The Role of Leadership Content Knowledge in the Provision of Effective Instructional Feedback

• In Event: 75.040 - Supervision and Instructional Leadership in the 21st Century

Abstract

Instructional leadership may be complicated when leaders and teachers do not share content area or grade level expertise. Work around leadership content knowledge suggests leaders can work to bridge this divide, but whether and how leaders build pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) remains largely unknown. The purpose of this study was to explore ways in which PCK facilitates or—in its absence, hinders—instructional leadership. N=31 teachers and school leaders were interviewed about experiences receiving or providing instructional feedback. Findings suggest leaders often recognize PCK limitations, but do not always align professional learning to address gaps: Even among well-intended actors, instructional leadership can vary within the same school, depending on the match (or mismatch) of leader-teacher content and/or grade level background.

Authors

• Jo Beth Jimerson, Texas Christian University

• Sarah Quebec Fuentes, Texas Christian University