Instructional Leadership
Many educators believe that principals should play the role of instructional leader, and not just school manager ( Fink & Resnick, 2001). The reality is, however, that the many demands on a principal's time and management skills make it difficult for most of them to spend time in classrooms, except, often, when performing teacher evaluations. While principals often make sure teachers have opportunities for professional development, they themselves rarely have any time to directly affect their teachers' professional growth ( Fink & Resnick, 2001). At the same time, parents, the media, and government at local state and national levels have openly questioned whether our schools, and by extension our teachers, are doing an adequate job of teaching (Johnson et. al., 2000). One expert in the field, a principal himself, suggests that the solution is for principals to share the role of instructional leadership with teachers (Hoerr, 1996).The approach of sharing instructional leadership with teachers can present some organizational challenges. Typically, school districts are firmly
Some principals might have difficulty relinquishing some responsibility for the success of "his" or "her" school, but Hoerr (1996) argues that shared responsibility for success is crucial. He identifies what he considers to be the biggest barriers to such change -- time limitations and the fact that teachers tend to work in isolation from each other, having the great majority of their contact all day with students, not peers (Hoerr, 1996). In addition, he notes that most teachers have not had any training in instructional leadership and may not know how to help foster growth in peers. He describes the teachers in most schools as "figure skaters" (Hoerr, 1996) -- highly skilled at what they do, but performing as individuals. He suggests that teachers begin to think of themselves as hockey players who need to work together in active teamwork, forging common goals (Hoerr, 1996). divided into two professional tracks: the "administrative track, which includes the superintendent and assistants as well as principals and assistant principals. The other track includes the staff hir
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 728
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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