1. INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP
The following document is a culmination of my research on Instructional Leadership. This
research takes a look at the following topics from the point of view of a schools instructional
leader; The importance of Instructional leadership development, Students Thinking at High
Cognitive Levels, Addressing the Varied Needs of Students, Developmental Supervision,
Professional Development, Community Support and Partnerships. This research includes
information that I researched along with my own experiences acquired through eleven years as a
supervisor of an athletic department. . In order for an instructional leader to effectively lead a
campus it will be important for the leaders to be properly trained.
Why is Instructional Leadership Development Important?
As I have approached my classes in principal certification, instructional leadership is the number
one factor that I have felt is crucial for me to advance in my goals to become a great leader in
education. I feel that instructional leadership is the backbone for public education. District
instructional leaders should have a strong vision for campus instruction leaders related to the
curriculum. Campus leaders need to give clear, concise leadership related to instruction for
teachers to achieve the overall goal of successfully educating students. Spillane, Halverson, and
Diamond (2000) confirm that this important role extends beyond the scope of the school
principal to involve other leaders as well. The key players in instructional leadership include the
following: 1) Central office personnel (superintendent, curriculum coordinators, etc.) 2)
Principals and assistant principals 3) Instructional coaches.
School leaders matter for school success. Numerous studies through the past three decades link
high quality leadership with positive school outcomes. Recognition of the importance of school

2. leadership has led to increased attention to recruiting and preparing school leaders. Many new
principal preparation and development programs emphasize the role of principals as
“instructional leaders”. This emphasis on instructional leadership was driven mostly by the
effective schools movement of the 1970s and 1980s. This effective schools movement has been
rejuvenated due to the increase in school leaders being held accountable for student performance
(Hallinger 2005). However, while the majority agrees on the importance of instructional
leadership, there is less agreement on what instructional leadership actually looks like.
Since this is a principal certification class I will focus on the principal as the instructional leader.
Research indicates that effective principals have a “view of instructional improvement as an
ongoing process” (Chase & Kane, 1983). The following are a few keys to effective instructional
leadership for principals:
1) Effective leaders begin with the development of school wide vision of commitment to
high standards and success of ALL students.
2) Effective Principals hire and know how to retain the high performers. The atmosphere of
the school for the teachers is non-bureaucratic and teachers form part of a professional
community that is “deeply rooted in the academic and social learning goals of the
school” (Golding, Porter, Murphy, Elliott & Cravens, 2007, pp. 7-8)
3) Effective principals know they cannot go it alone. They make good use of all the skills
and knowledge on the faculty when developing instructional leadership for the campus.
4) Effective leaders focus intently on the quality of instruction in their schools.
In conclusion, the current thinking and philosophy in education centers on effective leadership
and learning for all students. In regards to these two philosophies it will be extremely important
for principals and other educational leaders to have a sound vision in instructional leadership.

3. They will be held accountable for the instruction that is directly responsible for student
performance.
Thinking at High Cognitive Levels
The implication of having students thinking at a higher cognitive level is the opportunity to have
a real impact on the students learning and giving the student the tool to be successful in this ever
changing fast past world. Today’s students must be taught real skills they can use to continue
their education after high school and the job market. Also, the games that students play and the
activities they are involved in after school require these skills of higher cognitive thinking.
Therefore, they do not respond well to the traditional style of teaching. I have seen and the
research we have looked at in this session shows us students respond better and learn at a more
effective level when higher cognitive thinking is developed in the lesson plans of teachers. I
know from watching my own children and my students, children’s minds are busier today and in
order to challenge them and activate their interest I believe you must have them think at a higher
cognitive level by developing concepts from the topics you have in your lesson plans. Higher
cognitive thinking invites a further understanding of content such as problem solving, making
judgments, evaluating and reflection to name a few (Alford et al. 2006). If we want our students
to be successful in this ever changing fast past world, they are going to need these skills, to have
the opportunity to be successful. The biggest factor to having students thinking at a higher
cognitive level will be, getting the teachers to buy in to this method of teaching. Research tells
us that teachers ask 300-400 questions a day (Barry & Kind 1998). These questions within the
lesson, allows teachers many opportunities to have students reach higher levels of cognitive
thinking. This will prevent students from plateauing and provide the opportunity to learn on a
higher level than just understanding and knowing a particular fact.

