The Changing Nature of Instructional Leadership in the 21st Century (Hc)

This third book in the Information Age book series International Research on School Leadership focuses onthe changing nature of instructional leadership in the 21st century. Our goal is to examine instructionalleadership from multiple educational and international perspectives. Unlike many leadership books that focuson conceptualizations and personal narratives the seven chapters provide empirical evidence of howinstructional leadership is evolving in the 21st century. From the effective schools research of the 1980s totoday's relentless calls for improved student performance attention has focused on the instructional leadership roles and responsibilities of schoolprincipals headteachers and educational system leaders. The emphasis on student performance has gone global as evidenced by highly-publicizedinternational studies such as the Trends in International Math and Science Studies (TIMSS) and the Program for International Student Assessment(PISA) comparing student achievement in different countries.These developments have had substantial effects on school leaders especially building-level principals and headteachers. Rather than being the onlyones overseeing school improvement aimed at increasing student learning many school administrators are distributing leadership responsibilities toother administrators and teachers on their campuses. To fully understand instructional leadership in the 21st century the book examines threeimportant dimensions of instructional leadership: (1) the current context for turning around low-performing schools increasing teacher effectivenessand providing equitable outcomes for all students (2) international perspectives of instructional leadership development particularly the value ofteacher coaching and leadership development for aspiring and practicing school leaders in a developing country and (3) the obstacles instructionalleaders confront as they deal with fiscal constraints political pressure diverse student populations and high-stakes standards-based reforms.