Creating a Quality Feedback System Between School Administrators and Teachers

After moving to a new school district as superintendent, I recognized early on that student achievement was low and intentional work needed to be done to bring about academic improvement. As the district leadership team began to explore causes and discuss possible solutions, we decided we needed to focus on changing the perception around instructional leadership. School administrators are much more likely to have mutual dialogue with their teachers when they assume the role of a coach rather than a superior. With open lines of communication, teachers and administrators are able to discuss ways to maximize learning time with students and design professional learning activities that are seen as more relevant. The purpose of this study was to create a quality feedback system between administrators and teachers. My problem of practice was to develop an instrument and a system for observing classrooms that would make it easier for administrators to provide quality feedback to teachers. District leaders and school principals worked collaboratively utilizing a PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) approach to create the instrument. After implementation, we used qualitative (interviews and surveys) and quantitative (observation records) to measure effectiveness and frequency of classroom visits. The results were positive as we noticed increased classroom visits as well as intentional professional learning being planned using the results collected with the instrument.