Key to the success of a large-scale

Key to the success of a large-scale reform such as this, according to King, is the willingness of the principal to get involved hands-on. "If I had not been directly involved and become knowledgeable myself, we would not have gotten the results we did," said King. "I decided if I'm going to ask my teachers to do one more thing, I was going to be part of it. I attended all staff development meetings, attended DIBELS assessment team meetings, and devoted 45 minutes a day to walk-a-bouts.
It was a transformational thing for me," King added. "It transformed me from a manager to an instructional leader. I was there with them [teachers], spending much more time in classrooms learning how children learn."
Since everyone knew the kind of professional development on which they needed to focus, during his walks around the building, King made certain teachers were following the necessary professional development and allocating time to the required two-hour morning reading block. "I had my hand-held computer, which had the data for every kid in it," he said. "During the course of a week I visited 20 rooms and focused on making sure students were getting good instruction geared to what we needed. I also checked to see if teachers were using the basal series."
King said his daily behavior told teachers that this process was important. "Lo and behold, through all this I became very knowledgeable about reading," he added. "Teachers would approach me with questions about students with reading problems, and conversations with teachers became more curriculum-based and focused on what's best for kids."