EL Study Guide

What does it take to develop and support great school leaders? Articles in this month's issue provide ideas and strategies for all those who lead in schools—from teacher leaders to superintendents.

The Reflective Leader

Baruti Kafele ("Is Your School Better Because You Lead It?") urges school leaders to ask themselves the title question of this article: Is your school a better school because you're at the helm? He argues that to answer this question in the affirmative, leaders must explore their identity, mission, purpose, and vision. Read the article, and then write a journal entry answering the following questions about your leadership:

What is your identity when you walk into school each morning?
What is your mission? In other words, what's the one thing that drives you in your work above all else?
What is your purpose (the "why" that supports your mission)?
How do you envision your future as a leader and the future of your school? What does success look like years from now?

After exploring these questions, ask yourself if your school is a better school because you lead it. Jot down notes to support your answer, reflecting on your strengths and ideas for improvement. You might choose to return to your notes in a month's time or to share them with a leadership coach.

On Instructional Leadership

In addition to the many other hats that principals wear, they're often called upon to be instructional leaders of their schools. But, as Christina Steinbacher-Reed and Sam A. Rotella Jr. write, educators who move into administrative roles "can quickly lose sight of what it's like to be in the classroom." Study the following two articles to learn how leaders can reconnect with classroom practice and strengthen their instructional leadership skills.

Sally J. Zepeda and Philip D. Lanoue (Conversation Walks: Improving Instructional Leadership) profile a school district in Georgia that helps principals become better instructional leaders using a strategy called conversation walks. Learn about this approach in the article and connect with colleagues (a superintendent, principal, and teacher) who might be interested in giving it a test run. Afterward, debrief on how each party benefited from the experience and how you might change the practice if you were to adopt it in your school.
Christina Steinbacher-Reed and Sam A. Rotella Jr. (Windows into Instructional Practice) detail how "professional sandboxes" can be used to close the gap between school leaders and teachers by focusing on instructional practice. Share the article with your PLC to study examples of professional sandboxes—strategy walks (level 1), lab classrooms (level 2), and instructional rounds (level 3). Discuss how you might try some of these non-evaluative experiences in your school. Alternatively, you might talk about how to revise your current professional learning opportunities to invite both administrators and teachers into the same space.

Host a Book Club

Looking to do some summer reading about management? Consult the book review of Radical Candor: Be a Kickass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity in the Double Take section. Connect with your colleagues in leadership positions to see if they would like to form a book club to discuss this book and how it relates to your experiences managing others. (Remember that book clubs don't have to be with your local colleagues. You might reach out to virtual professional learning networks on platforms like Twitter as well.)

Resources for Further Study

Use these ASCD resources to learn more about school leadership.

The Coach Approach to School Leadership: Leading Teachers to Higher Levels of Effectiveness (2017) by Jessica Johnson, Shira Leibowitz, and Kathy Perret
You're the Principal! Now What? Strategies and Solutions for New School Leaders (2016) by Jennifer Schwanke
Balanced Leadership for Powerful Learning: Tools for Achieving Success in Your School (2015) by Bryan Goodwin and Greg Cameron with Heather Hein