The Principal's Influence on Literacy Instruction
Leaders who know literacy understand the context and have the knowledge base to more effectively engage in influential practices.
In this post, Michelle Caracappa summarizes “the important role the principal plays in enacting and advancing instructional improvement”.
She highlights actions of school leaders that lead to positive outcomes, particularly in literacy, including:
Co-developing a shared vision of high-quality instruction.
Leveraging other leaders such as instructional coaches to support teachers in enhancing their performance in service of that vision.
As a former principal, I found what Michelle shared to be on point. The following quote particularly resonated with me:
"Principals’ messaging shapes teachers’ perceptions of the reform to such an extent that these messages can impact whether and how teachers ultimately adopt, adapt, or reject district-level policies or approaches within the walls of their classrooms. When leaders leverage frames that resonate with teachers, teachers are more likely to respond by adopting the frame as their own and championing instructional change efforts."
For example, last year I co-led the implementation of a new literacy program in our elementary school. Messaging was crucial. The importance of commitment was communicated verbally, visually, and physically.
I used metaphors such as a school of fish to stress the need of all teachers, wherever they were in the implementation process, to keep swimming in the same direction while being responsive to individual students.
During the school year, I would come back to visuals like a school of fish in presentation materials during meetings and PD. It was an anchor and our reminder about our vision for curriculum coherence.
Sitting in on professional development facilitated by others around the new curriculum sent a strong message to the faculty that this was a priority for me.
During informal classroom visits, I would interact with teachers like a coach about the new resource to support reflection and self-directedness.
It wasn’t any one of these things that influenced the implementation; it was everything, both my actions and my words, working with integrity toward a common vision.
Historically, these instructional leadership actions have not been the norm in schools. For instance, literacy education professor Tim Shanahan acknowledges his misstep (here) in not including principals right away in previous literacy initiatives.
“A major error in my Chicago Reading Initiative experience was not pulling the principals in early enough or thoroughly enough. My attentions were laser focused on hiring coaches and readying them for their important role. I eventually turned my thoughts to the principals, not just to try to smooth the way for the coaches, but to try to help them to have a bigger and more positive impact on their school’s reading achievement.”
Still, I am surprised he questions the importance of school leaders knowing literacy.
“I don’t think principals require a great deal of general training in reading. Studies claim that they tend to not have adequate knowledge of that type.”
The authors of the 2021 Wallace Report, “How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research”, were confident around the importance of professional development for school leaders.
"[I]f a school district could invest in improving the performance of just one adult in a school building, investing in the principal is likely the most efficient way to affect student achievement." (p. 40)
One of the most interesting findings from the analysis to support the above statement: Replacing a below average principal with an above average principal equated on average to a gain of 2.7 months in student reading achievement (in a standard nine-month school year).
The reading gains would be larger than almost 50% of various reading interventions.
The competencies that the study found leaders need - see figure below - do not explicity call out literacy or any other discipline as essential knowledge for principals.
However, what I have learned as a site-based administrator at both the secondary and elementary level is, without a deep knowledge about literacy, my influence as a literacy leader is limited.
Engaging in instructionally-focused interactions with teachers - Lacking familiarity with the terminology within literacy instruction, my conversations with teachers about instruction in this area would have lacked depth and understanding.
Facilitating collaboration and professional learning communities - How would I have known that collaboration is leading to better student outcomes, if I did not understand what types of outcomes to look for and prioritize within literacy?
Managing personnel and resources strategically - Without a solid knowledge base in literacy, I would have lacked a critical lens for hiring the best teachers to support this work. Likewise, when teachers requested resources, how would I have evaluated them for impact without an understanding of evidence-based literacy practices?
I realize this might be a large ask - leaders knowing literacy - for some principals. But it’s not impossible. To achieve the vision of excellence and equity for all students, I have to believe that it is possible.
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This squares with my experience, Matt. Part of the reason the Writing Projects in California have had such a strong effect on instruction is the direct result of efforts to work with school administrators. Literacy is such a core part of the curriculum--in many ways the engine of learning--I do believe it holds such importance for learning across the curriculum that a principal with knowledge of current thinking about literacy instruction could have a huge impact on learning outcomes--even if measurement tools are not as sensitive as we might like.