Class Reflections - Module 1

Article: What is Instructional Leadership? by Thomas R. Hoerr
From Education Leadership December 2007/January 2008

Roland Barth - Improving Schools from Within
Barth says - "If students are to grow and learn, their teachers must grow and learn, too."

Four aspects of collegiality

1. teachers talking about students
2. teachers developing curriculum together
3. teaching observing one another teach
4. teachers teaching one another

***Teachers and administrators working together to shape a solution for a particular school issue.***

"I share the concept of collegiality with my faculty, which helps them see themselves as resources and partners in creating a collegial setting. I expressly include collegiality on teachers' end-of-year evaluations, commending some for leading committees or helping teammates and pointing out to others that they are not yet active participants in our learning community." Hoerr

"Teachers need to see their principals as partners in education, learning with and from them." Hoerr


Article: How Leadership influences student learning by Keith Leithwood, Karen Seashore Louis, Stephen Anderson and Kyla Wahlstrom From the Learning Project Commissioned by The Wallace Foundation


It turns out that leadership not only matters; it is second only to teaching among school-related factors in its impact on student learning.


1. Leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all school-related factors that contribute to what students learn at school.

The total (direct and indirect) effects of leadership on student learning account for about a quarter of total school effects.


2. Leadership effects are usually largest where and when they are needed most. 

demonstrated effects of successful leadership are considerably greater in schools that are in more difficult circumstances. There are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader. Leadership is the catalyst.


Different forms of Leadership

1. Many labels are used in literature to signify different forms or styles of leadership mask the generic functions of leadership.

Labled: instructional, participative, democratic, transformational, moral, strategic - Be skeptical about "Leadership by Adjective"

Two essential objectives critical to any organization's effectiveness: 

1. helping the organization set a defensible set of directions
2. influencing members to more in those directions

2. Principals, superintendents and teachers are all being admonished to be "instructional leaders" without much clarity about what that means.

Hallinger's model

• defining the school's mission
• managing the instructional program
• promoting a positive learning climate

3. "Distributed leadership" is in danger of becoming no more than a slogan unless it is given more thorough and thoughtful consideration.

Successful leaders develop and count on contributions from many others in their organizations. 

• teacher leaders
• parent leaders

Leadership must be carried out at different levels of the organization.

The Basics of Successful Leadership
1. Setting Directions
the largest proportion of a leader's impact is helping one's colleagues develop shared understandings about the organization and its activities and goals that can under gird a sense of purpose or vision

• identifiying and articulating a vision
• fostering the acceptance of group goals
• creating high performance expectations
• monitoring organization performance 
• promoting effective communication

 2. Developing People

• work-related motivations are influenced by the direct experiences organizational members have with those in leadership roles as well as the organizational context within which people work
• offering intellectual stimulation
• providing individualized support
• providing appropriate practice and beliefs considered fundamental to the organization

 3. Redesigning the Organization

• the contribution of schools to student learning depends on the motivations and capacities of teachers and administrators, acting both individually and collectively
• Successful educational leaders develop their districts and school as effective organizations that support and sustain the performance of administrators and teachers, as well as students

• strengthening district and school cultures
• modifying organizational structures
• building collaborative processes

The purpose behind the redesign of organizational cultures and structures is to facilitate the work of organizational members and that the malleability of structures should match the changing nature of the school's improvement agenda.

We need to develop leaders with large repertoires of practices and the capacity to chose from that repertoire as needed, not leaders trained in the delivery of one "ideal" set of practices.
1. Organizational Context