Educator Perceptions of Instructional Leadership in the School Improvement Process

The purpose of this case study was to conduct an investigation of educator perceptions of instructional leadership in the school improvement process. Interviews were conducted with educators and an administrator in a small, rural high school in Middle Tennessee. In 2010, the high school was labeled as a low performing school by the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE). In 2014, Commissioner Kevin Huffman announced the school was on the TDOE Reward School Cusp List for being in the top 10% of schools based on one-year progress data from the Tennessee Value-added Assessment System (TVAAS) school composites. Participants of this case study shared experiences and opinions of the instructional leadership utilized by the school principal. As indicated in the findings of this study, instructional leadership practices are crucial in the school improvement process. The key themes related to indicators of sound instructional leadership practices were: maintaining a culture of continuous school improvement, having every faculty member participate in the development and implementation of the school improvement plan, knowing how to use data to make crucial decisions, developing leadership capacity in the school, and being an engaged leader during the school improvement process. Developing a qualitative understanding of the perceptions of effective instructional leadership will enhance greater understanding of leadership practices in the school improvement process