Inquiry: What do American school administrators and instructional leaders often get wrong when it comes to improving teaching and learning in our classrooms?
Evidence: As an seasoned observer of the machinations and outcomes of the U.S. education system, I cannot help but notice the glaring lack of leading by example demonstrated by many of the individuals charged with guiding instruction and raising achievement in our schools. Principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, curriculum coordinators - these professionals are tasked with overseeing teachers, evaluating instruction, and implementing strategies to enhance classroom practice. Yet so many fall short when it comes to modeling excellent teaching themselves.
Walk the halls of a typical American elementary or secondary school and you're unlikely to encounter an administrator or coach actually teaching a lesson. Instead, they flit about observing teachers, holding meetings, or sequestered in their offices. Now, strong organizational and managerial skills are certainly essential for these roles. But equally important, I would argue, is maintaining one's own instructional expertise through regular teaching experience with students.
How can principals provide meaningful feedback to guide teachers if they haven't set foot in a classroom themselves in years? What qualifies a coach to demonstrate model lessons if they never step in front of students? Expertise fades without regular practice. Excellent teachers continue honing their craft daily through experience. School leaders must do the same if they want to lead effectively and elevate the quality of teaching schoolwide.
The once or twice yearly administrator-taught demo lessons common in many districts just don't cut it. Principals and coaches should teach whole classes on a weekly basis to stay sharp. This sends a powerful message that instructional leadership means leading by doing, not just telling others what to do. It builds credibility, empathy, and trust. Teachers see that administrators face the same challenges and gain practical insights from their teaching. It keeps leaders' eyes on excellence from the front lines.
In many American schools, however, teaching is seen as beneath the pay grade of administrators and coaches. They have "risen above" the classroom fray to focus on "more important work" like budgets, testing, and operations. Teaching is left to the teachers while leaders hide away in offices engaged in non-instructional tasks. What message does this send? That teaching is not important enough to warrant their time? That leading teachers doesn't require actually teaching yourself? I daresay this attitude reveals one major reason why teaching quality suffers in many schools - a lack of hands-on instructional leadership.
A mastery of pedagogical expertise should be seen as a core duty of any school leader guiding classroom instruction, not as an optional extracurricular activity. Principals and coaches disconnected from regular teaching become increasingly unable to lead improvement efforts. How can you steer teachers toward excellence if you haven't been in a classroom modeling excellence yourself recently? The insights and credibility gap widens yearly. Before long, leaders end up giving feedback and advice completely out of touch with classroom realities. No amount of watching instruction from the back of a classroom can substitute for the experience of actually delivering lessons yourself.
Evidence continues mounting on the power of school leadership focused squarely on instruction. Study after study identifies hands-on, learning-focused leaders as a top driver of student achievement and school improvement. Yet we continue promoting administrators and coaches with little to no emphasis on preserving their own teaching skills. Coaching certification programs stress theory over practice. Principal training focuses on operations rather than ongoing instructional excellence. We set up leaders for failure by not demanding they actively lead from the front through regular teaching.
Imagine if every principal taught at least one class each week. Think of coaches consistently modeling excellent instruction for teachers through co-teaching and targeted lessons. Teacher improvement efforts led by leaders intimately familiar with daily classroom realities because they face them too. Schools where the top priority of administrators is showcasing educational best practices through their own teaching. This vision may seem far-fetched given current realities in many American schools. But it's precisely the direction we need to head.
Conclusion: For too long, school leadership in America has been seen as distinct and separate from classroom teaching. Principals and coaches who haven't taught in years - or even decades - are charged with driving instructional excellence. This is a fatal flaw of our system. We must demand leaders at all levels stay actively immersed in teaching through regular classroom experiences. This should be a central job requirement and evaluated metric of their performance. Only then can we build a culture of learning that permeates from the top down in our schools. Leaders must model what excellent instruction looks like on a daily basis. The time is now to redefine the roles of principals, coaches and all leaders to place teaching at their core - not just evaluating and overseeing teaching from afar. America's students and teachers deserve nothing less.
