Finding the Time for Instructional Leadership: Management Strategies for Strengthening the Academic Program

127 Pages·2010·0.7 MB·English

by  John C. Leonard

Finding the Time for
Instructional Leadership
Management Strategies for
Strengthening the Academic Program
John C. Leonard
R & L E
OWMAN ITTLEFIELD DUCATION
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
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ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Education
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2010 by John C. Leonard
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Leonard, John C.
Finding the time for instructional leadership : management strategies for
strengthening the academic program / John C. Leonard.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-60709-614-6 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-615-3 (pbk. : alk.
paper) — ISBN 978-1-60709-593-4 (electronic)
1. Educational leadership. 2. School management and organization.
3. Organizational behavior. I. Title.
LB2805.L3864 2010
371.2—dc22 2010016854
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
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To those dedicated principals who lead with a passion for improving your
school one child at a time, I commend your service to our educational
system and dedicate this work to you. It is my hope that my grandchildren,
McKenna and Jayson, will be the beneficiaries of the school improvement
work being done by these outstanding professionals.
Additionally, this book would not have been possible without the mentor-
ing of the many professional educators who have so positively touched my
life and I express my enduring gratitude to them for their mentorship.
I would be remiss if I did not recognize my loving family for their support.
I am especially blessed to have the love of my wonderful wife, George Ann,
who each and every day inspires me to strive to make the world a better
place.
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Contents
Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Chapter 1 Framing the Issue of Principal Time 1
Chapter 2 Time Challenges Facing Twenty-First-Century
School Leaders 13
Chapter 3 Principal Time Management 25
Chapter 4 Avoiding the Pitfalls of Micromanagement 41
Chapter 5 Building a Value Added Unified Leadership Team 49
Chapter 6 Facilitating Instructional Improvement Tasks 63
Chapter 7 Motivating Instructional Improvement 81
Chapter 8 Reflective Practice 99
References 107
About the Author 113
v
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Illustrations
List of Figures
Figure 2.1. The Principal as Hub 17
Figure 3.1. Task Facilitation Flowchart 29
Figure 4.1. Micromanagement Impact on Teachers and Students 44
Figure 4.2. Principal’s Value Added Unified Leadership 47
Figure 6.1. Continuous Improvement Planning Process 71
Figure 7.1. Results Pyramid 84
Figure 7.2. Targeting of Goals 89
List of Tables
Table 3.1. Task Responsibility Matrix 30
Table 6.1. Sample Talent Survey Instrument 66
vii
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Preface
Throughout my career as a campus- and district-level administrator, and for
the last eight years as an instructor in a principal preparation program, I have
had the privilege of visiting with many dedicated principals. When they can
slow down enough to visit, I ask them to share the number one challenge they
face in the principalship. Perhaps surprising to some, it is not high-stakes test-
ing, No Child Left Behind, student discipline, campus security, paperwork, or
providing a high-quality education to every student within limited budgets.
Invariably principals respond that they simply cannot find the time to be the
instructional leader they know they can, and should, be.
These are dedicated professionals who carry the mantle of instructional
leadership and responsibility for providing every student with a high-quality
education very seriously. Typically, they are putting in an incredible number
of work hours each week, both at their school and with the unfinished work
they take home. These individuals are crying out for support and for new
ideas that can be utilized to redirect their time and energy to the teaching
and learning process. This book targets these campus-level educational lead-
ers and seeks to provide them with sound personal management strategies
needed for instructional leadership and for maintaining their sanity as they
struggle against the clock to achieve instructional success.
The gap between available time and instructionally engaged time provides
the backdrop for investigating ways principals eager to improve the teaching-
learning process on their campus can accomplish both the required manage-
ment-related tasks and, more importantly, find more time redirected toward
the support of teachers and for strengthening the school’s academic program.
ix
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