ing , inquiry , and reflection results in leadership development that is sustainable and enduring . It creates a culture of instructional leadership grounded in research-based best practices , where everyone speaks a common language around instructional leadership and teaching and learning . It is not just another initiative that will come and go after a few years , but rather who we are as a community of learners striving to ensure achievement for all students .
We have created instructional leadership teams at each school site that are reshaping our response to intervention programs and will begin using data to drive a school ’ s problem of practice . The work has built instructional leadership capacity in our assistant principals at a much faster rate .
On two separate occasions this year , assistant principals with less than two years of experience have stepped in for their principal for an extended period while they were out on leave and continued to facilitate the site ’ s instructional leadership team .
The District English Learner Committee has expanded to include teacher leaders from each school site . Through monthly meetings with these site leads , teachers are deepening their understanding of supporting English learner students and providing feedback on the implementation of our new ELA program , Benchmark Advance .
Site English learner leads are providing ongoing training and deepening teacher understanding of language objectives and strategies to better support our English learners .
Newhall still has room for improvement , but as a system , we are on a mission to eliminate our achievement gap .
System implications
What ’ s different for us is that we now have an instructional leadership framework that provides a clear vision of the skills we are developing in all levels across our system . This provides us with a roadmap for next steps and a way to monitor our progress over time .
The instructional framework provides us with a common language around instruction , giving us a consistent picture of what we are striving for in our classrooms . We have learned how to focus our energy on a small problem of practice that allows us to actually make a difference in instructional practice and student learning .
We believe that if we continue to engage in leadership cycles of inquiry , we will continue to support the learning and improvement of our students , teachers and leaders .
Resources
• City , E ., Elmore , R ., Fiarman , S . and Teitel , L . ( 2009 ). “ Instructional Rounds .” Cambridge : Harvard Educational Press .
• Copland , M . ( 2003 ). “ Leadership of Inquiry : Building and Sustaining Capacity for School Improvement .” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis , December , 25 , 3750395 .
• Desimone , L . M ., Porter , A ., Garet , M . S ., Yoon , K . S . and Birman , B . F . ( 2002 ). “ Effects of Professional Development on Teachers ’ Instruction : Results From a Three-year Longitudinal Study .” Educational policy and analysis . Vol 24 . No 2 . ( pp . 81-112 ). American Educational Research Association .
• Fink , S . and Markholt , A . ( 2011 ). “ Leading for instructional improvement : How successful leaders develop teaching and learning expertise .” San Francisco , CA : Jossey-Bass .
• Hord , S . M ., Roussin , J . L . and Sommers , W . A . ( 2010 ). “ Guiding professional learning communities : Inspiration , challenge , surprise and meaning .” Thousand Oaks , CA : Corwin Press .
• McLoughlin . M . ( 1991 ). “ Enabling professional development : What have we learned ?” In A . Lieberman and L . Miller ( Eds .). “ Staff Development for Education in the ’ 90s ” ( pp . 61-82 ). New York : Teachers College Press .
• Pianta , R . ( November 2011 ). “ Teaching children well : New evidence-based approaches to teacher professional development and training .” Center for American Progress .
Jeff Pelzel is assistant superintendent for instructional services in Newhall School District , and Patty Maxfield is a project director at the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership .
Resources for replication
The University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership has had eliminating the achievement gap at the core of its mission for more than 15 years .
The CEL has worked with whole systems and individual schools , teachers , principals and central office leaders to focus and refine professional practice for the express purpose of eliminating the gap that continues to divide the nation ’ s children along the lines of race , class , language and disability .
As a result of these partnerships with a wide range of practitioners from across the country , CEL has developed specific tools to support the learning and practice of educational leaders to continuously refine and improve student learning , instructional practice and instructional leadership .
The combination of CEL ’ s commitment to eliminating the achievement gap and their strong set of tools made their work an easy match developing the expertise necessary to meet the goals of the Newhall School District .
Resources available online from the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership include the following :
• 4 Dimensions of instructional leadership™ : Instructional leadership framework version 2.0 ( 2015 ): http :// info . k-12leadership . org / 4-dimensionsof-instructional-leadership .
• 5 Dimensions of teaching and learning™ : Instructional framework version 4.0 ( 2012 ): http :// info . k-12leadership . org / 5-dimensions-of-teaching-andlearning .
• 5D + ™ rubric for instructional growth and teacher evaluation ( 2016 ): http :// info . k-12leadership . org / 5d-teacherevaluation-rubric .
• Instructional leadership inquiry cycle tool : A tool to assist principal supervisors to support principals as instructional leaders , version 1.0 ( 2015 ): http :// info . k-12leadership . org / instructionalleadership-inquiry-cycle-tool-intro .
– Jeff Pelzel and Patty Maxfield
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