Evidence: As an seasoned observer of the machinations and outcomes of the U.S. education system, I cannot help but notice the glaring lack of leading by example demonstrated by many of the individuals charged with guiding instruction and raising achievement in our schools. Principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, curriculum coordinators - these professionals are tasked with overseeing teachers, evaluating instruction, and implementing strategies to enhance classroom practice. Yet so many fall short when it comes to modeling excellent teaching themselves.
Walk the halls of a typical American elementary or secondary school and you're unlikely to encounter an administrator or coach actually teaching a lesson. Instead, they flit about observing teachers, holding meetings, or sequestered in their offices. Now, strong organizational and managerial skills are certainly essential for these roles. But equally important, I would argue, is maintaining one's own instructional expertise through regular teaching experience with students.
How can principals provide meaningful feedback to guide teachers if they haven't set foot in a classroom themselves in years? What qualifies a coach to demonstrate model lessons if they never step in front of students? Expertise fades without regular practice. Excellent teachers continue honing their craft daily through experience. School leaders must do the same if they want to lead effectively and elevate the quality of teaching schoolwide.
The once or twice yearly administrator-taught demo lessons common in many districts just don't cut it. Principals and coaches should teach whole classes on a weekly basis to stay sharp. This sends a powerful message that instructional leadership means leading by doing, not just telling others what to do. It builds credibility, empathy, and trust. Teachers see that administrators face the same challenges and gain practical insights from their teaching. It keeps leaders' eyes on excellence from the front lines.
In many American schools, however, teaching is seen as beneath the pay grade of administrators and coaches. They have "risen above" the classroom fray to focus on "more important work" like budgets, testing, and operations. Teaching is left to the teachers while leaders hide away in offices engaged in non-instructional tasks. What message does this send? That teaching is not important enough to warrant their time? That leading teachers doesn't require actually teaching yourself? I daresay this attitude reveals one major reason why teaching quality suffers in many schools - a lack of hands-on instructional leadership.
A mastery of pedagogical expertise should be seen as a core duty of any school leader guiding classroom instruction, not as an optional extracurricular activity. Principals and coaches disconnected from regular teaching become increasingly unable to lead improvement efforts. How can you steer teachers toward excellence if you haven't been in a classroom modeling excellence yourself recently? The insights and credibility gap widens yearly. Before long, leaders end up giving feedback and advice completely out of touch with classroom realities. No amount of watching instruction from the back of a classroom can substitute for the experience of actually delivering lessons yourself.
Evidence continues mounting on the power of school leadership focused squarely on instruction. Study after study identifies hands-on, learning-focused leaders as a top driver of student achievement and school improvement. Yet we continue promoting administrators and coaches with little to no emphasis on preserving their own teaching skills. Coaching certification programs stress theory over practice. Principal training focuses on operations rather than ongoing instructional excellence. We set up leaders for failure by not demanding they actively lead from the front through regular teaching.
Imagine if every principal taught at least one class each week. Think of coaches consistently modeling excellent instruction for teachers through co-teaching and targeted lessons. Teacher improvement efforts led by leaders intimately familiar with daily classroom realities because they face them too. Schools where the top priority of administrators is showcasing educational best practices through their own teaching. This vision may seem far-fetched given current realities in many American schools. But it's precisely the direction we need to head.
Conclusion: For too long, school leadership in America has been seen as distinct and separate from classroom teaching. Principals and coaches who haven't taught in years - or even decades - are charged with driving instructional excellence. This is a fatal flaw of our system. We must demand leaders at all levels stay actively immersed in teaching through regular classroom experiences. This should be a central job requirement and evaluated metric of their performance. Only then can we build a culture of learning that permeates from the top down in our schools. Leaders must model what excellent instruction looks like on a daily basis. The time is now to redefine the roles of principals, coaches and all leaders to place teaching at their core - not just evaluating and overseeing teaching from afar. America's students and teachers deserve nothing less.
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