4. My responsibility as the instructional leader in the area of higher level cognitive learning for
students, is to insure the teachers have all the opportunity and resources they need to
As the instructional leader in the area of higher level cognitive learning I will need to insure
teachers have the proper training, resources and time to develop this method of teaching into
their lesson plans and then ultimately to their classrooms. The first step in professional
development and training for the teacher will be to provide real life successful examples of
teachers using these methods, activities and lesson plans in their classroom. You cannot give the
teachers a power point of statements about the importance of changing traditional learning and
expect them to buy in to this change in teaching. It’s a good start to explain the information but
ultimately you will have to give them examples of real life lessons in their subject area.
Therefore, my role as the instructional leader will be to find these types of trainings for the
teachers so that they can gain the confidence to leave behind the traditional way of teaching and
begin to develop lessons plans and lessons with the higher cognitive thinking as the guiding
factor.
I recently was involved in a Region 4 Service Center professional development where we spent 8
hours reviewing and discussing how to develop test questions using the Texas Depth and
Complexity Model along with Bloom’s Taxonomy. I think this is a great start to understanding
how to use this model not only in your daily teaching but also in your assessments. As I
researched this topic this week I came across numerous articles and power point presentations
that do a great job of explaining what this entails. This is the current trend in education and there
is wealth of information and research on the internet that would benefit teachers to beginning
researching the implications of having students think at a high cognitive level and how to
develop concepts within your lessons. Obviously this is not something that has just begun and

5. there are teachers currently using big concepts in our lessons plans and having students think on
a higher cognitive level. Therefore, I believe you can have teachers observe other teachers who
are currently doing this in their classrooms. This will probably be the most effective professional
development that is out there today.
Addressing Various Needs of Students
Varied needs of students and differentiating instruction is based on the philosophy that all
children learn differently and teachers need to focus on each student's individual needs by
presenting material in different ways and allowing for varying kinds of assessment. It requires
classroom management, preplanning, and knowing the needs of each of your students. I am
certain this is the correct direction for public education and will certainly change the
environment of the classroom. The traditional ways of teaching are no longer accepted and in
many situations no longer effective. Some of the disadvantages of the traditional methods, they
are inflexible, students with diverse backgrounds and disabilities often did not respond well to
this delivery; subject matter was not upgrades quickly enough to keep students’ skills and
general knowledge current; and instruction focused on memorization and less on higher level
thinking skills.
A quick summary of differentiating instruction for varied needs of students involves: Determine
each students learning style by conducting an interest inventory, “Observations and
conversations with family members, as well as formal test information, can help the teacher build
upon each child's strengths, regardless of whether the child is disabled, has a primary language
other than English, or is from an ethnic-minority group" (Dodge & Colker, 1992); An interest
inventory contains specific questions to the learner about how they learn best and what their
interests are; You can also interview or conference with each student, or look at past records to

6. determine how he learns best. Learn students' personal interests. You can do this with a formal
survey, or simply by spending time talking and interacting with students; discover students'
individual skill levels by pre-testing each new concept. There are a number of ways to pretest,
ranging from a pencil/paper quiz to an informal class discussion; determine any potential
behavior obstacles you might encounter during group work and plan accordingly. Assemble
student groups based on ability, skill level, prior knowledge or another factor depending on the
task at hand and the ultimate learning goal; Vary assessment methods. Use traditional exams,
skits, posters, portfolios and projects to assess students so they are able to show what they
learned in a variety of ways; allow students to make choices. Students are more likely to be
engaged in their learning when they have a say in it.
The key to meeting the varied needs of students is differentiating instruction in a learner-centered
environment. Differentiated instruction has many advantages over traditional teaching methods:
They meet the needs of diverse students with a variety of learning styles; They accommodate
students with learning disabilities and other types of disabilities; Students from different cultures
such as English language learners; Differentiated instruction stimulates creativity and helps
students understand ideas at higher levels of thinking than teaching through rote memorization
alone. This is not a new concept. However, due to a great deal of diversity being present in the
classroom today and teaches being faced with accommodating students with different ethnic
backgrounds, intellectual strengths, levels of ability and language barriers, it has become
necessary for these strategies to be implemented in order for teachers to be effective. After
researching these issues that exist and the answers these strategies offer the classroom teachers, I
believe these strategies will move education toward the goal of “learning for all”. Many

