A journey in instructional leadership using the McRel Balanced Leadership Framework as a vehicle: A beginning principal's efforts to grow in her instructional leadership
The context for this study is my journey as a second-year principal using several tools of reflective practice in conjunction with the Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning (McRel) Balanced Leadership Framework to learn about myself as an instructional leader. The study which took place in a suburban district focused on narrowing the achievement differences among groups. In this district, all principals implemented the McRel Balanced Leadership Framework to enhance their instructional leadership capacity. I augmented this instrument and used other reflective tools in conjunction with the framework to think about my growth as an instructional leader. Using some of the major literature on instructional leadership from the last 30 years, I focused my definition of instructional leadership on three aspects of the McRel framework: affirmation, focus, and order. ^ The research chronicles my engagement in reflective practice to identify and deliberate on these three elements over a 7-month period. Specifically of interest is how teachers' perceptions and the use of journaling, focus groups, peer dialogues, and outside reflectors help to inform my decisions and plan for growth as an instructional leader. To that end, the overarching research question was: How does a principal's engagement in the use of the McRel Balanced Leadership 360 Profile affect principal growth as an instructional leader? Related questions included: Question #1: How does a second-year principal's use of the McRel Balanced Leadership 360 Profile act as a springboard for instructional change in tandem with tools of reflective practice? Question #2: How can a principal use tools of reflective practice to inform her decisions and plan for growth as an instructional leader? Question #3: How does a principal interpret teachers' perceptions of the principal, as informed by the McRel Balanced Leadership Framework and focus groups? ^
Education, Administration|Education, Elementary
"A journey in instructional leadership using the McRel Balanced Leadership Framework as a vehicle: A beginning principal's efforts to grow in her instructional leadership"
(January 1, 2006).
Dissertations available from ProQuest.