As my colleague Jason Stricker discussed in his blog post 3 Keys to Building Strong Instructional Leadership Teams, an ILT is a lever that drives success for your school’s most important improvement initiatives. The team is generally made up of administrators, mentor teachers, and teacher leaders who work collaboratively to execute on key goals.
In Shaping School Culture by Deal & Petersen, the authors make the case that “schools that value collegiality and shared responsibility for solving problems offer a better opportunity for the exchange of ideas and the enhancement and spread of effective practices.”
In addition, the ILT structure is key to not only executing on important improvement initiatives, but to ensuring that the impact of its work leads to a positive school climate and culture.
How ILTs Are Bringing Change
It’s been exciting to hear how, in just a few short months after the in-person ILT boot camp, schools across the country (and now in the Middle East!) are realizing the power of ILTs to focus on the priorities that matter most. Here’s what we’ve been hearing from the field:
Potential Pitfalls
To ensure your ILT is successful in its work, here a few potential pitfalls to avoid as you implement your team.
Pitfall #1: Failure to select the right team.
The first and most common pitfall we see is the selection of the team. There are two main ways we see this pitfall in action:
1) The process for including those non-administrative roles (i.e. teachers) on the team is not open, fair, and transparent. When other faculty members feel the process was predetermined, the credibility of the entire Instructional Leadership Team will suffer.
2) The criteria for selection to the ILT is not aligned to the team’s roles and responsibilities. For example, we often see principals add a teacher to the team based on longevity instead of exemplary instruction, coaching adults, or effectiveness at leading professional development.
This pitfall is so critical because if the team does not have the right people, the other pitfalls are almost inevitable.
Pitfall #2: Failure to follow a consistent agenda format and process.
The work of school improvement involves many moving pieces. The ILT is the critical lever in managing those pieces and keeping a laser-like focus on the goals, adjusting methods to achieve them, and consistently analyzing data.
Successful ILTs also work as a cohesive team to maximize results in the building. A key aspect of this discipline is to use meeting time to proactively and efficiently work through issues that impede progress. Here are a few best practices to do this:
Pitfall #3: Allowing a few members to dominate the team’s decisions.
When considering the composition of your ILT, in addition to the principal, assistant principal/dean of students, and instructional coach(es), ensure that you are selecting teachers representing a variety of grade levels and content areas.
The premise of distributive leadership is that schools employ the strengths of each team member in order to maximize the impact of the collective ILT while simultaneously allowing for the growth of each individual team member.
It’s important to keep in mind that members of the ILT serve as both the visionaries and the integrators of the important instructional work in the building. (See this blog post for more details.)
Pitfall #4: Discussing non-instructional items.
One of the reasons we specifically call this team the “Instructional” Leadership Team is to highlight their singular focus. While there are many administrative matters for schools to address, those items should not be included in this meeting. Building leaders should have at least one hour per week to focus solely on instruction.
Our ILT training often includes making one member of the team responsible for ensuring that the group adheres to the norms established—and this includes pointing out any non-instructional rocks, issues, or conversations.
Pitfall #5: Failing to regularly update your broader staff about the ILT’s function, goals, and progress.
Clear and timely communication through a variety of channels is key to executing on change in your building, including getting buy-in from your staff on key initiatives and creating a positive climate and culture.
Look for formal opportunities, such as staff meetings and weekly emails, to inform staff. Look also for informal opportunities, such as hallway conversations and bringing connections into PLC meetings and coaching sessions.
Opportunities for Reflection
As with any new system you’re putting into place, it’s important to take regular time to reflect—and in the case of the ILT, it’s important to do it as a group. Here are a few questions to get you started:
Lastly, keep in mind that it takes time for a structure like this to be fully optimized. Be patient and persistent in developing your ILT. As school leaders have been telling us, you won’t be disappointed with the wins you’ll experience.
This 95-page practical playbook is designed for ILTs to support their implementation of meaningful processes that can be used to effectively:
Additional Levers for Improvement
To learn more about more levers for improvement, including instructional coaching and professional learning communities, check out Insight's latest eBook.