Blas, J., and Blas, J. (1999).

Effective instructional leadership: Teachers perspectives

on how principals promote teaching and learning in schools. Journal of
Educational Administration, 38(2).130-141.

Blas and Blas, the author of this article, were from The University of Georgia, Athens,
Georgia, United States of America.
The principals role in the school is a complex one, a role that has many duties
and responsibilities. One role is being an instructional leader to help the teachers improve
their teaching (Datnow&Stringfield, 2000). Improved teaching will result in higher
student achievement.The principal, as leader, is a key in creating a school environment in
which instructional leadership can thrive.
In this paper, I summarize the article and offer comments about selected aspects,
identify some relevant changes that have occurred since the article was published, and
suggest areas where additional research findings would assist in understanding the
current state of effective instructional leadershipin regard to the issues raised.

Article Summary
Blas and blas began the article by providing the definitions and some literature review
of instructional leadership. This article aimed to examine teachers perspectives on
effective instructional leadership. The instrument used in this study was an open-ended
questionnaire the Inventory of Strategies Used by Principals to Influence Classroom
Teaching (ISUPICT). The characters of school principals were categorized into strategies,
behaviors, attitudes and goals. The purpose of this study was to examine the strategies
teachers identified with effective instructional leadership and their impacts
on teachers.
The conceptual framework that will guide this work is that of effective school
leadership or schools where principals guide effective teaching and learning.
The respondents involved 809 teachers. The respondents were required to provide
detailed descriptions with about 500 words of one characteristic of one characteristic of a
principal with whom they worked that had a positive impact on their classroom teaching,
and requested descriptions of one characteristic of a principal with whom they worked
that had a negativeimpact on their classroom teaching.
 The findings of the study by Blas and Blas showed that teachers build
repertoires of flexible alternatives and processes such as inquiry, reflection, exploration
and experimentation were effective for principals in the teaching and learning in the
classroom. A model of effective leadership was derived which consisted of the two
major themes. The first wastalking with teachers to promote reflection and
the second was promoting professional growth.
The first dimension of instructional leadership falls under the category of
enhancing teachers reflective behavior through effective communication. The finding
showed that effective principals valued dialog that encouraged teachers to critically
reflect on their learning and professional practice. This dialog consisted of five primary
talking strategies including making suggestions, giving feedback, modeling, using inquiry
and soliciting advice and opinions, and giving praise. Other interaction skills by
principals which encouraged teachers to promote reflective behaviors were such as
listening, sharing their experiences, using examples and demonstrations, giving teachers
choice, contradicting outdated or destructive policies, encouraging risk taking, offering
professional literature, recognizing teachers' strengths, and maintaining a focus on
improving instruction. Teachers responded as more in using greater variety in teaching,
responding to student diversity, planningmore carefully, and taking more risks when
teaching in the classroom.
Blas and Blas also found out that effective principals who gave feedback,
demonstrated teaching techniques in the classrooms and during conferences, used inquiry
and soliciting advice or opinions and gave praise were significantly affected teacher
motivation, reflective behaviors, self-esteem and efficacy.
Increasing teachers professional skills and abilities is usually accomplished
through the process of staff development.The second dimension of effective instructional
leadership among the principals was promoting professional growth. The six strategies to
promote teachers' professional growth were including emphasizing the study of teaching
and learning supporting collaboration efforts among educators; developing coaching
relationships among educators; encouraging and supporting redesign of programs;
applying the principles of adult learning, growth, and development to all phases of staff
development and implementing action research to inform instructional decision
making.The principal creates a school culture that does not limit teachers involvement,
but rather develops teachers skills and abilities, through reflection, collaboration, shared
leadership, and empowerment.
Blas and Blas also concluded that when a principal is an effective instructional
leader, he or she develops an environment that fosters a direct influence on the two
dimensions. In turn, the principals leadership creates a school environment based on
trust, collaboration, shared leadership, and empowerment. Staff development becomes
useful tool for teachers to use to work together to develop their abilities and skills
through collaboration. The end result is that teachers have the time and opportunity to
reflect, increase self-awareness, and improve teaching and professional growth. When the
principal establishes an environment in which the three elements are working
harmoniously and in balance, this creates a positive environment for improving students
achievement.
Blas and Blas suggested some ideas to the principals who attempt to develop
effective leaders. As a conclusion, principals may develop relationships with teachers.
