The Principal's Role in Improving Literacy Instruction

Almost all principals have received training in the areas of leadership and management. However, most have received little or no training in the field of content knowledge in literacy instruction. On October 24, 2001, through the support of the Wallace Reader's Digest Fund, a group of nationally known "thought leaders" met with Children's Literacy Initiative (CLI) in Philadelphia to answer the following questions:

• What is critical for principals to know to be the literacy instruction leaders in their schools?
• What are the most effective ways to help principals learn what they need to know?
• What organizational and collaborative structures support effective instructional leadership?

The participants determined nine important categories of content knowledge that would be essential to principals in providing successful literacy instructional leadership.

Nine Areas of Content Knowledge
	Principals need to understand the significance of entrenched philosophical and instructional habits that constitute a culture in a school -- and his or her own power to change that culture. Every school has a culture often referred to as "the way we do things around here." School change is rarely an easy task, but it is a goal worth struggling toward. The writings of organizational psychologist, Robert Evans (author of The Human Side of School Change) and Roland Barth, Director of the Principals' Center at Harvard, are good places to begin. Barth's work makes the case for the importance of collegiality, with an emphasis on trusting teachers to share leadership, and creating an atmosphere where colleagues listen to one another. Shelley Harwayne has written persuasively about her successful experiences creating a community of learners, including students, teachers, and parents, who share a common vision described in her 1999 book, Going Public.    Go to Resources
	Principals need to know the thinkers and practitioners in the field of literacy instruction who provide fresh ideas and useful models. Researchers such as Dick Allington, author of What Really Matters for Struggling Readers; Pat Cunningham, author of Phonics They Use; and Diane Snowball, a specialist on the teaching of spelling; and master practitioners such as Shelley Harwayne, Lucy Calkins, and Ralph Fletcher, offer specific direction and practical advice on the best literacy instructional strategies. Principals need to read and reflect on the best practices of these craft leaders and attend their presentations when possible.    Go to Resources
	In order to create a community of readers, principals must actively read not only professional literature, but also quality children's literature. Principals should know a wide range of children's authors, genres, and sources of information about children's literature, such as The Hornbook, The New Advocate, the International Reading Association's yearly publication of Children's Choices, the children's literature web site, www.carolhurst.com, and School Library Journal's Booklinks. Principals should take every opportunity to share their love of books with their colleagues, faculties, parents and students.     Go to Resources
	As the primary filter for new programs, principals must be familiar with a wide range of current instructional models. Principals can take the lead by instituting collegial investigations that build capacity to understand the complexities of competing models. Principals have to help their teachers develop a high level of expertise in order to select the best approach for each individual student from a wide variety of choices, such as Reading Workshop, Balanced Literacy, explicit phonics, etc. Instructional leaders should also explore new, responsive models of education, such as writer's workshops that actively engage students in the experience of becoming authors. Good sources of information about instructional models can be found in the journal Educational Leadership and by attendance at national and regional conferences.    Go to Resources
	The challenge for the principal is to know his or her district's mandated curriculum and make sure teachers are able to deliver it. We define curriculum as content, materials, and means of assessment, regardless of the delivery system (see Instructional Models above). One group at the conference questioned the need for a prescribed curriculum, and the other group raised the question of who should make decisions about curriculum. Gerald Duffy's research shows that the more standardized the curriculum, the lower the achievement rate. Inspiration for further exploration can be found in books such as Ernest Boyer's The Basic School, Joanne Hindley's In the Company of Children, Lifetime Guarantees by Shelley Harwayne, and Understand by Design by Grant Wiggins. Go to Resources
	As the key decision-maker for the use of time and space, principals must be aware of how the use of time and space affects instruction. Models such as literacy blocks, which give large chunks of uninterrupted time for instruction in reading and writing, have proven to be extremely useful. Teachers must have time for collegial professional development. The learning environment of classrooms and hallways should be organized by teachers in ways that maximize instruction and celebrate students' authentic work. Some sources to investigate are the work of researcher Lesley Mandel Morrow on the effects of the environment on students, CLI's Creating a Classroom Literacy Environment, and Richard Allington's What Really Matters for Struggling Readers.     Go to Resources
	Principals need to know how best to use assessment data based on relevant content standards with teachers, school communities, and parents. The focus of assessment should always be improving student learning. Teachers should always be assessing to monitor student progress and inform instruction. Principals can work to structure school schedules to provide ample opportunity for formative assessment (used by teachers during instruction) and for faculty meetings where student work can be discussed. Commercial products, such as Marie Clay's An Observation Survey, ECLAS, and the Developmental Reading Assessment are extremely helpful as means to ongoing assessment of student needs. The work of James Popham, and The Heart of the Matter by Beverly Falk were mentioned.     Go to Resources
	Principals need to take a close look at how support is delivered to struggling students and how this support is organized. Most children in need of extra academic help should receive it from highly trained specialists in intense blocks of time. Principals must explore all the options for making this possible, such as using part of an after-school budget to support a reading specialist. Other innovative solutions can be achieved through the use of learning support teams, parent-teacher coalitions, and summer school programs. Recent research has demonstrated that not all interventions are helpful. Allington's What Really Matters for Struggling Readers is a concise summary of how to transform recent research findings into practical solutions.    Go to Resources
	Principals need to know where to find models, data, and organizations that do useful research and that can serve as allies to answer questions of what works and why. The Eric Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication at www.indiana.edu/~eric_rec is an excellent source for literacy research updates with links to the web pages of the Center for Improvement of Early Reading Achievement (CIERA), the Center on English Learning and Achievement (CELA), and the National Reading Panel, among others. At the web site of the International Reading Association (IRA) at www.reading.org, Reading Research Quarterly, the world's leading literacy research journal is available online. The Laboratory for Student Success (LSS) is the Regional Educational Laboratory that focuses on educational leadership. On its web site at www.temple.edu/lss a variety of research resources on educational reform and urban education can be found. Strategies, published by Panasonic Foundation and The American Association of School Administrators, can be found on line at www.aasa.org/publications/strategies/index.htm. Using such resources can provide direction through the maze of information now available.    Go to Resources

back to top