WHAT IS INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP?
School principals today must possess and demonstrate an increasingly complex and diverse set of technical and adaptive leadership skills. In the late 1980s, the term “instructional leader” first emerged from the national education reform movement. The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 firmly shifted the primary role of school principal from more managerial functions and behaviors toward school improvement, instructional leadership, and supervision (Goodwin, Cunningham, & Eagle, 2005). Effective principals today recognize the complicated dynamics of school organizations and work deliberately in ways that promote innovative and healthy learning environments that positively impact school performance (Hoy, 2012).