All great instructional leaders worth their weight have to know what great instruction looks like when they see it. There is simply no way to successfully lead school improvement and turnaround initiatives if you don’t know what you’re looking for when you walk into a classroom. The problem is that we often have different definitions of what those things are and it begs a myriad of questions related to a principal’s role in guiding teacher growth. Instructional coach? Mentor? Evaluator? Visionary?
This debate found its way onto the internet the other day and that made for some frustrated school leaders who chimed in on the discussion. For me, the discussion provided some deep thinking about what we mean when we say that our principals should lead instructionally. A teacher on the video was saying that his principal and assistant principals were the last ones he went to for instructional coaching and support. Though he appreciated his administrators and the vision they provided, he never viewed his assistant principals or principal as his instructional coaches or mentors. He said he looked to his fellow teachers for that.
Though that created some angst among the administrators in the debate, it helps to get us closer to the point of this commentary (Part I of II). With all the responsibilities heaped upon our school leaders, we have to reach some agreement on what we really want principals and assistant principals to know and do as instructional experts in hopes of moving teaching and learning forward in our schools.
Teacher evaluation is not instructional leadership.
Though many of us are put through the paces of mastering our district’s evaluation frameworks, let us be clear about something in helping us all become stronger instructional leaders. Memorizing the Marzano or Danielson framework does not make us instructional leaders, no more so than memorizing the driver license handbook makes someone a great driver. This is no slight on any framework for a number of them are quite good, though we must be careful in associating the framework itself with creating in us a deep understanding of what we are calling “great teaching.” Let me be clearer still:
- Evaluation may be important but it is not the same as instructional coaching nor mentoring. And it certainly isn’t tied to articulating an instructional vision.
- Evaluation frameworks are designed for appraisal and being well-calibrated in these instruments is not the same thing as knowing great instruction when you see it.
This is another way of saying that it is not true that those who know the frameworks best also knows best how to “coach” the teachers in their schools. In fact, I see the two as not-at-all connected. Knowing an evaluation framework well may make evaluation more efficient and will bring the evaluator’s eyes more into focus, but it does not equate with knowing great instruction at the core. To the contrary, coaching, mentoring, engaging and inspiring teachers to be great at their jobs requires that our school leaders retain a deep set of core instructional convictions that drives their work and allows them to be the instructional “visionaries” that the internet guy was talking about.
Setting instructional vision is the principal’s true job.
Contrary to what some will tell you, it is not critical that all successful principals be expert instructional coaches (though we would all prefer that). It is more important that principals and assistant principals possess a few core instructional beliefs that are tried-and-true and that resonate with all teachers outside of the typical classroom walkthrough checklist, beyond the typical evaluation framework, and in spite of the latest trainings and trends.
These core instructional beliefs must be research-based, indisputable, intuitive and certain to move any school forward. They should be the kind of things that all teachers can rally around. The skill then that great instructional leaders possess is matching one or two of these core beliefs that they have as leaders to the key levers that their school needs to move forward today (knowing, of course, that each school is different).
- One leader might focus her staff on collaborative techniques because she has seen very little student-to-student discussion in her classrooms;
- Another principal might double-down on questioning techniques because he has noticed that there is not enough rigor in his school (and maybe his teachers are taking it too easy on the kids);
- Yet another school may need to infuse literacy across the campus because the principal has noticed that nobody seems to be reading or writing during his classroom visits.
The true instructional leader can recognize what her teachers need to do better to move her school (and her scores) to new heights. Then, our very best, top-notch instructional leaders know how to coach their teachers to get better. This is a skill-set that goes much deeper than evaluation frameworks and way beyond simple platitudes such as (“We’ve got to challenge all kids” or “We need to increase engagement” or “rigor”) unless you can articulate a couple of simple, common methods that must take root in your building to make this happen.
This is why great assistant principals and principals understand, at very deep levels, what they want out of their students and teachers and they know how to get it done. They know great instruction is based on some core instructional methods that must be right in their schools (and every school), things like lessons that make kids think; questioning techniques that push kids to justify their answers; collaboration tactics that engage kids in true conversation about content; lesson pacing that keeps all kids energized and discussion methods that require all kids to get involved.
Of course, real honest-to-God instructional leadership requires savvy and the art of persuasion (even manipulation) to get your students, staff and parents to do what you need them to do. When it comes to great instruction, all the great instructional leaders know the missing strategy or tactic that the teachers in their school must get right to move learning forward. They know something that other leaders do not, which is why we can learn from them and become the kind of visionary leader that any teacher on the internet would love to work for.
