consistency and quality of teaching across the whole school, at which point all students in the school benefit and keep on benefiting.

13. In his book The Principal as Staff Developer, Richard DuFour writes,

The principal as staff developer is an integral part of the concept of the principal as instructional leader. One of the very best indicators of instructional leadership is the presence of an ongoing, school-based staff development program and a school climate in which that program can flourish.

14. In Schooling By Design: Mission, Action and Achievement, Grant Wiggins and Jay

McTighe state

Unfortunately, in most schools, staff have not reached professional consensus about what goals demand of teaching or what constitutes “best practices” for learning – nor have they ever been expected to. And so, many timeless and unexamined bad teaching habits persist, generation after generation. We believe teaching is far too personalized. Without long-term results and shared analysis of goals to study together or shared standards of best practice to which we refer, teachers have little choice but to (over) emphasize personal beliefs, habits and style…Schooling has to be informed by a set of shared local standards for teaching…Schooling can be coherent and effective only if staffs craft and honor principles of learning that derive from mission, research and best practice.

15. In School Reform From the Inside Out, Richard Elmore comments on the

problem of teachers’ learning in school improvement efforts:

The problem is that there is almost no opportunity for teachers to engage in continuous and substantial learning about their practice in the setting in which they actually work—observing and being observed by their colleagues in their own classrooms and classrooms of other teachers in other schools confronting similar problems of practice.


16. In The Six Secrets of Change, Michael Fullan makes a case for purposeful peer interaction as the cornerstone of staff development:

Purposeful peer interaction…works effectively under three conditions: (1) when the larger values of the organization and those of individuals and groups mesh; (2) when information and knowledge about effective practices are widely and openly shared; and (3) when monitoring mechanisms are in place to detect and address ineffective actions while also identifying and consolidating effective practices.

17. Phillip Schlechty, in Schools for the Twenty-First Century, states:

The concept of the normal curve and the notion that most people are average are ideas that have a devastating effect in school. They condemn to mediocrity all but the few. What one needs to understand is that nothing short of excellence should be expected of anyone.

18. In his book What Great Principals Do Differently, Todd Whitaker states:

A principal’s single most precious commodity is an opening in the teaching staff…the most significant way to rapidly improve a school is to add teachers who are better than the ones who leave. Great principals know this and work diligently to hire the best possible teachers.

19. Mike Schmoker, in Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements

in Teaching and Learning, states:

Few administrators of any kind or at any level are directly involved in instruction. They give lip service to the ‘central position of instruction in administration. They have been socialized to be maintainers…Almost everything one learns as a principal reinforces the adage: to get along, go along. When administrators ‘go along’ instead of leading, they perpetuate mediocrity. Isolation of teachers or ‘professional privacy’…explains why exemplary practices never take root in more than a small proportion of classrooms and schools. Such lack of collaboration explains why high yield strategies occur in only a tiny percentage of the 1500 classrooms visited by researchers in the Learning 24/7 study.

20. Michael C. Zwaagstra, Rodney A. Clifton, and John C. Long, in What’s Wrong

With Our Schools, state:

Too many current policies and practices in schools reflect the abandonment of common sense in education. The wisdom of practical experience and tradition have too often been trivialized or dismissed by the ‘romantic progressives’. Perhaps with the best of intentions, the progressives have allowed their enthusiasm for certain policies and


practices to exceed the limitations of their evidence, and have allowed their ideology to overtake caution when it comes to the limitations of educational theory and research. In short, the superiority of their approach has not been justified. We believe that we should not discard educational practices merely because they are traditional. Rather, we should respect and sustain educational practices—both traditional and modern—that are proven to be successful. Furthermore, major educational innovations should be subjected to systematic evaluations so that we can scrutinize the claims of their sponsors.

21. Elizabeth City et al in Instructional Rounds in Education state that:

In most instances, principals, lead teachers and system-level administrators are trying to improve the performance of their schools without knowing what the actual practice [leadership practice and instructional practice] would have to look like to get the results they want at the classroom and school level.


Appendix II: Reference List Brock, Barbara and Grady, Marilyn (2004). Launching Your First Principalship: A Guide for

Beginning Principals. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. City, Elizabeth et al (2009). Instructional Rounds in Education. Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Harvard Education Press. Combs, Miser and Whitaker (1999). On Becoming a School Leader. Alexandria, VA:

Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. DuFour, Richard (1991). The Principal as Staff Developer. Bloomington, Indiana: National

Educational Service. DuFour, Richard and Eaker, Robert (1998). Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best

Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement. Bloomington, Indiana: National Educational Service.

DuFour, Richard and Marzano, Robert J. (2011). Leaders of Learning: How District, School and

Classroom Leaders Improve Student Achievement. Bloomington, Indiana: Solution Tree Press.

DuFour, Richard et al (2005). On Common Ground: The Power of Professional Learning

Communities. Bloomington, Indiana: National Education Service. DuFour, Richard (2003). Through New Eyes: Examining the Culture of Your School.

Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. Elmore, R.F. (2004). School Reform From the Inside Out: Policy, Practice and Performance.

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Fullan, Hill and Crevola (2006). Breakthrough. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press Inc. Fullan, Michael (2008). The Six Secrets of Change. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass. Fullan, Michael (2006). Turnaround Leadership. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass. Fullan, Michael and St. Germain, Clif (2006). Learning Places: A Field Guide for Improving the

Context of Schooling. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc. Fullan, Michael (2008). What’s Worth Fighting For in the Principalship (Second Edition). New

York: Teachers College Press; Toronto: Ontario Principals’ Council. Good and Brophy (1995). Looking into the Classroom. Harper and Collins.


Hargreaves, Andy and Fink, Dean (2006). Sustainable Leadership. San Francisco, California: Jossey-Bass.

Lambert, Linda (1998). Building Leadership Capacity in Schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for

Supervision and Curriculum Development. McEwan, Elaine (2002). Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers. Thousand Oaks, California:

Corwin Press, Inc. McKewan, Elaine (2009). Ten Traits of Highly Effective Schools. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc. Reeves, Douglas B. (2004). Accountability for Learning: How Teachers and School Leaders Can Take

Charge. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Schmoker, Mike (2006). Results Now: How We Can Achieve Unprecedented Improvements in

Teaching and Learning. . Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Stiggins, Arter, Chappius J., and Chappius, S. (2004). Classroom Assessment for Student Learning:

Doing It Right—Using It Well. Portland, Oregon: Assessment Training Institute. Whitaker, Todd (2012). What Great Principals Do Differently: 18 Things That Matter Most.

Larchmont, New York: Eye on Education. Wiggins, Grant and McTighe, Jay (2007). Schooling By Design: Mission, Action and Achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Wong, Harry and Rosemary (2004, 2005). How to Be An Effective Teacher: The First Days of

School. Mountain View, CA: Harry K. Wong Publications, Inc. York-Barr, J., Sommers W., Ghere, G. and Montie, J. (2006). Reflective Practice to Improve

Schools: An Action Guide for Educators. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, Inc. Zwaagstra, Michael C., Rodney A. Clifton, and John C. Long (2010). What’s Wrong With Our

Schools and How We Can Fix Them. Toronto, New York, Lanham, and Plymouth, UK: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc.

Developed By: Lyle Lorenz (Lorenz Consulting) 35 Cameron Close Lacombe, AB T4L 2N6 Ph. 403-782-5158 (Home) 403-318-9179 (Cell)

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