Tools We Recommend for Instructional Leaders
The Principal Center's recommended tools for school leaders — Repertoire for classroom walkthroughs and feedback, Sibme for video coaching, IXL for adaptive practice, and CAIRO ERP for standards management.
These are the tools The Principal Center recommends for instructional leaders. Each one solves a specific, high-leverage problem in the work of leading instruction.
Repertoire
Classroom walkthroughs & teacher feedback
Repertoire is the professional writing app for instructional leaders. It lets principals build a reusable library of observation language and send feedback notes in under a minute — eliminating the gap between the classroom visit and the follow-up that causes most feedback to never get sent.
Reusable snippet library that grows with every visit
Visit tracking across your entire staff roster
Send feedback notes directly from the app in under a minute
Included in the Instructional Leadership Association membership
Included with ILA membership — $99/month
Sibme
Video-based instructional coaching
Sibme is The Principal Center's recommended platform for video-based instructional coaching. It records classroom instruction, aligns it to your district frameworks, and uses AI to surface coaching insights — so leaders can give specific, evidence-based feedback without spending hours analyzing footage.
Video recording and analysis aligned to instructional frameworks
AI-assisted coaching insights on questioning, talk time, and engagement
Teacher self-reflection tools for professional growth
Longitudinal record of instructional growth across your staff
Partner platform — recommended by The Principal Center
CAIRO ERP
Standards management & school operations
CAIRO ERP is a K–12 school management platform built by The Principal Center. It provides a complete database of state standards across all subjects and grade levels, with tools for aligning instructional materials, tracking curriculum coverage, and managing school operations in one place.
Complete standards database — all US states, all subjects and grade levels
Curriculum alignment and standards coverage tracking
Integrated school ERP — admissions, attendance, operations
Built by The Principal Center
IXL
Adaptive practice for math & language arts
IXL is the most widely used adaptive practice platform in K–12 schools, covering math and language arts from pre-K through 12th grade. It meets students where they are, adjusts difficulty in real time, and gives teachers and leaders the data they need to see exactly where each student stands relative to grade-level standards.
Adaptive questions that adjust in real time to each student's level
Standards-aligned coverage for math and ELA, pre-K through grade 12
Diagnostic data that shows exactly what each student has and hasn't mastered
School and district reporting for progress monitoring and instructional planning
Partner platform — recommended by The Principal Center