For many years, teachers have been involved in developing the national curricula in Finland in various ways. Teachers' involvement in curriculum design and implementation has, during the last national curriculum implementation process, increased locally to strengthen their confidence in and knowledge of the national curriculum's multifaceted…

The data in this brief come from the nationally representative 2011-12 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) Public and Private School Principal Data Files and the Public and Private School Data Files. Principals who participated in SASS provided information about the percentage of time spent on various tasks by answering the question: "On…

Basic to good leadership is a repertoire of management skills providing a productive climate in which teaching and learning are facilitated. The elementary principalship requires well-trained, intelligent individuals with the necessary human, conceptual, and technical skills to lead groups of professionals and students into rich educational…

Borrowing from Madeline Hunter, school districts should define staff development as school- or district-wide efforts to improve the quality of teacher decision-making. This article outlines a six-step process (including needs assessment, brainstorming, strategic plannning, communicating plans, coaching for effectiveness, and periodic monitoring)…

A questionnaire designed to identify problems encountered by novice principals was completed by 69 Montana principals completing their first or second year. Curriculum and instruction and professional personnel relations were identified as the most difficult areas. A significant discrepancy existed between actual time spent on instructional…

This synthesis of research findings translates investigations in instructional leadership into a working model for practitioners--principals, assistant principals, teachers, and others. Three kinds of research--theoretical, practical, and ethnographic--are used to develop a model based on six interrelated functions of instructional leadership,…

This paper presents one researcher's premise that the most important variable in determining classroom effectiveness is the congruence of the delivered curriculum with the desired outcomes or, that students be given the opportunity to learn what is expected of them. This theory presupposes that curriculum expectations be made clear to students,…

This report summarizes the proceedings of an Ohio Department of Education conference convened to describe, define, and develop activities that would provide a working model of the school principal as the instructional leader. First, the results of a pre-conference principals' needs assessment, which formed the basis for conference planning and…