Implementation of a Districtwide Policy to Improve Principals’ Instructional Leadership

Abstract

This study examines principals’ experiences implementing Skillful Observation and Coaching Laboratory (SOCL), a program designed to help principals become effective instructional leaders. Guided by Karl Weick’s notion of sensemaking, this study sought to identify the components of SOCL that were implemented with fidelity and discover the factors that facilitated or impeded implementation of SOCL. Data for this multiple case study were drawn from interviews with principals, observations of principals coaching teachers, and internal documents. The results showed that content knowledge, preexisting knowledge, structural conditions, social interactions, meaningfulness, identity as an instructional leader, and positive feelings influenced principals’ implementation of SOCL.