DQ # Educational Leadership

Chapter 3 Questions

1.    The building of trust is a major theme in this chapter.  Educators must trust the data, and administrators must trust that their educators are able to use the data effectively.  Give an example of one factor that could serve as a hindrance to building that trust.

2.    A “culture of mutual accountability” needs to exist among teachers, principals, and district personnel if data is to be used successfully to improve education.  How do you think each of these three constituencies is accountable to the other two?

Chapter 4 Questions

3.    Figure 4.1 (page 75 of the text) illustrates the cycle of instructional improvement.  Which step in the cycle do you think serves as a bottleneck to slow down the entire instructional improvement process?

4.    The administration of regular benchmark assessments is one tool schools can use to gauge instructional improvement.  Some schools couple these assessments with pacing plans to ensure the material is being taught at an appropriate pace.  How can school administration balance a pacing plan with teacher autonomy?