If you are unaware of that time in education history and practices in Virginia when individuals were selected to be building principals based on their ability to “run a tight ship,” then you may not have a clear frame of reference for this blog. In the late 1970’s into the early 1980’s, many principals, particularly at the secondary level, focused on taking care of the management of the school and left teaching to the teachers. Curriculum was whatever the teacher felt appropriate and whatever was in the textbook. Lesson plans, if completed, seldom received administrative review. Standards for grades were mostly in absolute control of teachers.
Fast forward into the 1990’s and the advent of standards based instruction and testing and a new breed of administrators. Principals with skills in helping develop curriculum applications to content began to edge out the building management model. Instruction became a driving force for teacher evaluation and student success became the central focus for public schools. The need for principals to change from managers to instructional leaders along with the associated changes in teacher evaluation rolled through the commonwealth.
A recent blog in published in Education Week (July 12, 2014) written by Peter DeWitt takes a look at this task transition focus for principals and lists five reasons why school leaders must be instructional leaders:
1. A Focus on Learning – Learning needs to be the primary focus for leaders, staff, students and the whole school.
2. A Focus on Learning – High stakes accountability has completely shifted the focus of leaders from a variety of areas to compliance.
3. A Focus on Learning – Staff and students need leaders who understand the diverse needs of learners.
4. A Focus on Learning – Staff meetings and curriculum meetings need to focus on learning and not on all the adult issues that take place in school.
5. A Focus on Learning – Parents need to know that their children are doing more than “behaving” or “sitting quietly in class.” Parents need to know that their children are safe and challenged.
If you would like to review this blog, please go to: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/finding_common_ground/2014/07/five_reasons_you_should_be_an_instructional_leader.html?cmp=ENL-EU-NEWS3
