Failure of a Principal Professional Development Program Focused on Instructional Leadership

Principals can play a key role in improving instruction and student achievement. The Institute of Education Sciences  conducted a random assignment study of a professional development program for elementary school principals to support  state and local efforts to improve school leadership. The program focused on helping principals conduct structured  observations of teachers’ classroom instruction and provide targeted feedback. It provided nearly 200 hours of professional  development over two years, half of it through individualized coaching.

Key findings include: • Despite substantially increasing the amount of professional development principals received, the program did not affect  student achievement or most teacher or school outcomes.  For example, the professional development did not affect  school climate or principal retention.   • The program  did not have the intend ed  effects on principal practices that it targeted, which may explain its lack of  effects on key student, teacher, and school outcomes.  For example, it decreased the frequency of instructional support  and feedback teachers received from principals, and it did not affect the number of teacher observations principals  conducted or the usefulness of the feedback as reported by teachers .  
 The study’s principal professional development program was intended to improve principals’ practices in ways that would  boost teacher effectiveness and school climate and, in turn, student achievement  (Figure 1). It aimed to deliver a total of  188 hours of professional development over two years , including: • An in- person summer institute to introduce all the principals participating in the program to CEL’s approach to  instructional leadership (28 hours in the first year only); • In-perso n group trainings in each district during the school year to provide principals with hands -on experience  observing teachers and opportunities to discuss approaches to providing feedback to teachers (54 hours in the first  year only); • Quarterly virtual profe ssional learning community sessions for principals to meet with other principals and CEL  coaches outside their district to discuss issues they were facing in their schools (6 hours in the first year only); and  • Individualized coaching (both in- person and v irtual) where principals worked with their CEL coach to identify areas of  focus, set specific goals for those areas, implement strategies to address those goals, and analyze the effects of those  strategies (100 hours total; 50 hours in each of the two year s of the program).  Figure 1. How the professional development for principals was intended to affect student achievement The  program  was intended to supplement, rather than replace, any professional development that the district already  provided  to principals, although none of the districts offered principals intensive professional development .  At the start of  the study, coaches coordinated with districts to learn about any district- provided  principal professional development and  strategize about  how  their training and coaching could complement what di stricts were already doing. To connect their  work with district priorities, coaches  tried to use language that aligned with district and state standards  and,  where  applicable , with the  district s’ fra mework for conducting teacher observations. In addition, coaches kept district staff and  principals’ supervisors informed about the program schedule and content. District staff did not help  develop or deliver the  program.  Note:  School climate is the extent to which students and teachers experience a safe, supportive environment with strong expectation s  for student and staff performance. Principal and teacher retention is the extent to which principals and teachers stay in the ir j obs  for subsequent school years.  

 

THE STUDY’S PRINCIPAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM DID NOT AFFECT  STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT OR MOST SCHOOL OR TEACHER OUTCOMES MEASURED BY THE  STUDY 

The program’s ultimate goal was to improve student achievement. To do so, it first aimed to improve principals’ practices ,  which in turn could affect school and teacher outcomes, including school climate  and principal and teacher retention. The  study examined the programs’ effects on these outcomes to learn about how well it worked in the study’s districts and  schools.  

 The professional development program did not affect student achievement during the two years of the program’s  implementation or in the following year. 

The professional development program generally did not affect school climate or principal and teacher retention.