Monitor and Evaluate the Impact of the Instructional Program

According to ISLLC Standard 2, effective leaders monitor and evaluate the impact of the instructional program. The No Child Left Behind Act and related policies have clearly increased the demand for instructional leaders who can do this. In order to monitor and fully evaluate specific instructional programs, leaders need to have a strong self-awareness, relationships with others, and a recognition of the interdependent nature of schools as complex social systems. In other words, today’s instructional leaders must be able to build capacity for deep democratic learning (Hackney & Henderson, this volume) and continuous improvement at all levels of the system. Planned school changes must address root causes of problems as these problems affect all aspects of the system (e.g. curriculum, instruction, decision-making processes, parent involvement). Evaluation occurring daily as part of everyday work can provide the basis for selfawareness, organizational learning, and continuous improvement of the system. Reflections, fieldwork, and cases help develop leaders who are able to monitor and evaluate the impact of their instructional programs as part of organizational learning and continuous improvement.