Instructional Leadership: A Concept Re‐Examined

Abstract

The concept of instructional leadership has been frequently discussed but rarely subjected to any rigorous analysis. In this paper four current views of instructional leadership—those of the principal as evaluator, helper, Integrator and designer—are examined and the assumptions about human nature, skills, and knowledge underlying each of these views are identified. Following a critique of these assumptions, the author describes a “principal‐as‐experimenter” role which he maintains is a viable notion of instructional leadership given the present state of knowledge and the organizational necessity for informed decision‐making.