Administrators' Capacity for Supporting Reform-Oriented Science Instruction: An Urban School District Case Study

Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://www.wiley.com/en-us

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31

Instructional Leadership; Capacity Building; Science Instruction; Leadership Role; Secondary Schools; Administrator Attitudes; Teacher Student Relationship; Expectation; Teacher Administrator Relationship; Evidence Based Practice

10.1002/sce.21803

0036-8326
1098-237X

Secondary school administrators play a vital role as instructional leaders, but little is known about their knowledge of science practices and perceptions of strategies for supporting reform-oriented science instruction. This multiphase, mixed-methods Q-Methodology study explored administrators' perceptions of instructional leadership and, in particular, high-quality science instruction. After a concourse of 40 items was developed through a review of literature and an expert panel, n = 22 administrators from one urban school district completed a Q-sort and a post-sort questionnaire in which they commented on a lesson excerpt. Principal components analysis with varimax rotation was used to assimilate the participants into three factors or groups explaining 40% of the variance. A subsample (n = 14) of administrators then participated in focus groups to engage in collective sensemaking. Although administrators consistently valued positive teacher-student relationships and had high expectations for all students over other managerial duties, perceptions of how to support teachers and their ability to detect evidence-based science pedagogy (NGSS), differed. Administrators with a science background or more experience as an administrator were more familiar with some of the evidence-based instructional strategies for science included in the sample lesson. Administrators without such a background tended to emphasize general pedagogical techniques. We discuss implications for the development of school leaders with varying disciplinary backgrounds as one component of building districts' capacity for high-quality science instruction.

As Provided

2023

EJ1386727