The purpose of this collective case study was to develop an understanding of why California K12 public school administrators distribute instructional leadership responsibilities to either
instructional coaches or teacher librarians and how the two roles compare within the context of
the implementation of the California Common Core State Standards in ELA/Literacy. The study
addressed the following research questions: Why do administrators select instructional
coaches/teacher librarians to help them provide instructional leadership? How do administrators
and instructional coaches/teacher librarians work together to provide professional learning within
daily instructional practice? How do administrators evaluate the effectiveness of the
instructional coaches’/teacher librarians’ instructional leadership roles? Participants were district
administrators who oversee the population, site administrators who directly supervise site-based
instructional coaches or teacher librarians, and the corresponding instructional coaches and
teacher librarians. Data were collected from multiple sources, including documents, interviews,
observations, and focus groups with participants. Within-case and cross-case analyses were
conducted to develop a naturalistic generalization of what was learned about how the coach and
teacher librarian contributed to instructional leadership. Results demonstrated that administrators’
personal values influence their decisions to select and utilize instructional coaches or teacher
librarians to provide instructional leadership. Instructional coaches are considered to be extensions
of administrators as instructional leaders in ELA while teacher librarians are considered to be
resources that can be called upon to provide occasional instructional support in ELA.
- Subject:
- English Language Arts
- Library and Information Science
- Material Type:
- Primary Source
- Author:
- Melanie A. Lewis
- Date Added:
- 06/14/2019