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Instructional Leadership Team

Cassandra Young

Dr. Truvillion

Grand Canyon University EAD-539

January 19, 2022

Instructional Leadership Team

I have recently been named the principal of a k-6 grade school building. There are 90

staff members, including one assistant principal hired into the district before I got there. We are

currently rated at a “C” rating from the year before, and we need to improve this school year. My

goal this school year is to develop a strategic plan to support the four-person instructional

leadership team to increase our growth percentiles scores. In addition, we are starting the year to

fill three teacher leadership positions to support collaboration with the teaching staff. 

Instructional Goals

Instructional goals are set for all teachers no matter their content area, and plans are set

for them to strive to build up their data points. As we focus on our four core content areas, we

keep in mind that the state directly looks at this and wants to see us be more successful, and we

also know that we want to stay above specific levels as a school. If we are not reaching the

marks, we need to set goals to increase each content area in all grade levels in the building. As a

building, we need to increase our school by 10% in all subject areas, which will increase our

school performance level to a “B” overall.

Focusing on English and writing, we need to practice reading throughout all content areas

and writing. The school will participate in AIMSWEB benchmark testing to understand where

the students are at in their reading. Once the students are benchmarked, the teachers get books

into their hands and promote the program "Drop Everything and Read" (D.E.A.R.) for 25

minutes per day. Students will participate in a literature seminar, diving into a classroom book to

push forward grade-level understanding with comprehension skills and writing. As a school we

focus on providing more opportunities for students to read since we know “Some children need

more expert instruction and need more reading lessons than others if they are to be expected to
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succeed as readers” (Allington, 2013). Having multiple ways for students to learn comprehension

and reading skills allows them to have more growth areas instead of just one area of concern. 

In Science and Social Studies, we will create more reading and writing opportunities

based on the content area. Teachers will be required to incorporate a variety of reading and

writing daily in the classroom to support the growth of the reading component. They will also be

asked to implement graphs, tables, and maps to their weekly plans to support the expectations on

the state testing requirements. We will be creating multiple opportunities for students to practice

the types of questions they will see on state and district tests. The science teacher will implement

hands-on learning experiences for the students by doing a lab once a week. The social studies

teacher will create hands-on learning activities by having students show what they have learned

in project-based learning. 

Math is moving towards a curriculum that will be hands-on and laid out better for the

teachers to give multiple opportunities for students to have more critical thinking. Students will

participate in AIMSWEB benchmarking for math to see the mental processing area and concepts

and applications. This will tell us what level to focus on for struggling students. There will also

be the implementation of Dreambox that supports student growth per standard, which allows

teachers to invest where they are. It also helps their ongoing knowledge by balancing within the

standard instead of just leaving them struggling. 

Qualities of the Instructional Leadership Team

Qualities of the instructional leadership team need to mimic the vision of putting student

achievement first and putting aside personal beliefs for a professional role. Each leadership team

member needs to stand up for the students and promote positive education goals for each teacher.

They can hold teachers accountable for the action steps and work with teachers to get them to
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their end goals. They need to intercept data and deliver the outcomes to teachers as they drive

home the good and the bad. Looking at my leaders, I want them to be able to be “transformed

into exceptional leaders who consistently mobilize their compatriots to do important and difficult

work under conditions of constant change” (Fullan, 2001). Finally, they keep the school's vision

and mission statement in mind to go home instructional strategies that each teacher needs—being

in the classrooms regularly to impact the teacher's and student's growth positively. 

Ideal Candidate and Qualifications

Since the assistant principal and I will be sitting down to decide the qualities and

expectations we are expecting from our instructional leaders, it will not be my choice alone. We

want a person on the administration team with a professional demeanor who is willing to support

teachers throughout the school year with different needs of increasing instructional rigor. They

need to be ready to own their own mistakes and take ownership of them to show that we can

learn from our own mistakes to grow. Someone with a background in curriculum implementation

and instructional strategies promotes positive interactions for all in the building. We are being

able to work with other leaders to implement and analyze data to support the achievement of the

students and school. 