7. strategies and techniques exist for presenting materials and assignments in a way that is
understandable and accessible to students with diverse learning needs.
The most important aspect of all of this information and how quick communities, schools,
administrators, and teachers move forward is going to be in how it is presented to the classroom
teacher. Many teachers have had success with the traditional lecture style of teaching. If we are
going to be transformational leaders and servant leaders we are going to have to join these
teachers and provide all the resources and opportunities necessary for the teachers to train and
develop these strategies in their lesson planes and in their classroom lessons. We need to send
the positive message of helping teachers grow. We do not need to send the message teachers are
incompetent and need to “get better”. This transition will not happen overnight and should be
threaded into the processes that teachers are already using to develop their lesson plans. Research
consistently proves that "schools that establish high expectations for all students--and provide the
support necessary to achieve these expectations--have high rates of academic success" (Benard,
1995, p. 70). Therefore, we should have high expectations of our schools, administrators, and
teachers with this transition of implementing differentiating instruction, and meeting the varied
needs of all students. However, as is stated before the most important aspect of this transition is
the teacher. The teachers deliver the instruction and ultimately will be responsible for these
strategies taking place in the classroom. We as instructional leaders should deliver the support
they need to be successful with this transition. So, ultimately I believe the instructional leaders
are responsible for seeing the teachers are successful.
Developmental Supervision
In reflection of my research and study of “Developmental Supervision”, I discovered several
very important factors other than just the process itself. Obviously the Developmental

8. Supervision plays as vital in the growth of each individual teacher and the campus as a whole. A
part of the process that stuck out to me was being non-judgmental in your approach to the
observations and the conferences with the teacher. It would be very easy to have preconceived
notions of what you are going to see in the observation and what the actions and/or reaction of a
teacher might be in the conference. These preconceived notions or judgmental thoughts could
very well impact the way you approach the observation and the conference. For example, we
observed two teachers, one that used differentiating instruction (Cheryl) and one that used
traditional style (Kelley). We saw clips of one teacher meeting of both of the teachers. Again, the
clip on Kelley was not positive and the clip on Cheryl viewed her in a positive light. Going into
the preconference with the principal the principal was obviously comfortable with Cheryl and sat
very close to her in the conference, creating a intimate environment for the two. On the other had
she sat at a larger table away from Kelley and was clearly uncomfortable with him. This was due
to the preconceived idea that Cheryl is a very warm and inviting person and Kelley is aggressive
and contrary at times. This shows you that a principal can go into a meeting and cause tension
with a teacher with subtle body language. I do not believe a Supervisor can totally discount and
avoid their prior thoughts on a teacher but they must be careful to give the person the same
environment they would give another teacher they felt was going to be successful.
Another important part of the developmental supervision is the use of “scripting” in your
observations. It’s clear a supervisor will need to do a thorough job of documenting what they
observe in the classroom observation, both from the students and the teacher. A thorough
“scripting” or documentation of the observation allows the supervisor to use the documentation
when they are completing the evaluation and allows a thorough recall of the activities and

9. teacher student interaction. A supervisor will usually have several observations to perform and
several other duties that are required of them. Thus, is vital to have this documentation when the
supervisor needs to recall the observations for a particular teacher.
A supervisor’s preconference and post-evaluation conference must be well planned and offer
points of strengths and weaknesses most importantly have the teacher confirm their
understanding of what has been said in the conferences.
Through this research and session study I did develop some concern in reference to the two
hypothetical teachers we observed. It was clear we were being led to give a good evaluation of
Cheryl and a less than positive evaluation of Kelley. We based this all of the fact Kelley did not
use differentiating instruction in his lesson. That being said, I saw no evidence of Kelley being
told at the beginning of the year this was an expectation of the teachers on this campus. I saw no
evidence that Kelley had been provide training after being told this was the expectation of his
teaching style and strategies. Although I truly believe the most effective and successful way to
teach in the classroom today, is by using these techniques. I also believe it is necessary to have a
campus wide initiative to develop this style of teaching in all classrooms and provide the proper
training before the year begins. Also, during my research I was provided a model of supervision.
The differentiated model of supervision conceived by Glickman, Gordon, and Ross-Gordon
(1998) is framed in such a way that new faculty, excellent faculty, and troubled faculty are all
given individual attention best suited for their own needs. This is a great tool for a supervisor
that has already provided training for their staff. “Models for teacher supervision do exist for K–
12 school systems. It is our contention that a differentiated model can be adapted and be
appropriate for faculty supervision in education. Such a model of supervision can take into
account the varying and idiosyncratic needs of each individual teacher when the supervisor

