Lever 5
Instructional Leadership and Capacity Building
Lever 5: Instructional Leadership and Capacity Building
Systems are established to enable instructional leadership development and capacity building for instructional leaders and teachers, including
planning, internalization, and effective delivery of instruction. The district ensures foundational practices support data-driven instruction and
assessment reflection benefiting all learners.
Board of Trustees Commitments:
Board commitments describe what the governance teams do to ensure that local education agency systems are set up for success. These commitments are under review and will be available soon.
5 . 1
Instructional Leadership and Development Enabling Conditions
Establish expectations and foundational systems for instructional leadership and development
5.1.1: Expectations for Job-Embedded Coaching and Capacity Building – District communicates a clear vision for high quality and ongoing, job-embedded coaching and development inclusive of instructional leadership roles. +
Success Criteria
District sets expectations for ongoing professional development of teachers aligned to research-based best practices for delivering a strong classroom experience.
District communicates a clear vision and expectations for job-embedded coaching that aligns to research.
District supports campus in defining clear responsibilities for instructional leadership roles.
District communicates a clear vision for high quality and ongoing, job-embedded coaching and development “for all teachers” and instructional leadership roles.
5.1.2: Distributed Leadership – District sets expectations and a system for monitoring shared ownership of teacher coaching and development structures with school and district leaders and coaches, creating systems for distributing support assignments, calibration, prioritization of teachers to support. +
Success Criteria
District establishes a process for the distribution of campus leadership support roles using evidence-based data and rationale.
District supports campuses in identifying specific grade levels and content teams for targeted coaching on effective instructional practices.
District leaders support campus principals in observing instructional leadership staff regularly to provide support and feedback.
Principal supervisors conduct regular observations of principals and provide feedback to support leadership development.
Instructional leadership team meetings occur regularly to review and analyze data related to coaching and instructional capacity building.
5.1.3: Yearlong Development and Coaching Plan – District develops a yearlong plan for professional development and ongoing coaching with targeted approaches for each critical role, aligned to the envisioned student experience. +
Success Criteria
District establishes a yearlong plan for developing instructional leaders’ capacity to support staff, including:
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- Role-aligned support that is effectively sequenced, considering at a minimum principal supervisors, instructional leaders, and teachers
- Integrated coaching best practices including the use of models/exemplars, integration of research-based practices and frameworks, and connection to ongoing job-embedded coaching
- A logical and supportive sequence that builds content and practice over the course of the year
5 . 2
Instructional Planning and Delivery
Establish role-aligned job-embedded capacity building supports for instructional leaders and teachers to internalize, prepare for, and deliver instruction in a strong classroom environment
5.2.1: Culture and Routine Systems Training – District provides training to ensure teachers and instructional leaders have a role-aligned understanding of culture routines and behavior supports, and practice opportunities for delivery (supportive of 3.1). +
Success Criteria
District provides training and resources to campus leaders and staff throughout the year for culture and behavior management best practices aligned to district expectations.
District provides support for campus leaders to establish and monitor campus culture routines.
District provides ongoing guidance and job embedded professional development on best practices for sustaining inclusive classrooms and campuses.
5.2.2: Curriculum-based Professional Learning – District provides training to ensure teachers, instructional leaders, and coaches have a role-aligned understanding of how to effectively implement or support the implementation of the curriculum. +
Success Criteria
District provides professional learning for all teachers and instructional support staff on adopted high-quality instructional materials, ensuring role-aligned understanding of:
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- Research Based Instructional Strategies
- Product design and approach
- Material component parts and purpose
- Digital print access options
- Instructional planning and internalization approach
- Supporting implementation resources
- Assessment strategy
District provides professional learning on curriculum implementation for all teachers when new materials are adopted/implemented, as well as provides targeted and aligned training resources to be delivered throughout the year.
District provides exemplar/model resources to support understanding what high-fidelity implementation and curriculum use looks like (videos, artifacts, etc.).
District has a plan to continue to provide professional learning throughout implementation phases, including onboarding new teachers each year and throughout the year.
5.2.3: Instructional Delivery Training – District provides training to ensure teachers, instructional leaders, and coaches have a role-aligned understanding of executing strong instruction, inclusive of content-aligned classroom management, intervention, additional and personalized learning time, and special populations support (supportive of 4.1). +
Success Criteria
District has established clear criteria for Tier 1 instructional delivery expectations across all campuses that include high-leverage practices in any grade level/content area (ex: scaffolded questioning and wait time to push cognitive load to students, independent practice time, student-student discussion opportunities, an expectation of direct evidence use, monitoring and immediate feedback on student work, etc.) as well as content-specific best practices outlined in every content area represented across divisions.
District training on instructional delivery practices is differentiated by role and occurs on a regular cadence throughout the year.
District training and ongoing coaching resources/support lead campus leaders and staff to effectively plan instructional supports for students with specialized goals and learning plans (504, IEP, Emergent Bilingual).
District provides resources (e.g., time) and training to support staff to engage in collaborative teaching practices (in-class support, co-teaching, and professional learning communities) to support the development of all students, especially students with disabilities.
