Developing Principals’ Instructional Leadership: Systems of Support in Two Math in Common Districts

The five-year Math in Common (MiC) initiative supports a formal network of 10 California school districts as they implement the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics (CCSS‑M) across grades K–8.

Many MiC districts are shifting the ways they provide teacher professional development, with teacher learning less frequently offered at central district locations and more frequently provided at the school site, so teachers can better connect their learning to their own daily classroom practice.

Effective site-based learning for math teachers requires strong site-level mathematics instructional leadership. Accordingly, districts must invest as deeply in principals’ learning around the mathematics standards as they do in teachers’ learning. In order to support meaningful change, principals need to prioritize mathematics at their sites and understand what changes teachers are being asked to make to align their instruction with CCSS-M.

This report explores the ways districts are moving to systematically support principals. The report:

• Presents two case studies describing the districts’ contexts and an overview of the principal professional development opportunities provided in each district, including principals’ reactions to these opportunities
• Highlights the common features of these districts’ principal professional learning programs that appear to matter most for building administrators’ instructional leadership capacity specifically in math

Download Other MiC Reports

• Under Construction: Benchmark Assessments and Common Core Math Implementation in Grades K–8
• Classroom Observations: Documenting Shifts in Instruction for Districtwide Improvement
• Taking Stock of Common Core Math Implementation: Supporting Teachers to Shift Instruction – Insights from the Math in Common 2015 Baseline Survey of Teachers and Administrators
• Many Pathways to Student Success in Mathematics: Middle and High School Math Course Sequences and Placement Decisions in the Math in Common Districts
• Bringing the Common Core State Standards to Life Through Site-Located Teacher Learning Structures
• Principals as Instructional Leaders: Harnessing Teacher and Administrator Perceptions from the 2016 Math in Common Annual Surveys
• Three Structures in the Garden Grove Unified School District That Support Implementation of the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics
• Instructional Materials: Who Makes the Choice? Findings from the Annual Survey on Implementing the Common Core State Standards in Mathematics
• Professional Learning Community Facilitators’ Guide to Discussion of “English Language Learners and the New Standards: Developing Language, Content Knowledge, and Analytical Practices in the Classroom”