Interviewing Potential Instructional Leadership Team Candidates

My assistant principal and I work together to decide what type of candidates we are

looking for to build our leadership team. I would also want to reach out to a veteran principal,

more than likely my mentor principal, to ask clarifying questions and to get suggestions from

them as well between those different conversations creating questions and protocol with my

assistant principal before having one-on-one interviews with candidates who have applied or

asked to step in. To start each discussion, I would ask each candidate to go over their education
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and leadership history to understand better who they are besides what is on paper. We would be

asking questions such as: Do you believe that instructional leader’s impact how a school runs?

Please give examples to explain your reasoning. Knowing our vision and mission statement, how

would you implement it in your instructional leadership position? How would you professionally

handle the situation if a problem arises between you and one of your teachers? If we are looking

for a specific implementation of programs, how would you monitor that your teachers are using

the programs? Once we have heard from each candidate, my assistant principal and I will narrow

down the candidates. After we have narrowed it down to a more limited selection, I would bring

them back in to conduct a more focused interview based on our school's needs. How would you

support teachers in reaching the special needs population? What obstacles do you see happening

that could hinder the 10% growth in each core content area? How would you address those

obstacles and encourage the teachers you are supporting? 

Measuring Effectiveness

Our focus would be to gather data to support teachers in the students we are working

with. Posting it on a wall for all leadership to see allows us to see where we are falling short or

achieving high. This will enable us to ask more questions about if we are intentionally planning?

Are we planning according to our goals and staying on track? Knowing that we have to support

our teachers to promote the student achievement we are looking for, there needs to be a focus on

the teachers. According to Fritz and Miller, “encouraging teacher development can be

challenging; however, the school system hinges on the effectiveness, knowledge, and openness

of an instructional leader” (Fritz & Miller, 2003). Looking at the data, we need to dive into how

to support the teacher to raise the scores; we need to think about what they need. 
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We would know if we have met our instructional goals based on how curriculum-based

standards assess school administrators. Based on the programs we are using in each subject area;

we will be looking at each of the specific areas to see if we are reaching goals by the student. For

example, the math content would look at DreamBox to focus on each of the standards they are

studying in class and work on previous concepts to drive them up towards grade-level ideas. The

ELA would look at the data from the groups based on the information from the drop everything

and read the situation and the literary circles occurring. Science and social studies would be

looking at the kids' writing samples and the hands-on learning opportunities. 

In being a school leader, there are times when we have to make goals that promote

change for the building. Keeping students as our number one priority, we have to drive our

teachers to perform at their best to rise to the challenges of the goals. Creating a continuous

improvement plan with a team helps the building know where we are heading together instead of

people standing alone. Unfortunately, there are times when we need to look at each area of the

building to figure out what changes need to be made. Building our school up through goals that

can be accomplished is where we must start.

Reference

Allington, R. L. (2013). What Really Matters When Working with Struggling Readers. The

Reading Teacher, 66(7), 520–530. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.1154

Fritz, C., & Miller, G. (2003). Supervisory Options for Instructional Leaders in Education.

Journal of Leadership Education, 2(2), 13–27. https://doi.org/10.12806/v2/i2/rf2

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a Culture of Change.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED467449.pdf

Instructor Summary,

All aspects of the case study solution were addressed and justified in detail for the
measuring effectiveness of the instructional goals. Very good case study analysis based
on the elements of the framework with insightful perspectives and accurate accounts of
the strategic plan as it aligns to the assessment data. Great quality interview criteria for
selecting candidates and knowledgeable stakeholders that supports instructional
changes needed to enhance student achievement and development of teacher
instructional capacity. Excellent rationale for addressing the case analysis with solutions
that address building relationships, trust, and teaching and learning efforts to sustain
quality instruction based on the instructional goals of the school. All elements of the
analysis were met to a high standard with very clear and concise summations and
comments to address the assessment data and the instructional goals. Good
summation of the qualities of the idea candidates for the instructional leadership team
which supports the goals and expectations for evaluating teaching skills. Insightful
observation of the needed supports for observations and collaboration, improvement
aspects that are many times looked over in the midst of the interview process. Your
conclusions for leadership team selections are logical and supports the situational
accounts of the case study with workable solutions that will enhance the leadership
teams effect on teaching and learning growths. As stated in the readings, involving
stakeholders in decision-making builds trust, ensure input and creates buy-in to the
goals of the school. Great observations and perspectives with quality sources to support
your findings. You have a very strong handle of APA style writing and referencing. Good
job.