10. attempts to provide meaningful and substantive professional development” (Rettig, Lampe, &
Garcia, 2000). The most successful business gives their employees extensive training when they
are going to change the way they do their job. They also, insure that new employees are trained
properly when they are hired. They do not simple rely on their college degree to teach them how
to perform their job. Therefore I believe that the most schools districts and campuses that
provide this meaningful and substantive professional development to teachers will see the fastest
growth in the classroom of teachers providing differentiated instruction, addressing varied needs
of students, developing topics into concepts and using the complexity model to develop their
lessons and assessments. Training leadership to pass down the information is not an effective
approach to professional development. As stated above, it must be meaningful and substantive.
Having a curriculum director do a professional development for a group of teachers for a half a
day is not going to help teacher fully understand and grasp the concepts.
Developmental supervision is a must when it comes to providing feedback and developing
teachers. Proper and well planned observations will benefit the teacher and the students.
Establishing high expectations for teachers is also a part of the developmental supervision but
must include professional development and training along with these high expectations.
Professional Development
During my research and study of professional development I was introduced to the Continuous
Improvement Process for Campus and Individuals. This includes a cycle of; Needs Assessment,
Goals and Objectives, Implementation, Professional development, Formative Assessment,
Summative Assessment and cycling back to Needs Assessment. When you use this approach to
look at improving a campus or individual the most vital step is the “Professional Development”

11. step. You must provide training for teachers and staff members if the campus and the individual
are going to grow. However, I do believe this training has to be extensive and meaningful.
We have looked at several different types of professional development. The first is “Self Study”,
which includes an individual doing research alone using a computer, taking classes at a
university, and reading articles and books. I think this is definitely a positive type of professional
development but I think it’s important that a school district or a campus provide a list of where a
teacher can find the different topics and strategies that will help them grow as a teacher. Rather
than spending time search for the information the teacher can spend their time reading and
learning the information. “Mentor/Coach” is a type of professional development that can benefit
teachers by pairing a mentor or coach with a teacher to give each other feedback and offer
insight into each other’s lessons. The teacher and “coach” teach the class together and learn
from each other while they teach. I like this type of professional development because it provides
an opportunity within the campus and using your campus resources to grow. We know there is
not an unlimited amount of money that can be spent on professional development. This enables a
Principal to help his teachers grow without bringing in outside help. And, a principal can access
this type of professional development at any time. “Group Planning Process and Study Groups”
are very similar and I believe provide the most valuable and effective professional development
of all the types. Research done by Bruce Joyce for the National Staff Development Council
shows that “coach/study groups/peer visit” have the highest percentage impact on teachers for
applying the knowledge they gained from the professional development. This type of
professional development involves teachers working together by sharing ideas, studying new
strategies and applying new strategies in the classroom together. Teachers learn the same way
students do. When a new concept is being taught it they should be active not passive. You learn

12. much quicker when you are working with the knowledge and applying it in the training. Again,
this is something a principal can access at any time on his campus. Another aspect I like about
this type of training is the fact teachers are in control of their learning and applying the
knowledge can happen at the teachers own pace. I feel this is non threating approach to helping
the teachers grow along with their peers and can help to bring them together as a team, helping to
create that team environment all successful campus’ have. Another type of professional training
is “Instruction”, which involves lectures, workshops and/or conferences. I know that these are
effective ways for people to learn and should not be left out of the process to train your teachers
and staff. However, this is more expensive, requires teachers to possibly miss class and/or do
this on their own time and as I pointed out teachers learn in much the same way students do.
When you have teachers listening to a lecture in a conference room, they will not be able to
apply as much of the knowledge as if they were working with the knowledge in a collaborative
effort with a peer. There are definitely times it will be required of the principals to bring in
experts or have staff attend a conference in order to bring training to the staff that is not
accessible with district resources.
In the coming years, schools will be hit with many different reforms including: teacher
evaluations that will include student test scores, widespread adoption of higher academic
standards, and the development of high stakes standardized tests aligned with these new
standards. Each of these reforms challenges the status quo, demanding that schools move away
from traditional styles of teaching and continuously improve student performance, marking and
measuring their progress each and every step along the way. Therefore, professional
development is only going to grow in its importance to the success of a school district. Schools
can’t count on colleges to prepare new teachers for these reforms and current teachers are going

