WHAT THIS MEANS FOR PRACTITIONERS

While the results of this study are inconsistent, researchers highlight the necessity of professional learning for leaders to increase technical, human, and social capital for successful districtwide and school reform. Professional learning in the study aligns with five of Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning (Learning Forward, 2011).

With an emphasis on shifting leaders’ routines to reinforce the overall initiative outcomes, the study spotlights the necessity for districtwide coordination and focus on high-priority outcomes and leverages leaders’ routine work to emphasize and expand their support (Leadership).

Through its emphasis on teaching and learning, instructional rounds develop learning communities among leaders to increase the frequency, extent, and nature of interactions so that they formed new communities of practice that increased access to knowledge and resources and built a common language and understanding of effective teaching and learning (Learning Communities). Such communities reflect shared goals and a culture of collective responsibility among all leaders, including those who had not previously been engaged in instructional reforms for the success of the districtwide initiative.

Focusing on a high-priority vehicle for student success, teaching and learning and the capacity to support it, this study adheres to the Outcomes standard. The districtwide reforms aligned teaching and learning with administrators’ capacity with role expectations and student success. Using instructional rounds as the learning design, the study builds coherence with past professional learning (Outcomes) and uses a design that models salient practices in authentic situations over time (Learning Designs). In addition, using a learning design such as instructional standards reinforces the necessity of alignment and coherence. The study provides data to examine the effects of the new routines on administrator practice (Data), yet fails to provide data on impact on student learning or the quality of teaching and learning.

The study emphasizes that changing educator practice through communities of practice is a necessary, yet insufficient means to support the successful implementation of districtwide reforms.

Reference

Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.