Can I in good conscience refer to myself as an instructional leader in my school?
Bestselling author and award-winning educator Baruti K. Kafele is known for his insight into leadership practices and his focus on deep reflection as a way to become a more effective school leader. In this thought-provoking book, he turns his attention to instructional leadership—a crucial, complex, and sometimes neglected facet of leading a school.
Kafele contends that the primary purpose of supervising teachers is to help them continue to improve in the classroom so that all students have the support and skills they need to succeed. For principals and assistant principals, in particular, it is easy to be so inundated by the noninstructional aspects of the work that the instructional side—including instructional coaching—suffers. This has an adverse effect on the entire school. Just as the quality of teaching directly affects student outcomes, there is also a direct correlation between instructional leadership and student achievement and well-being.
Kafele structures the book around 10 self-reflection prompts to help the reader answer the question that the title poses: What is my value instructionally to the teachers I supervise? This powerful resource offers illuminating stories about and practical strategies for focusing on the instructional side of leadership to improve teacher pedagogy and enable student achievement to soar.
Table of contents
Chapter 1. Everything Else Is Secondary
Chapter 2. My Instructional Leadership Wake-Up Call
Chapter 3. Where the Rubber Meets the Road
Chapter 4. My Day Is Over, Now Let Me Assess It
Chapter 5. Someone Said, "We're Not Going to Save Them All"
Chapter 6. Visiting Classrooms Is Not Enough
Chapter 7. There Must Be More to Me Now Than Who I Was Then
Chapter 8. Maximizing Your Administrative Leadership Team
Chapter 9. Maximizing Your Instructional Coaches
Chapter 10. How You Are Perceived Is Who You Are
Appendix: Instructional Leadership Blueprint