| The importance of leadership in any organization cannot be overstated. The news daily reports on the rise and fall of leaders such as professional coaches, chief executive officers, politicians, and superintendents. The perception of an organizations success or failure often rests on the primary leader.; This reality has lead to the study of successful leaders in business and education. Instructional leadership has been a central concept in school leadership and administration research for the past two decades. This concept originated from studies of successful schools, where principal involvement in curriculum, goal setting, and the monitoring of student learning became a key variable across the wide body of successful schools literature. The 21st century provides new opportunities to investigate the role of instructional leadership as principals help navigate schools and teachers through an era of accountability, testing, and high academic standards.; This study focused on the instructional leadership behaviors of nine principals in the state of California who have successfully navigated their schools through three years of growth on California's Academic Performance Index (API). This study used multiple regression to investigate how a sample of 379 teachers rate their principals as instructional leaders. Qualitative computer analysis was used to analyze how the principals in this sample self-report their instructional leadership behaviors and how they help their teachers mediate the pressures of the present accountability era.; The most significant findings were that these instructional leaders facilitate the creation of goals, employ ways to communicate these goals, and find ways to directly tie the school goals to state standards. These principals identify data usage as a way to help teachers understand the importance of accountability and standards implementation. This study has clearly identified the instructional leadership behaviors of current principals who have sustained student achievement at their schools.; The concepts of instructional leadership and accountability will continue to be vitally important in education and it is the hope of this researcher that this study has made these concepts clearer, more closely connected, and more doable. Both new and seasoned administrators will benefit from having a clear vision of what it truly means to be an instructional leader. |