13. to require extensive training to keep up with the ever changing environment of public education.
Rallying the community and parent support will be an important factor in facing these changes
and helping teachers develop these new strategies in the classroom.
Community Support and Partnerships
In today’s public education environment we face changes and challenges on a yearly basis. The
expectations are changed and influenced by many different factions. It is vital that a school and a
school district develop meaningful and relevant partnerships with parents and community groups
in order to face the challenges with your parents and the community. This involves more than
just collaboration among school district and other community organizations.
Having been an Athletic Director for eleven years at two different school districts, I know there
are differences from one school district to another in regards to, parental involvement, the way
you communicate, and the expectations of these different communities. Therefore, I believe you
can go in with a general outline of how you want to involve parents, how you want to
communicate with them and how you want to get the community involved. However, you will
need to research your school and the community in order to put the particulars to your outline.
Researching the past methods that worked, the methods that did not work, what are the
expectations of the community and what community groups have been involved and what
community groups are out there that you can tap into. Also, simply just having collaborative
meetings will not develop the trust and meaningful relationship with parents and community
groups that will result in success for the school and ultimately the students. For a school to
develop an effective partnership with parents it will need to consider parent involvement and
parent engagement as a top priority and seek ways to provide meaningful and relevant

14. opportunities for parents to fully participate as allies, advocates and leaders in their children’s
education.
Bringing schools parents and communities together is not easy and often reflects school
environments that have found it hard to connect with students’ families. I currently work at an
urban school and urban schools in particular have very little involvement with the families they
serve. This leaves them in a place they are unable to communicate effectively with students and
their families. In addition, while these schools’ students may be increasingly diverse in race,
class, and ethnicity, many teachers and administrators are White, come from middle-class
backgrounds, and have little cultural knowledge of students and their families (Hong, 2006).
Confirming this statement, the urban school where I currently work is predominately minority
and the majority of the teachers are White with backgrounds that are not similar to the students
they teach. Along with these situations and the school being very large, it can often result in
schools having low parent participation, or unequal power relationships between parents and
school staff can leave families feeling unwelcome or uninvited to participate in their child’s
education (Hong, 2006).
While researching community and parental involvement in public education, one of the most in
depth readings was, Developing Effective Partnerships to Support Local Education School
Communities that Work: A National Task Force on the Future of Urban Districts. This report is
very in depth and is a good recourse to develop that outline I mentioned. Some of the more
practical approaches to developing partnerships would be to look at your faith groups and
universities within your community and outside your community.
When developing partnerships with the community and the parents, I believe the leaders should
also look outside the district for partnerships. In particular a university would be a great partner

15. for any school district. Tapping into a university for teachers and providing information to a
universities education department regarding the skills and knowledge teachers need to have
coming out of college, would benefit both parties. Another community group to develop
partnerships with is the faith groups and churches in your community. Many faith communities
partner with schools to provide tutoring, safe havens, after-school programs, mentoring, and
summer activities. Faith communities often inspire their membership to volunteer in behalf of
children, youth, and families in the nation’s schools. In this way, community groups, businesses,
family organizations, and local government agencies join the partnership, resulting in a broad-
based effort to help educate children.
One of the toughest challenges of developing partnerships with parents and the community is the
fact parents move on with their children through graduation and different community members
and leaders change. You have a new set of parents each year. Once you have established your
partnerships with the parents and community, a big part of what these partnerships accomplish,
has to be continually reaching out to new members in the community and parents.
Finally, no one can debate that every child has a right and deserves to have the opportunity for a
quality education. Also the expectation of our legislature and the public puts the responsibility
squarely on the school’s shoulders and the teacher. We know public education faces many
challenges, ranging from politics, funding, safety and ever changing processes of measuring
success. Therefore in order for school districts, schools, instructional leaders, and teachers to be
successful, the parents and the community are going to have to be involved in meaningful ways
that will help in the success of educating all students. The old style of occasional collaboration a
meeting here and there, an occasional open house or parent’s night is not going to develop the
trust and partnerships that will create lasting success. They must provide different ways for

16. parents and community groups to be involved and these avenues must provide the parents and
groups meaningful position to impact the learning.
Conclusion
There are many important facets that an effective Instructional leader must consider when
building an effective academic plan for their campus including: developing expectations and
providing guidance for teachers in the area of higher cognitive thinking activities and
assessments for students, lesson plans that address the varied needs of the different student
learning styles and abilities, plans for the professional development of the teachers and methods
to measure their growth from these opportunities, and develop a plan of action that creates
community and parental support. Properly training instructional leaders in all these areas will be
as important as the teachers they train. These strategies and processes will forever be changing
and effective instructional leaders must approach these with the thought in mind that all students
can learn and the expectations of society today is that all students grow and learn in a safe
environment.
Resources
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achievement gap: A vision to guide change in beliefs and practice. Oak Brook, IL: Research for
Better Schools and North Central Regional Educational Laboratory.

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Chase, G., & Kane, M. (1983). The principal as instructional leader: How much more time
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