SLLA Instructional Leadership for Learning 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A school leader is planning professional development for the year. Which approach is MOST likely to result in changes to classroom practice?
- A full-day workshop delivered by an outside expert at the start of the year
- Ongoing, job-embedded professional learning connected to teachers' actual instructional challenges (Correct answer)
- Reading assignments from current educational research distributed monthly
- Annual attendance at a state education conference
Correct answer: Ongoing, job-embedded professional learning connected to teachers' actual instructional challenges
Job-embedded professional learning that is sustained, specific, and connected to real classroom challenges is most effective at changing instructional practice.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST illustrates the use of leading indicators in instructional leadership?
- Reviewing graduation rates to assess the effectiveness of instruction
- Monitoring student attendance and engagement data to predict and prevent future learning gaps (Correct answer)
- Using end-of-year test scores to evaluate teacher performance
- Reporting annual AYP results to the school board
Correct answer: Monitoring student attendance and engagement data to predict and prevent future learning gaps
Leading indicators like attendance and engagement provide early warning signals that allow leaders to intervene before gaps become entrenched.
Question 3: A school leader wants all teachers to use student discourse as a core instructional practice. What is the MOST effective way to build this schoolwide?
- Mandate that teachers include student discussion in every lesson plan submitted
- Model discussion strategies in faculty meetings, provide classroom resources, and conduct focused learning walks for evidence of student talk (Correct answer)
- Penalize teachers during evaluations if student discourse is not observed
- Purchase a discussion protocol curriculum and require teachers to follow it verbatim
Correct answer: Model discussion strategies in faculty meetings, provide classroom resources, and conduct focused learning walks for evidence of student talk
Modeling the desired practice, providing resources, and using data from learning walks creates a coherent and supportive system for building schoolwide instructional norms.
Question 4: A principal notices that the school's gifted students are consistently earning high grades but showing little growth on benchmark assessments. What does this pattern MOST likely indicate?
- The benchmark assessments are too difficult for any student to show growth
- Students are not being sufficiently challenged and may be coasting below their potential (Correct answer)
- Gifted students naturally plateau after reaching a certain level
- Teachers are grading too generously relative to actual skill levels
Correct answer: Students are not being sufficiently challenged and may be coasting below their potential
High grades with minimal growth often signal that gifted students need more rigorous, appropriately challenging instruction to continue progressing.
Question 5: Which of the following BEST describes backward design as an instructional planning approach?
- Planning instruction starting with the textbook chapters and working forward to create assessments
- Beginning with desired learning outcomes and assessments, then designing instruction to achieve those goals (Correct answer)
- Reviewing prior year data before planning the current year's instruction
- Having students design their own learning goals at the start of each unit
Correct answer: Beginning with desired learning outcomes and assessments, then designing instruction to achieve those goals
Backward design, developed by Wiggins and McTighe, starts with the end goals and evidence of learning before determining the instructional activities.
Question 6: A school leader is reviewing teacher-created assessments and notices that most questions test only recall. What is the MOST appropriate feedback to give teachers?
- Recall questions are appropriate for all grade levels and do not need revision
- Include questions that require students to analyze, evaluate, and apply knowledge in alignment with the cognitive demand of the standards (Correct answer)
- Add more questions to each assessment to cover a broader range of content
- Replace all recall questions with open-ended essay questions
Correct answer: Include questions that require students to analyze, evaluate, and apply knowledge in alignment with the cognitive demand of the standards
Assessments must reflect the cognitive demand of the standards, requiring higher-order thinking when the standards call for it, not just recall.
Question 7: When a school-wide initiative to improve math instruction is not showing results after one semester, what should the instructional leader do FIRST?
- Abandon the initiative and select a new math program
- Collect and analyze implementation data to identify barriers and adjust the support strategy (Correct answer)
- Extend the initiative without changes for a full year before evaluating
- Identify and publicly recognize the teachers who are implementing the initiative well
Correct answer: Collect and analyze implementation data to identify barriers and adjust the support strategy
Before changing or abandoning an initiative, leaders must examine implementation quality and identify specific barriers that are preventing expected results.
SLLA Instructional Leadership for Learning 5
A school leader is planning professional development for the year.
Which approach is MOST likely to result in changes to classroom practice?