5.2.4: Instructional Planning Supports – District delivers ongoing job-embedded supports and calibration for instructional leaders and coaches to effectively support teachers to effectively use individual planning time and/or facilitate PLCs to support internalizing curriculum for students (inclusive of differentiation). +
Success Criteria
District outlines clear, consistent expectations for teacher coaching/planning support weekly (structures, delivery/coaching owners, outcomes).
District outlines clear expectations for strong internalization aligned with high-quality instructional material.
District provides written guidelines for PLC meetings (membership by grade and/or content team, frequency, length, sample agenda) to ensure all campuses conduct regular and effective PLC meetings.
District provides time for campus leadership to receive additional training/calibration on PLC practices.
5.2.5: Observation and Feedback – District delivers ongoing job-embedded supports and calibration for instructional leaders and coaches to implement cycles of observation and feedback aligned to high-quality instructional material delivery and strong instructional delivery practices, leveraging action step trackers to provide clarity and track progress over time. +
Success Criteria
District provides all campuses with a central observation tool that aligns with high-quality instructional material and delivery expectations, as well as research-based strategies for a productive learning environment.
District provides all campuses with a central observation tool that clearly outlines high-leverage instructional practices (student culture routines, behavior management/student engagement, rigor and instructional execution strategies, and response to student data – e.g., monitoring, feedback).
District has set clear observation and feedback frequency targets for all direct reports of instructional leadership roles (both for informal/coaching observations and formal observations tied to evaluations).
District provides instructional leaders with a centralized system for tracking and completing teacher action steps from observations and ensures they regularly input this data for analysis, using it to target training for instructional leaders based on observation and feedback data.
District training provides dedicated opportunities for campus leaders to calibrate on observational ratings.
5 . 3
Data-Driven Instruction, Assessment Reflection, and Targeted Supports
Establish expectations and foundational systems that support utilizing data to support all learners
5.3.1: Data-driven Instruction with Curriculum-embedded Assessments – District delivers ongoing job-embedded supports and calibration for instructional leaders and coaches to support teachers in reviewing student work to identify, practice, and plan necessary supports. +
Success Criteria
District provides instructional leaders training and calibration opportunities on a central student work analysis protocol, ideally aligned to curriculum-embedded assessments.
District protocol requires leaders and teachers to review performance by assessed standards, discuss student misconceptions, analyze student work samples, plan meaningful review, and if necessary, determine the appropriate adjustments to make to upcoming instruction, both short-term (the next 1-2 lessons) and long-term (later in the unit or future units).
5.3.2: Diagnostic and Interim Assessment Reflection and Use Protocols – District supports reflection on diagnostic and interim assessment in a manner aligned to strong Tier 1 high-quality instructional material implementation. +
Success Criteria
District provides protocols and role-aligned training to principal supervisors, instructional leaders, and teachers for the use of and reflection on diagnostic and interim assessment data and next steps in a manner aligned to implementation of Tier 1 high-quality instructional material.
5.3.3: Coherent Placement, Student Support, and Interventions Strategy – District provides training and ongoing support for data-driven student placement, interventions and other targeted support, family engagement, and frequent monitoring. +
Success Criteria
District provides ongoing training and coaching on student support, including:
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- Orientation to how to use data to position students to receive a variety of additional supports including: tutoring, just-in-time interventions within Tier 1, and Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions
- Training and observation / feedback for executing research-based best practices for student support and targeting interventions
- Training on providing frequent monitoring
- For students receiving interventions, requirements and approaches for communicating with families
District establishes clear systems for frequent monitoring.
5.3.4: Collaboration across Staff to Effectively Support Students with Disabilities – District establishes systems for collaboration among Special Education, Counseling & General Education staff, including clear roles and responsibilities for shared accountability and how to implement Univeral Design Learning (UDL) best practices. +
Success Criteria
District provides dedicated time for collaboration across departments or at least provides clear expectations for collaboration structures between general education teachers and special education staff and counseling team members on each campus and across all campuses.
District ensures that collaboration time includes considering evidence-based inclusion strategies and using universal design for learning (UDL) to support students and effective IEP implementation.
District provides dedicated time within campus master schedule/PLC scope/district training calendar (for cross-campus collaboration and planning).
District provides training for leaders on inclusive practices and best practices for special populations.
5.3.5: Collaboration across Staff to Effectively Support Emergent Bilingual Students – District establishes systems for collaboration among Emergent Bilingual & other teaching staff, including clear roles and responsibilities for shared accountability and how to implement content-based language instruction (CBLI) best practices. +
Success Criteria
District provides dedicated time for collaboration across departments or, at a minimum, sets clear expectations for collaboration between general education teachers and emergent bilingual staff on each campus and across all campuses.
District ensures that collaboration time includes discussing research-based inclusion strategies and using CBLI to support students.
District provides dedicated time within campus master schedule/PLC scope/district training calendar (for cross-campus collaboration and planning).
District provides training for leaders on content-based language instruction best practices.