Effective Instructional Leadership

Abstract：The impact different leadership styles have on schools’ building and student’s learning outcome has been the center of the discussion in the education field for a long time，among which the instructional leadership has gained the most attention.This article discussed three characters that effective instructional leadership has.

Key words：effective school leadership；instructional leadership；students’ learning outcome

1 Introduction

Instructional leadership has its origins in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s through the study of Edmonds （1979） that poor students had a great deal of success in poor urban communities because of so-called strong instructional leadership in schools.Because of the government support，instructional leadership has spread all over the world，and there were tons of studies discussing it.In this article，professional growth，vision and goals，and relationship and environment are considered the three key elements to effective instructional leadership.This article also discusses some issues the administrator will encounter operating the instructional leadership internally and externally.

2 Characteristics of effective instructional leadership

2.1 Professional Growth

An effective principal will engage in teaching and learning while also being responsible for promoting teaching and learning in the school through the supervision of teachers and management of instruction.Principals who engage in teaching have a higher sense of efficacy than principals who do not teach.Robinson （2006） argued that it is necessary for school leaders to keep their pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge extensive and updated.Principals’ in-depth and up-to-date knowledge of at least one curriculum area can equip them with a sufficient comprehension of the proficiency they need in other curriculum and instructional areas.

Moreover，an effective principal works hard to improve and participate in teachers’ teaching and learning in the school.Both formal and inform classroom observation are suggested to be useful for instructional change only when there is some follow-up with critical reflection of teachers on their teaching and constructive feedback from principals.In addition，effective principals provide faculty development opportunities which addressed emergent needs for teachers，and sometimes become learners themselves.The role of principal as a “learning leader”，accomplishing by actively involved with teachers in their professional growth，was reported had a large effect on instructional process.

2.2 Vision and Goals

Effective leadership also requires the improvement of a schoolwide vision of commitment to high standards and the success of all students.“Vision” refers to an overall picture of the direction where the school seeks to move.The principal should help to shape out that vision and get all members engaged in it.In contrast，“goals” refers to the specific targets that need to be achieved on the path towards that vision.Goal-setting is suggested direct effects of leadership on students’ academic achievement by focusing and coordinating the work of teachers and，sometimes parents.The research literature over the last quarter-century has continually encouraged the belief that setting high expectations for all members，including well-defined and public standards，is one basic element to shortening the achievement gap between advanced and less advanced students and for raising the overall learning outcome of all.Another asset of having high goals and expectations is that even if the goal is not fully achieved at last，students will still make significant progress on their outcomes compared to no goals before due to their hard-working towards the goal.To summarize，Principals who are able to nurture a strong vision and goals that all students can learn would create an effective instructional climate in the school.

2.3 Relationship & Environment

Relationship building is a key factor on whether the instruction is going to be effective.It refers to increasing learning and improvement in instruction as a result of relationship building.Principals’ efforts to help students and faculty feel better about themselves may result in their trying harder and taking more pride in their work.Bryk and Schneider （2002） reported that student achievement is positively connected to the level of relational trust based on interpersonal social exchanges in schools.This kind of relational trust is of vital importance to school operations.They supported that teachers having trust in their principals felt less vulnerable to the quality monitoring mechanisms and classroom observation，so that they are more open to the feedback and suggestion，and thus were more willing to follow the instructional requirements.

An effective principal should not only enhance the principal-teacher relationship but also promote the teacher-teacher relationship.Strong teacher social network has been approved to have great impact on student achievement and school instructional construction.Hallinger （2011） demonstrated that quality collaborative socializing among teachers like peer mentoring and exchanging advice，and their collective believes，can be linked to student achievement.Building trust-based and collaborative relationship community can make effective instructional leadership succeed.

3 Influencing factors of effective instructional leadership

Internally，the principal focusing too much on day-to-day teaching and learning may lead to low performance of the school.showing growth in student achievement are more likely to have principals who are strong organizational managers strategically hiring and training effective teachers and creating supportive environment for them.Therefore，effective instructional leadership should be narrated in a more boarder perspective which emphasizes organizational management for instructional improvement rather than classroom instruction.

Externally，accountability contexts affect principals’ views of their ability to influence decisions.Principals do not regard the impact of state policy as negative； in contrast，they viewed their own influence as increased when they considered teachers as actively involved in instructional decisions.This situation may indicate that teachers’ active involvement in instructional processes reflects collaboration and reduces the apparent burden of state-imposed reforms and policies on principals.

4 Summary

Effective instructional leadership requires principals to focus on not only the administrative aspect but also the educational aspect，for instance，teaching and learning，of the school.The closer principals get to the critical process of teaching and learning，the more likely they are to have a positive impact on students’ outcomes.Effective instructional leaders always update the current knowledge of their own educational expertise and get involved in promoting teachers’ proficiency on their teaching.Moreover，effective principals shape the big picture of school and set achievable and measurable step-by-step goals to achieve it.Relationship-building is another essential component that cannot be ignored.

However，some internal and external factors could influence the ability of principals on instructional leadership.The high proportion of classroom instruction in a principal’s daily job might decrease the students’ achievement and parents’ satisfaction.Administrative tasks like ensuring a comfortable teaching and learning environment are still the priority of principals’ job.On the other hand，Education reform and policies top-down from the states and school district will have a negative influence on principals’ leadership unless teachers’ active collaboration is involved.

In a word，principals engaging themselves directly in teaching and learning is the foundation of an effective instructional leadership，which is reported has the most positive influence on school achievement comparing to other leaderships like transformational leadership or teacher-centered leadership under certain circumstance.As an effective leader，a principal should adjust their way of leading the school concerning the context because there is no way that any one type of leadership can work best in every school.

References

[1]Bryk，A.，& Schneider，B.Trust in schools：A core resource for improvement[J].Russell Sage Foundation，2002.

[2]Edmonds，R.Effective schools for the urban poor[J].Educational leadership，1979，37（1）：15-24.

[3]Hallinger，P.Leadership for learning： Lessons from 40 years of empirical research[J].Journal of educational administration，2011，49（2）：125-142.

[4]Robinson，V.M.Putting education back into educational leadership[J].Leading and Managing，2006，12（1）：62.

作者簡介

馬瑩（1993—），女，漢族，天津市人，教育管理碩士。