“A school leader must drill down in each of these areas. Let’s take one area from Figure 6.1 - instructional strategies. ‘Drilling down’ refers to the need to understand not only what instructional strategies are being used in all classrooms in all schools, but also what the research tells us about the impact of certain instructional strategies.” (Corderio & Cunningham, 2013, p. 193)
Cunningham, W. G., & Cordeiro, P. A. (2013). Educational leadership: a bridge to improved practice. Boston: Pearson.
After reading this passage from the text Educational Leadership: A Bridge to Improved Practice, I began to reflect on all the interactions I have had with administrators at several different schools. I am passionate about leaders knowing research based instructional practices. As an district instructional coach I feel confident in my knowledge of best practices, not only as it relates to mathematics, but to all content areas. I know that Assistant Principals and school leaders have varying degree of strengths, just as teachers, but I am wondering how are current programs preparing Assistant Principals (APs) for the instructional challenges that they will face? In many instances I have found that it is more often the case that the APs do not have time to truly devote to improving instructional practices in their buildings. Our district is fortunate to have have county coaches that can support local schools and individual teachers.
As we have read through several of our texts, the roles of APs and Principals is ever evolving. One thread that I feel is crucial to being a successful AP or principal is knowledge of research based instructional practices. To promote student growth and success we must grow our teachers instructional knowledge. As assistant principals or principals we have to not only evaluate, but guide and strengthen our teachers instructional practices. I agree that the achievement gap will begin to close when the instructional gap between teachers begins to close and all students have the opportunity to high quality instruction.
I have had discussions about this with my Assistant Principal. She said she struggles to find time to improve instructional practice when she was in meetings throughout the entire day. I believe most APs want to do better at affecting teaching and learning, but I think they are feeling pulled in so many ways they are struggling to make that happen.
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