This blog post is based on the book Now We’re Talking! 21 Days to High-Performance Instructional Leadership.

School leaders belong in classrooms on a regular basis. As I’ve promoted this belief around the country and online, I’ve rarely encountered anyone who believes otherwise.

Most administrators complete the formal teacher evaluations that are required by law or school policy, and most administrators seem to believe they get into classrooms informally on a fairly frequent basis.

I certainly thought I was in classrooms all the time. I believed, as a K–5 principal in Seattle Public Schools, that I spent a great deal of time in classrooms, supporting teachers and keeping my eyes open to information that would make me a more effective leader. But then I decided to collect data on my own practice—and I was stunned. Read more