Is instructional leadership the key to being an effective principal?

A new article in Educational Researcher examines the associations between leadership behaviors and student achievement gains. The authors conducted in-person, full-day observations of approximately 100 principals in urban schools over three school years. They say that although scholars have long argued that principals should be instructional leaders, their findings show that the time the principals spent broadly on instructional functions does not predict student achievement growth. Nor did time spent on informal classroom walkthroughs predict student growth, particularly in high schools. In contrast, they found that time spent on teacher coaching, evaluation, and developing the school's educational program predicted positive achievement gains. 

Daniel Willingham provides further analysis of this research in his blog.

Johns Hopkins University 

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