All teachers come to schools with specific strengths, but they need additional supports to truly meet the diverse needs of their students. Effective principals know this and focus their instructional leadership on teacher growth rather than evaluation system compliance.
Helping teachers improve their practice can take many forms but one essential skill principals need to succeed is to know how to give teachers effective feedback. It's not enough to step into a classroom once a year for 45 minutes and offer feedback like, “Great lesson!” “Your students seemed engaged.” “Keep up the great instructional work.” Today’s principals carve out time for frequent classroom observation and need to learn how to provide meaningful feedback.