How Leaders Align Practice & Drive Improvement

State standards. Adopted curriculum. Common assessments. Professional development.

These tools for creating alignment across K-12 organizations are necessary, but not sufficient for leaders who want their vision to have an impact on teacher practice and student learning. 

In too many schools and districts, the leader's vision is little more than a public relations tool, with little evidence of alignment—no evidence that the vision espoused by senior leaders is a consistent reality in classrooms. 

Instead, under the justification of professional autonomy, teachers nod along during professional development, but don't necessarily align their practice. 

Close the Gap between Vision and Reality

As instructional leaders, how can we cast a compelling vision and move people toward it?

1. First, we must be aware of the present reality by seeing the evidence for ourselves, firsthand. Assessments and data don't give us the whole picture—we have to actually see teacher practice for ourselves. That's why it's so important for leaders to get into classrooms every day.
   
   
2. Second, we must be honest about the present reality in our organizations. Giving people a list of "look-fors" is often little more than an exercise in  telling people how to fool us into thinking we're achieving our vision.
   
   
3. Third, we must be willing to confront our present reality. Even though we have plenty to be proud of, we can't let complacency keep us from achieving our vision.
   
   

The Instructional Vision Project is a direct consulting and professional development partnership between your organization and The Principal Center.

We'll work together to articulate your vision in leveled rubrics for practice, and implement your vision for instructional excellence using the Evidence-Driven Leadership™ system.

Instructional Frameworks: Articulate Your Vision

Instructional Frameworks are leveled rubrics for specific areas of professional practice. These rubrics:

• Create a shared vocabulary for talking about practice
• Anchor conversations about practice in common expectations
• Define levels of performance for making evidence-driven decisions
  

You no doubt already have some instructional frameworks in place—such as your teacher evaluation criteria or curriculum-based frameworks.

While these frameworks may be high in quality, they're often lacking in relevance to your organization's unique vision.

The Vision Project is designed to help you articulate your vision in the format of specific rubrics for professional practice, by taking teachers through the Instructional Framework Development Program. 

If you're looking to address:

• Challenges with staff turnover and building a sustainable culture of excellence
• Pockets of mediocrity in practice
• Resistance to change and new practices
  
  

...then the Vision Project is for you. 

Your Virtual Learning Framework: How You Support Student Learning From A Distance

Virtual learning has been an area of rapid professional learning since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators have been resourceful, collaborative, and hardworking. Yet in nearly all organizations, practice has taken a backseat to logistical questions, such as:

• What technology platform will we use?
• How will we divide the work?
• How will we digitize our materials for remote learners?

The question that's harder—but ultimately more important—to ask is about practice: how will we serve our students from a distance?

Right now, teachers are rapidly discovering what works and what doesn't. This professional learning is happening at an unprecedented speed—but too often, teams and departments are operating as silos, with little alignment at the level of the school or district. 

Or, worse, teachers are making decisions totally on their own, and using whatever materials they can find online, with no coordination or alignment whatsoever—and little time for vetting materials based on quality or fit. 

But what if all teachers were working from a shared framework that they developed? And what if this framework was already starting to emerge—just waiting to be noticed and articulated by instructional leaders? 

Time is of the essence, because practice makes permanent.

We have a short window of time in which we can turn pockets of excellence into the standard for all students. 

We have a short window of time in which we can prevent mediocre materials and practices from becoming a permanent part of our curriculum and pedagogy. 

We have a short window of time during which we can develop a shared Virtual Learning Framework to align and accelerate our work in support of student learning. 

Program Timeline: October 2020

Beginning in October 2020, the Virtual Learning Framework program will guide your team through the process of:

• Holding focused 1:1 conversations with teachers about key practices
• Examining 7 sources of evidence of practice, giving you the rich information you need to make decisions—even when you can't get into classrooms for traditional in-person observations
• Training all staff in the 6 Essential Elements of Engaging Online Learning
• Developing protocols for looking at student work in each subject area and grade level

The Evidence-Driven Leadership™ System: Implement Your Vision

Evidence-Driven Instructional Leadership Professional Development for Your Entire Team

Your Core Channel for Evidence & Impact: Daily Classroom Walkthroughs

The Evidence-Driven Leadership System is built around administrators’ daily classroom walkthroughs, as Dr. Baeder describes in Now We're Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership .

While most administrators strive to get into classrooms as time allows, The Principal Center’s approach is uniquely successful in getting principals and APs to develop a consistent habit of visiting three classrooms a day, every day—a total of more than 500 visit a year.

These visits provider senior leaders with a channel for both gathering evidence of and having an impact on teacher and principal practice.

Frequently Asked Questions