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Principals are not only building managers. They not only shape instructional leaders, support teachers, and drive student achievement, but they also propel sustainable school improvement. Doing this work calls for regularly revisiting, refining, and enhancing practice, and a willingness to learn along the way.

So explained Ferguson-Florissant School District (MO) leaders during “School Principals as Levers for Continuous Improvement,” the third edLeader Panel of Trailblazing Leadership Week. They highlighted adaptable strategies for cultivating a continuous improvement culture.

Improvement Framework

Superintendent Dr. Joseph Davis said principals must be instructional leaders striving to improve student outcomes. Success on this front involves three focus areas, each with strategies to promote improvement and transformation.

Focus Area 1: Creating and Leading Effective Instructional Leadership Teams

Define Clear Roles

Principals should delegate team members’ responsibilities to enhance efficiency and accountability. Leveraging members’ expertise and strengths is critical to setting and meeting instructional expectations.

Lead Data-Driven Discussions

To target interventions and improvements, principals should facilitate meetings focused on student data that inform teaching and learning. “The data tell us what we see, not what we think we see,” said Davis. Principals can use data to:

• Analyze trends to identify patterns in student performance data, looking for areas of weakness or specific student groups that require support
• Adjust instruction to develop flexible instructional plans and modify teaching techniques
• Evaluate strategies to assess the effectiveness of current instructional methods and use quantitative results to determine which strategies to replace

Foster Collaboration

Principals can create an environment where team members freely share best practices, driving ongoing improvement. Such an environment might involve professional learning communities that analyze data to refine instructional strategies, collaboration among principals to learn from and support each other, or leveraging staff and teacher expertise to launch a new initiative.

Focus Area 2: Coaching Teachers Through Regular Classroom Observations and Feedback

Regular Walkthroughs

Principals comprehensively view instructional practices by conducting frequent, brief classroom visits. They must be present to understand what happens daily with teachers and students and be thoroughly familiar with the curriculum.

Walkthroughs are planned: The principal should know what they want to see and do. They should look for something specific within a content area, with expectations and outcomes in mind and an awareness of what students are doing (and why).

These visits are essential for coaching teachers—providing them with instant, non-evaluative, and actionable feedback they can put into motion right away—assessing curriculum delivery, and gathering data related to content-based outcomes.

Focus on Instructional Goals

Principals should align their classroom observations with specific schoolwide goals. Centering on goals helps to target the purpose of observations, feedback, and subsequent action steps. For example, suppose a school wants to move students from the lower levels of achievement. In that case, they can monitor progress through specifically benchmarked exams and standards and develop purposeful interventions and supports to meet the goal.

Document Observations

Effective notetaking using digital tools ensures principals capture accurate and easily accessible observation records, especially critical for evaluative purposes. (Davis noted, “If it’s not in writing, it probably won’t happen.”) It is essential to approach evaluative documentation through a growth lens.

Part two of the second focus area is providing feedback that enables deep curriculum implementation. There are three crucial elements to consider:

Timely Delivery

Principals must provide teachers with prompt feedback after observations to ensure fresh and actionable insights. “If you observe a teacher on Monday,” said Davis, it shouldn’t be Wednesday or Thursday before they get feedback.”

Specific and Constructive

Concrete, actionable suggestions help teachers make immediate practice improvements.

Growth Oriented

Frame feedback positively and in a growth-centric fashion to motivate teachers and foster a culture of continuous improvement. As teachers grow, they continue to make sure students are learning. Feedback should recognize strengths and learning barriers to help teachers grow in the moment (particularly those who are struggling).

Other growth opportunities include professional development days, curriculum supports, and role-based advancements. These involve identifying and grooming staff to move into higher-level positions, such as teachers who might become lead teachers and assistant principals who could become principals.

Focus Area 3: Aligning Instructional Leadership with School Goals

Set Measurable Goals

Principals should create specific, quantifiable objectives that provide clear direction and allow for progress tracking. Thinking broadly about what’s essential in the district and how that plays out in a school helps shape building and instructional goals.

Sharing a vision and direction around those goals (emphasizing what a team can accomplish) drives shared accountability and promotes excellence. Even shooting for an award, like U.S. News & World Report’s Best High Schools, can inspire goal setting and effect improvement.

Link to School Improvement Plan

Leadership actions should connect to broader school objectives to ensure cohesive schoolwide efforts. For example, every teacher across the curriculum should help students become better readers if there is a districtwide reading intervention.

Regular Process Review

Ongoing goal assessments and reviews allow for timely adjustments and opportunities to celebrate successes.

Scaling and sustaining best practices is an iterative process that requires leaders to be willing to adjust and try new approaches to create a learning community where all students can learn and achieve.

Learn more about this edWeb broadcast, School Principals as Levers for Continuous Improvement, presented by ERDI.

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Article by Michele Israel, based on this edLeader Panel