Time to support instruction: when this district decided that student achievement had to become its sole focus, school- and district-level roles were reconstructed to free up time for administrators to be instructional leaders.

With No Child Left Behind and other requirements for accountability within the public education system, school principals at all levels, now more than ever, must step into classrooms and provide the support, guidance and feedback necessary to ensure quality teaching and enhanced student achievement. Members of the administrative team at every school must become instructional leaders and create systems that promote and monitor student progress. How does this happen within a principal's already full school day? How does a principal get into classrooms and fulfill all of the other management responsibilities?

According to Richard DuFour, former principal of an award-winning high school, you must take a "can-do approach" if you want to create a results-oriented system. You must look at your current situation and ask questions such as: How am I managing my time? How can I better delegate responsibilities? Where can time be saved and where does it need to be added? DuFour says, "You must focus on the conditions that lie within your sphere of influence" (2004).

Under the leadership of superintendent Rebecca Presley, the Hartford Elementary School District decided that academics and student achievement had to become the sole priority of the district. Principals and assistant principals became instructional leaders in addition to their day-to-day management duties. Hartford Elementary wanted schools in which the principal was as likely to be found in the classroom working to improve instruction as in the office dealing with traditional administrative tasks. For this type of instructional leadership to evolve, a system was created that freed up blocks of time each day for administrators to be instructional leaders.

As Linda Lambert stated, "Time is essential to achieve anything of importance" (2003). In this spirit of making time for instruction, basic structural changes were made at every one of the eight elementary schools in the district.

First, the traditional school secretary's position was essentially eliminated and replaced by restructured positions. Each school was assigned a school operations officer, an attendance clerk and a student specialist. These members of the office staff were to take on specific decision-making tasks and responsibilities that had been within the realm of the principal and/or the assistant principal. The assistant principal's role was restructured to that of a learning director. With the increased office support, the principal and learning director now had time, and a clear mandate from the central office, to spend time in classrooms each day.

To assist the principal in running the school office and facilities, Hanford Elementary created the position of school operations officer. This position goes well beyond a traditional office manager in that the school operations officer is trained to make decisions regarding office procedures, facilities management, budgets, student transportation, food service and supervision of classified employees that do not require the approval of the principal.

Hanford Elementary knew that students must be in classrooms every school day in order to achieve. The attendance clerk is responsible for everything regarding student attendance, from morning phone calls to compiling data to informing the student specialist when a student has a pattern of not showing up for school so that the student specialist can make arrangements to meet with the parents.

Who takes care of discipline?

One question that often is raised asks, "If the principal and learning director are in the classroom or in meetings with teachers, who takes care of discipline?" The position of the student specialist was created to handle discipline and certain non-attendance issues. The student specialist supervises yard duty personnel and investigates behavior incidents and student discipline infractions.

Much of the time-consuming investigation of incidents, student/parent conferences, consequences and follow-up is handled completely by the student specialist. Only serious incidents, such as suspensions and expellable infractions, are immediately handed over to the principal. Often, a person with a counseling background is contracted as the student specialist.

For the sake of effectiveness and efficiency, the attendance clerk and student specialist report to the school operations officer, who in turn reports to the principal. The kind of responsibility that this system places on office staff requires trusted individuals who are efficient and dedicated, and an office atmosphere that continually demonstrates a commitment to student achievement as its primary focus. Open and frank communication between the administrators and office staff is vital.

Everyone must understand that the school's primary mission is education and that logistical and administrative functions exist to support instruction. Empowering the office staff to take care of the day-to-day operations also benefits them by fostering a sense of belonging and responsibility within the educational process. When the staff knows that what they are doing plays an important role in improving instruction in the classroom, office productivity and efficiency increases.

With responsibilities spread over an office team, it is essential to have a communication system in place that keeps the principal informed without becoming a time burden. At Hanford Elementary, the principal and office staff have short daily meetings or briefings so that everyone is informed and aware of vital issues and policy changes. Questions, concerns and communications that do not require immediate action are handled by e-mail.

The principal is kept in the loop of the daily office activities by e-mail and streamlined reports. This allows the administrator to choose the time he or she responds to the daily communication. A school principal and/or the learning director must be available for emergencies, so Hanford Elementary administrators carry radios allowing office personnel to reach them quickly if they are in the classroom or elsewhere on school grounds. However, radios and all other communications to classrooms, including intercoms, are used only when absolutely necessary.

Does a highly trained and specialized office staff cost more? Of course it does, since there are more people in the office than the traditional school secretary plus a possible office assistant. However, Hanford Elementary realized the cost-benefit of spending a little more money on support so that true instructional leadership could take place.

References

DuFour, Richard (2004). "Leading edge: Are you looking out the window or in a mirror?" Journal of Staff Development, 25(3).

Lambert, Linda. (2003). Leadership capacity for lasting school improvement. Princeton, NJ: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

View from the school site: Road to instructional leadership worth traveling

by Silvia Duvall

I began nay administrative career in 1997 as an assistant principal at Hanford Elementary. My day-to-day job involved discipline, supervising yard supervisors, documenting categorical programs, monitoring intervention programs for at-risk students and dealing with everyday parent concerns. The only role I played in curriculum was the distribution of textbooks to teachers. Basically, I was the traditional assistant principal.

Focus changes to curriculum and instruction

Three years later, there was a change in the role of the assistant principal. The position took on a new focus--curriculum and instruction. The main focus of the assistant principal was no longer discipline, but instead, improvement of teaching and learning. The assistant principal evolved into a learning director whose purpose was to coach and assist teachers in the classroom.

In order to gain much-needed knowledge and credibility, all of the school principals and learning directors attended many hours of ongoing professional development dealing with the specific instructional strategies and educational goals the district was pursuing. In this way, when principals or learning directors entered a classroom, they truly could be instructional leaders and not just administrators sticking their heads in to take a quick measure of the classroom climate. They now had something to offer the teacher in terms of instruction and learning, and teachers realized that they were being held accountable for delivering the curriculum that was coached by their instructional leaders.

In 2002, I was named to the position of school principal. I knew that if my school was to improve, I had to be a strong instructional leader. I continued to attend professional development workshops, read dozens of professional texts and learned to coach teachers so that I could understand what their feelings and frustrations were, validate their efforts, guide and correct them when necessary and continue to push them to higher expectations.

Having the systems described above in place allowed me to be in the classroom roughly four hours a day each and every school day. Most mornings began with some classroom observations or with modeling of effective instructional strategies for teachers to observe and emulate. These observation and coaching sessions were always followed up with teacher conferences to clarify and discuss effective teaching. Teachers got used to me visiting their classrooms not as an evaluator but as a coach and mentor. The follow-up sessions proved to be a time for valuable collaboration and thoughtful discussions for both teacher and administrator.

Commitment well beyond the ordinary required

The increases in student achievement in every school in Hanford Elementary point to the effectiveness of this system as a means to support school leaders and teachers. It was not an easy change to make. It required a dedicated effort on the part of everyone, hours of professional development, and a commitment well beyond the ordinary. As I look back, it was a journey worth traveling. Come visit Hanford Elementary sometime, but don't plan on seeing the principal or learning director in the office!

Silvia Duvall is an administrator in Hanford Elementary School District. Donald Wise is a professor of education at California State University, Fresno.