Through these relationships, principals can create a school based on trust, collaboration,
and empowerment.
Comments
One major emphasis in the educational arena in the early 21st century has been the
continuing demand for greater accountability to increase student performance (Webster-
Wright, 2009). In order to meet the challenges associated with national and state
expectations, principals must focus on teaching and learning, especially in terms of
measurable student progress to a greater degree than before. Consequently, today's
principals concentrate on building a vision for their schools, sharing leadership with
teachers, and influencing schools to operate as learning communities. Accomplishing
these essential school improvement efforts requires gathering and assessing data to
determine needs, and monitoring instruction and curriculum to determine if the identified
needs are addressed.
Limitations of the study include that the primary researcher was also an assistant
principal at the school, which has the potential to skew teacher responses. In addition, the
study was a brief excerpts, which limits the actual results to a snapshot. In subsequent
research, the researcher may choose to have no affiliation with the schools in order to
further strengthen the research. Some of the limitations may restrict the broad
generalization of results; however, this research does provide valuable insights into
concepts that support effective leadership.
Although this study has used multiple strategies to eliminate alternative
interpretations of effective instructional leadership, estimated effects may be biased due
to selection. It is strongly urge future studies to randomly assign teachers into
professional development programs to examine the effects identified in this study. The
question of differential influences of professional development on various subgroups of
teachers needs to be further investigated. Moreover, the extent to which such professional
development would occur for teaching other subjects, such as teaching mathematics, also
needs to be further explored.
This study employed a single data source from teacher surveys. The researchers
established adequate reliability and predicative validity of these measures of teachers
perspectivesbut replications of this study should employ different data sources (e.g.,
video-taped instructional practices and detailed classroom observations) and different
measures of teacher expertise. Lastly, we acknowledge that potential measurement errors
in the dependent variables were left to the error term, which may be correlated with the
independent variables in the model, potentially biasing estimates. Measurement errors of
this sort that correlate with both dependent variables and independent variables can be
treated as another form of omitted confounding variables. While if measurement errors
were included in the independent variable of interest only, or the outcome only, this type
of measurement errors actually makes our inferences conservative. Nonetheless, future
studies could improve upon the measurement of teachers instructional practices or
features of professional development, or as suggested above, use multiple data sources.
It is noticed that the research have not empirically evaluated that such an
approach of implementing professional development in schools would promote student
achievement schoolwide. Thereby we strongly urge future studies to further examining
this recommendation.
 Conclusion
For this study, administrators utilized promote reflections and professional development
trainings as the teachers perspectives on how principals promote teaching and learning in
schools. Effective leadership according to DuFour and Marzano (2011) refers to leading
by example, and in this case, helping teachers feel more capable by having them become
more capable. During this study, teachers were given the opportunity to observe
administratorsteachers reported feeling stronger support from the administrative team
through more frequent observations and more opportunities to engage in professional
discussions as the team gathered direct feedback from teachers about their lessons.
According to teachers, administrators can be perceived as lacking in sound pedagogical
skills and understandings about the challenges involved in teaching. However, through
effective modeling and relationship and team-building between faculty and school
leadership, teachers felt supported and were able to view administrators as more capable,
trustworthy, and deserving of respect, which can help to counter the perception of the
classroom as a hostile environment. In conclusion, results of this study support the
concept of effective school leadership and the notion that effective leadership guides
teaching and learning through building positive collaborative relationships, and
demonstrating support for teachers as they implement new strategies in the classrooms.
Principals can lack credibility when evaluating teachers on pedagogical practices
diminishing the impact of instructional feedback. However, in an environment where
principals demonstrate efficacy in pedagogy and lead teachers in learning and adopting
effective strategies, teachers can be both motivated and energized to implement fresh
approaches to teaching.
References
Datnow, A., &Stringfield, S. (2000). Working together for reliable school reform.
Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 5(1, 2), 183-204.

DuFour, R., &Marzano, R. J. (2011). Leadership Is an Affair of the Heart. Leaders of

learning: how district, school, and classroom leaders improve student
achievement. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Webster-Wright, A. (2009). Reframing professional development through understanding

authentic professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 702-739.