Evaluation systems require principals to spend increasing amounts of time observing each individual teacher. Yet other requirements of the job put demands on principals’ time that can cut into instructional supervision.
In Helping Principals Beat the Clock, CTAC Senior Associate Joan McRobbie considers how to help support instructional leadership by principals. This issue is addressed in her article in AASA’s School Administrator. Following is an excerpt from that article:
Let’s talk about time. Under new state and federal policies, most high-need schools we work with at the Community Training and Assistance Center are implementing more rigorous approaches to teacher support and evaluation. School districts are equipping principals with specialized training to conduct classroom observations based on evidence, not gut feelings, using standards-based rubrics, not simplistic checklists.
The idea is to conduct a prescribed number of formal observations and informal walkthroughs every year with the goal of improving instruction. When this process is implemented well, principals are not resistant. They believe the process provides them with exactly what they most want – the tools to be instructional leaders. Suddenly they feel better able to know what’s happening in their classrooms, to support individual teachers, and to create a more focused and effective schoolwide instructional approach.
Yet there’s a catch. Even the best principals admit that parts of the process tend to fall through the cracks. Usually what slips is the pre- or post-observation conference, despite existing policy.
So we may need to think about adjusting the dosage before we flatten our best principals. For starters, it seems reasonable to ask about targeting their efforts. Does the principal really need to be a hands-on, one-to-one mentor to every teacher in the building? Rather than being in every classroom some of the time, why not be in some classrooms more of the time?
This instructional leadership model requires adjusting current policies on teacher evaluation and support. It means keeping a rigorous observation process, while making the numbers less prescriptive and the principal’s role more flexible. Principals still must be accountable for results. That may require providing additional support and mentoring not only to strengthen principals’ coaching capacity, but also to help them master the skills of orchestration.
What we’ve learned is that success is indeed about instructional leadership, but by a smarter definition. It’s about tapping the know-how of teachers, not just principals. It’s about promoting a focused, collaborative, schoolwide dynamic as the pathway to better student results. It’s about fostering a culture where self-assessment is routine — “How are we doing?” “How am I doing?” — and no one thinks twice before asking for help. And for all these things, it’s about time.
To read the full article, please visit: http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=36964&utm_source=Helping+Principals+Beat+the+Clock&utm_campaign=FOC-HelpPrincipalsBeatClock.May2015&utm_medium=email
