The Basic Guide to Supervision and Instructional Leadership (2nd ed.)

Citation

Kyle Ingle, W. (2009), "The Basic Guide to Supervision and Instructional Leadership (2nd ed.)", Journal of Educational Administration, Vol. 47 No. 2, pp. 267-269. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230910941084

The book, Basic Guide to Supervision and Instructional Leadership (2nd ed.) (Glickman et al., 2009), is the revised and abridged version of Glickman, Gordon, and Ross‐Gordon's text entitled, SuperVision and Instructional Leadership. While this version is briefer than the hardback edition, it remains true to its themes of improving school culture by providing differentiated developmental supervision based on teachers' individual motivation and expertise, teachers' guiding their own professional development, and collegial supervision between teachers and supervisors. The best feature of this abridged version is that it is considerably cheaper than the hardback while delivering the content more succinctly – a feature that students in tight economic times may certainly appreciate.

Glickman, Gordon, and Ross‐Gordon organize the text into six parts. Part One consists of the introductory chapter, which summarizes their approach to instructional supervision – one which proffers collegiality over hierarchy, teacher growth over teacher compliance, and reflective inquiry on the part of the teacher and supervisor. Their introductory chapter foreshadows the subsequent chapters that are organized around the prerequisite skills necessary for supervision, the tasks of supervision, and the outcomes of these efforts.

Part Two consists of chapters 2 through 5, which cover the first of three prerequisites of supervision – foundational knowledge of schools, teaching, and supervision. Chapter 2 briefly discusses the historical context that led to the current state of education in America. The authors rail against contextual features of the educational system such as inequity, the unstaged nature of teaching, the lack of dialogue about instruction, and teachers' lack of control over their own profession. Chapter 3 serves as a brief summary of the effective schools and school improvement literatures. The authors' review does not include research on teacher value‐added, statistical approaches utilizing student achievement data that seek to address inadequate measures of school effectiveness such as average test gains or the percentage of students meeting proficiency standards because they do not control for students' prior ability or factors such as parents socio‐economic status. Chapter 4 summarizes adult learning and motivational theories while Chapter 5 reflects on educational philosophies and how these relate to the nature of schools, teaching, and supervision. This chapter stresses the importance of how one's own philosophy of schools, teaching, and supervision can have an impact on supervision.

Part Three addresses the second of three prerequisites: the awareness and development of one's interpersonal skills. Chapter 6 describes the supervisory behavior continuum, a nomenclature of behaviors that can be utilized by the supervisor. This chapter re‐emphasizes the importance of knowing one's self, how perceptions of self and others can differ, and how to reconcile these. Chapter 7 provides four case studies of teachers to consider. These provide a context to frame the subsequent chapters in Part Three that cover the authors' four interpersonal approaches to supervision (directive control, directive informational, collaborative, and nondirective) detailed in Chapters 8‐11. The authors describe a spectrum of developmental supervision in which each of these interpersonal approaches is appropriate. For a situation in which the teacher or group is functioning at very low developmental levels, the directive approach would be appropriate, thus requiring more direction from the supervisor. On the other end of the spectrum, a teacher or group may be functioning at high developmental levels, thus calling for a nondirective approach. In between are the directive informational and collaborative approaches. Throughout these chapters, the authors hearken back to the supervisory behavior continuum and how these specific behaviors remain applicable but adjust to the changing dynamics of differing expertise and motivations. In Chapter 12, the authors describe a three‐stage process of applying developmental supervision: choosing the best entry approach, applying it, and fostering teacher development. The authors also caution that the supervisor against an historical over‐reliance on the directive approach and the need to shift gears based on additional information and the complex nature of groups and individuals.

Part Four (Chapters 13‐15) focuses on the technical skills of supervision: assessing, planning, observing, research, program evaluation, and teacher evaluation. These cover the importance of knowing where an individual or group is and where it is the person or group wants to go. Chapter 13 take a survey approach to covering a variety of tools in the toolbox of a supervisor. Chapter 14 discusses the difference between formative and summative evaluations and discusses the pros and cons of various observation instruments. Chapter 15 discusses the importance of research and evaluation skills and how these are not under the sole purview of professors anymore. In these chapters, Glickman, Gordon, and Ross‐Gordon remain true to their emphases of collegiality over hierarchy, teacher growth over compliance, and reflective inquiry on the part of the teacher and supervisor. For example, they stress the importance of involving supervisors and teachers in the formative evaluation process for the purpose of professional development.

Part Five covers the tasks of supervision (Chapters 16‐20). These include the provision of direct assistance (e.g. clinical supervision, peer coaching), group development (e.g. team and whole faculty), professional development, curriculum development, and action research (Chapters 16‐20). Chapter 18 reviews the research literature on effective professional development, but the authors' review does not discuss any research beyond 2002. Their review of the literature remains largely unchanged from the first edition. A suggestion for future editions might be to review the most current literature. Professional development appears to matter. Recent findings suggest that teacher training generally has little influence on productivity (as measured by teacher value‐added) with one exception – content‐focused professional development (Harris and Sass, 2007).

While the authors address the importance of mentoring new teachers as part of direct assistance, a notably absent topic in the chapter of group development (Chapter 17) is the importance of hiring new faculty members and considering the context of the current faculty make‐up. The authors suggest that teachers should take active roles in their own development and the improvement of school culture as a whole. Involvement in teacher interviewing and hiring decisions can be a way to develop whole faculties and grade‐/subject‐level teams.

In Chapter 19, the authors summarize the debate of what the curriculum should look like. Further they offer a critique of “teacher proofing” the curriculum, contending that teachers need to adapt based on conditions in the classroom and school. Chapter 20 examines guidelines for effective action research, a succinct chapter on a subject in which whole texts are written.

Part Six consists of the last two chapters. The first of these, “SuperVision, Change, and School Success”, discusses change from the school leader and teacher's perspective, the application of chaos theory to school and classroom change, and creating a culture that can foment change, whatever forms it may take. Chapter 22, “Supervision for What? Democracy and the Good School”, is a new chapter that was absent in the first edition. This chapter discusses characteristics of a “good school” and “moral principles.” Also discussed is the enactment of the US legislated No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and suggests that while positive on the surface level, the legislation conflicts with the principles of a good and moral school. As a follow‐up, they offer short‐term and long‐term strategies that will address the legislation while remaining consistent with the principles of a good and moral school (e.g. differentiated instruction, not eliminating non‐tested subjects, recruit/retain quality teachers). These strategies are not necessarily bad strategies, but one wonders whether schools operating under tight budgets can help but eliminate non‐tested subjects. Realities on the ground often prevail. While the authors suggest hiring and recruiting quality teachers, they do not address the question of “what makes a quality teacher?” Whether one agrees or disagrees with NCLB, it is research utilizing test data from standards, assessment, and accountability systems that seek to clarify this question. While critical of standards, assessments, and accountability systems in their current form, the authors offer direction for how to provide quality instruction and supervision within the current policy context. They end by suggesting that (p. 349) “competence without clear purpose results in directionless change, and purpose without competence provide inefficiency and frustration”. In essence, teacher quality matters, but so does leadership.

No text is perfect, but this is one that the reviewer has used in graduate‐level instructional supervision courses and will continue to do so. The text is well‐organized and well‐structured. More telling is that the students in these courses have been very positive in their comments of this second edition and its previous iteration. This book is highly recommended for graduate‐level instructors who teach instructional supervision and professional development courses in educational administration and/or curriculum and instruction programs.