| Instructional leaders have strong
vision and values that orient all school activities around
student learning and academic growth. They create a sense of
urgency and excitement about teaching and learning. They maximize
the effectiveness of any curricular approach through leading
adult learning about instruction, and have deep knowledge of
the curricular approaches they are implementing in their schools.
Instructional leaders organize the resources of time (through
school programming) and money (through school-based budgets)
to support their instructional agenda.
Spending most of their time in classrooms, observing instruction,
modeling lessons, and developing capacity in their school
buildings, instructional leaders know good instruction when
they see it and know how to develop it when they do not. Instructional
leaders create time for teacher collaboration through scheduling
and programming, and guide that collaboration. They know how
to recognize the assets in their school communities and to
build on those assets for the purposes of student learning.
They actively disseminate best practices within their school
communities by encouraging inter-visitations, scheduling coaching
and support where it is needed, and focusing all professional
activities toward the purpose of improved student performance.
Instructional leaders also look outside the school for exemplary
practices or new approaches, and use outside experts to build
instructional capacity inside the school.
Instructional leaders know how to analyze student performance
data and use that data to determine what teachers need to
learn, where to start when implementing a new approach, and
how to measure whether the implementation is effective at
getting students to meet performance standards. They teach
their staffs how to analyze and use student assessment in
their teaching. Instructional leaders know how to implement
new approaches strategically by analyzing student performance
data and observing teacher practices, by planning a focused
entry point that addresses a compelling need, by involving
key staff in early implementation, by generating enthusiasm
for early successes, and by spreading the initiative to other
staff members and other areas for improvement through powerful
communication, persuasion, and sense of purpose.
Instructional leaders set clear standards of behavior and
model that behavior in their interactions with all members
of the school community. They value parent and community
participation in the instructional agenda. They make the
language of schooling accessible to parents and community
members. They take time to explain new curricular approaches
as the basis for building relationships.
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