Isolation Is the Enemy of Improvement: Instructional Leadership to Support Standards-Based Practice

By: Kate Jamentz

If all students are to achieve to high standards, teachers must be prepared to work in new ways, from developing shared expectations for student performance to expanding their repertoire of strategies and skills. For their part, instructional leaders must understand the demands of standards-based instruction and foster the conditions that support it. This classic book by Kate Jamentz, of WestEd's Western Assessment Collaborative, is designed to assist principals and teacher leaders in this all-important effort.

In addition to articulating the specific teaching skills needed for standards-based instruction, the book presents two annotated classroom vignettes illustrating them. It then describes the types of learning experiences teachers need for acquiring or refining these skills and explains how instructional leaders can facilitate such opportunities. The book includes three tools for guiding instructional leaders and teachers as they focus on standards-driven lesson planning or reflect on the effectiveness of those lessons. It also includes an unannotated version of each classroom vignette, for use as an exercise to help participants internalize a vision of effective standards-based instruction.