Examining Instructional Leadership and Leadership Content Knowledge Through a Science of Learning Lens

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Examining Differentiated Instructional Leadership

Abstract

For some time, the emphasis on the impact of instructional leadership on student learning has gained increasing attention. Bringing greater specificity to this construct, Stein and Nelson (2003) offer leadership content knowledge as a means of sharpening instructional leaders’ learning focused lens. Nonetheless, beyond lists of leadership traits and general behaviors (Neumerski, 2013), we lack understanding of what this looks like in practice. Using Myran and Sutherland’s (2019) gestalt synthesis of the learning sciences and neo-managerial critique, I unpack these literatures and examine them to reveal the potential antecedents to the cross-pressures experienced by school leaders seeking to both manage and facilitate learning. Findings highlight an evolving focus on learning that is constrained by the norms and assumptions of neo-managerialism.

Author

• Steve P. Myran, Old Dominion University