Chapter 10: How an Assistant Principals’ Academy Evolved Into Dynamic Group and Peer Mentoring Experiences

Recently, school leadership experts have begun to focus on instructional leadership skills as essential to the success of school principals in the 21st century (Fusarelli, Militello, Alsbury, Price, & Warren, 2010; Nettles & Herrington, 2007; Schoen & Fusarelli, 2008). Accountability policies are requiring more comprehensive systems of principal and teacher evaluation and are raising expectations in terms of standards of instructional performance and student achievement (Leithwood, 2001). This evolution in policy has transformed instructional leadership from an option into a necessity for school administrators (Silva, White, & Yoshida, 2011).

Researchers affirm that sustainable school improvement is rarely accomplished without skillful instructional leadership from principals (Hallinger, 2011; Hallinger & Heck, 2010; Leithwood, Harris, & Hopkins, 2008) and that instructional leadership must be firmly entrenched into the professional practice of today’s school leaders (Hallinger, 2011; Hallinger & Murphy, 2013; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005; Robinson, Lloyd, & Rowe, 2008; Witziers, Bosker, & Kruger, 2003).