Technology for School Leaders
The best instructional technology is invisible. When it's working right, you don't notice it — it just removes friction from the things that matter most. When it's working wrong, it becomes the thing that matters most, and everything else suffers.
I've watched school leaders cycle through the same pattern for years: a new tool appears, everyone gets excited, there's a training day, and then adoption stalls because the tool created more work than it eliminated. The problem is almost never the technology itself. It's that the implementation followed the same "bulk change" model that fails with every other initiative — train everyone at once and hope for the best.
Here's what I've learned from helping thousands of principals get into classrooms more consistently: technology should serve your highest-leverage behaviors, not compete with them. If a digital walkthrough tool helps you capture evidence and share notes faster, great — it's buying you time for more classroom visits and better conversations. If it's so clunky that you're spending more time documenting visits than making them, it's working against you. The test is simple: does this tool make it easier to do the work that matters, or does it make the work about the tool?
For school leaders specifically, there are a few categories where technology makes the biggest difference. Communication management — reducing the email burden through better systems for processing, delegating, and deferring. Task management — getting everything out of your head and into one trusted system so you can walk out of your office without anxiety. Evidence capture — documenting what you see in classrooms quickly enough that the documentation doesn't become a barrier to visiting.
AI is the newest entrant in this space, and it's genuinely useful for certain tasks — drafting routine communications, generating first versions of evaluation narratives, processing information faster. But it has clear limits. AI can't observe a classroom. It can't assess whether a teacher's practice has improved. It can't weigh the political dynamics of a staffing decision. The tool should extend your capacity, not replace your judgment. If you wouldn't be comfortable telling a teacher that AI helped you write their evaluation, you're relying on it too heavily.
The same lean change principles that work for any school initiative work for technology: start with early adopters, support them well, let their success convince the majority. Whole-staff technology training treats everyone as if they're at the same starting point, which they never are. On-demand support and piloting produce better adoption than any training day.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can technology help me get into classrooms more?
By removing friction from the parts of your job that keep you at your desk. Every time you streamline how you process email, document an observation, or write feedback, you're buying time that goes back into classrooms. Technology doesn't create time — but it eliminates the inefficiencies that steal it.
Specific examples: text expansion tools let you write common phrases and email responses in a fraction of the time. Digital walkthrough tools let you capture evidence, share notes, and track visits without paper systems that pile up. Task management apps let you process your to-do list in minutes instead of the constant re-sorting that happens with sticky notes and legal pads.
The best technology for instructional leadership is invisible to teachers and students. If you're visibly typing on a device during a classroom visit, you're undermining the relational quality of the visit. The tool should serve the visit, not compete with it.
When should school leaders use AI writing tools, and when shouldn't they?
AI is powerful for drafting — generating a first version of an email, a newsletter section, or evaluation language that you then edit in your own voice. It's especially useful for overcoming the blank-page problem on writing tasks that aren't your primary expertise.
Where it gets risky is in high-stakes judgment. AI can't observe a classroom. It can't assess whether a teacher's practice has genuinely improved. It can't weigh the political dynamics of a difficult staffing decision. When you use AI to draft evaluation narratives, you must ensure the result sounds like you, reflects your actual observations, and represents your professional judgment — not a generic summary.
The test is simple: would you be comfortable telling the teacher that AI helped you write this? If the answer is no, you're relying on it too heavily. The tool should extend your capacity, not replace your judgment.
How should schools approach technology adoption and training?
The same way they should approach any change initiative: start with early adopters, build success, and let that success convince the majority. Whole-staff technology training is the equivalent of bulk change — it treats everyone as if they're at the same starting point, which they never are. Some teachers are already proficient. Others are anxious beginners. A one-size session helps neither group.
The most effective approach is on-demand support and piloting. Let interested teachers try the tool, provide responsive help when they get stuck, and create opportunities for them to share what they've learned with colleagues. The most important questions about any technology emerge during actual use, not during training.
For school leaders specifically, model the technology yourself first. If you want your teachers to use a shared platform, use it visibly. If you want them to embrace digital communication tools, be excellent at using them yourself. Technology adoption in schools follows the same social dynamics as any other change — people adopt what they see working for people they trust.
Featured Episodes — Principal Center Radio
| # | Guest | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| 453 | Vickie Echols | AI for School Leaders |
| 489 | Barbara Oakley | The Memory Paradox |
| 504 | Jared Cooney Horvath | The Digital Delusion |
| 779 | Priten Soundar Shah | Ethical Ed Tech |
| 457 | Marc-Oliver Gewaltig | Thesify.ai |
Related Books
- Now We're Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership — Days 7-9 cover the communication and task management systems that technology supports, from email processing to digital organization.
Go Deeper
Members of the Instructional Leadership Association get live weekly sessions, community support, and implementation tools for putting these ideas into practice. Learn more about ILA →