Disabling conditions: Investigating instructional leadership teams in action

This study investigated why and how principals selected members for their instructional leadership team (ILT) and how this selection criteria and process may have impacted team members’ understandings of, and behaviors on, the team. Qualitative methods, specifically interviews and observations, were used to explore team members’ perceptions regarding the team’s purpose, function, and selection criteria as well as how these perceptions seemed to impact team members’ behaviors. Data were collected for a period of 8 months during the 2011–2012 school year from ILT in four, in-district charter schools. Results suggest that principals had difficulty articulating their teams’ purposes and functions, with the latter remaining primarily informational or consultative; members were not given decision-making authority. Additionally, when selecting team members, principals prioritized broad representation of teacher groups over other criteria. This focus on role representation above expertise, coupled with teachers’ tendencies to embrace traditional professional norms, limited ILT members’ abilities to effectively work together to lead instructional reform.