Leadership to ignite learning

Not to brag, but my colleageus and I are often told how much people appreciate our particular brand of professional development. My Instructional Rounds network members routinely claim their experiences to be the most powerful of their careers. My peers hear the same from our College Prepared Project participants, be they veteran teachers, central office administrators, or building leaders. Why is that? What makes professional development consistently effective? Although one might claim to be entertaining and possess great charisma, in reality professional developers are all quite different in presentation styles and the content in which educators need support educators need support varies widely. There are some common elements of effective practice, though, that highlight my beliefs about...

They’re the newest thing out of Harvard: Instructional Rounds. But aren’t they just walkthroughs repackaged?

I think not. After years of working with those responsible for developing the instructional rounds protocol and facilitating a number of iterations across the country, I can say unequivocally that walkthroughs and rounds are not the same, nor should they be. Both procedures are designed to spark improvements in student learning and they can easily supplement one another, but it’s important to be clear on why either is a good use of time.

To start with, walkthroughs require application of one’s expertise. Generally conducted by an administrator, they’re often used as an implementation audit, checking teacher behaviors against a predetermined list of expected best practices. Many s...