Both principals and teacher leaders lead from the middle, feeling pressure and demands from a system level and a classroom and community level. Dr. Katie Pekel, the director of Educational Leadership at the University of Minnesota, joins Steve to explore instructional leadership. They examine the need for administrators to guide the evaluation, supervision, mentoring and […]

I have always felt that working with a team was a benefit. I believe today it is a requirement. The complexity of desired outcomes we are looking to produce can no longer be accomplished with the skills and resources of an individual. School heads and administrators need to function as leaders of highly effective teams […]

I was recently requested to facilitate a meeting of coaches and principals from K-12 buildings for the Bismarck Public Schools in North Dakota. Those of you who follow me on Twittter (@stevebarkley) know that I have been working with the district for the last four years. The agenda I was given had the coach/principal pairs explore […]

I was recently asked to answer that question in a 90 minute session for principals. What follows is the direction I took: I opened with a piece that I thought set a pretty compelling reason for principals to explore their plans for working with coaches. On average, a principal accounts for 25 percent of a […]

I am currently facilitating leadership teams at the central office and building level in several districts. As I researched for this work the critical importance of school based leaders was reinforced. Consider the following statements regarding the principal’s role: On average, a principal accounts for 25 percent of a school’s total impact on student achievement—significant […]

I have written earlier blogs about the critical partnership necessary between instructional coaches and principals for effective teacher change that produces increased student achievement. Recently I spent a day with a district wide group of instructional coaches working on the school improvement plans for their buildings. We used a backwards plan beginning with the identification […]