Title: Instructional leadership
Description: Mrs. Robinson, Ms. Sparks and Mr. Marshall are three new school leaders who set out to create new high schools as part of the ambitious Chicago Public Schools Renaissance 2010 Initiative. As a participant in this study, each school leader self-identifies as an instructional leader and commits to the principle of distributed leadership--the stretching of leadership across multiple leaders, followers and aspects of the situation. Distributed leadership is evident in two aspects of new schools' work--the leader-plus aspect and the practice aspect. Informal and formal leaders share responsibility for the improvement of instruction at the three schools. Professional learning communities are emerging in practice as interactions around tools and routines promote teacher reflection, learning and a change in instructional strategies and delivery in the classroom. Beyond the schools, multiple external forces for learning and compliance are assisting teachers and leaders in learning and improving their practice. While student achievement results have yet to accelerate in these schools when compared to their neighborhood counterparts, these schools are demonstrating higher levels of student connection to school, greater parent satisfaction and professional communities of practice--all leading indicators to student achievement (Stevens, 2008). Each of the leaders in this study continues to struggle with tensions of newness, time, relationships and a reliance on individuals as they lead the establishment of these new schools.

Six findings emerge in this study regarding the distribution of instructional leadership within the new school context: (1) Leaders of new schools recreate organizational structures of traditional high schools; (2) Principals delegate instructional leadership to teacher leaders who in turn distribute leadership, creating webs of interactions; (3) Instructional leaders introduce new tools and routines to promote teachers' learning; (4) In these new schools, the adults demonstrate new learning; (5) External factors to the school serve as a catalyst for distributing leadership, learning and accountability; and (6) The role of the principal remains a key lever for scaling the distribution of instructional leadership across the school. This study concludes with the presentation of implications for practitioners, policy-makers and researchers.
Subjects: Educational leadership, Educational change, Case studies
Places: United States, Illinois