NIUSI

part of the Education Reform Networks

Instructional leadership challenges: The case of using student achievement information for instructional improvement

This article is about the instructional leadership. It applies to educational leaders. School leaders have been challenged to take a more instructionally focused role in their schools. The authors tracked the leadership challenges through a change process involving an assistant principal and a group of teachers, supported by a consultant, through four phases of an action research project. During the project, the participants learned how to use achievement data to improve instruction for their low-achieving students. Initially, the teachers did not believe that they could influence the low literacy achievement of their students and so analyzing achievement data was irrelevant to their practice. Eighteen months later, they were using the data to target their instruction more precisely and to test the effectiveness of their teaching practice and make refinements to their programs. The multifaceted challenges involved in leading such an initiative were discussed for each phase, together with conclusions about the realities of instructional leadership and the support that might be needed to undertake it effectively.

• Contributor: Timperley, Helen S.
• Journal/Secondary Title: Leadership & Policy in Schools
• Number: 1
• Publisher: Routledge
• Volume: 4
• Year: 2005

This resource is cataloged under:

• Network/channel: NIUSI: Professional Effort: Group Practice & Professional Development
• Network/channel: NIUSI: Professional Effort: Teaching Design & Practices
• Network/channel: NIUSI: School Organizational Effort: Culture of Change and Improvement
• Network/channel: NIUSI: School Organizational Effort: Governance & Leadership
• Network/channel: NIUSI: Student Effort: Learning

More like this one