Teaching Matters Most: A School Leader’s Guide to Improving Classroom Instruction

A laser-beam focus on improving instruction to improve learning

Saying "teaching matters most" is easy, and seems obvious. Making it the top priority for school leaders and staff is not so easy―in fact, it′s messy. If we want to change how students write, compute, and think, then teachers must change how they teach. They must transform the old "assign-and-assess" model into engaging, compassionate, coherent, and rigorous instruction. The authors show school leaders how to make this happen amidst myriad distractions, initiatives, and interruptions.

Unlike other books that stop at evaluating teachers and instruction, this work demonstrates how to grow schools′ instructional capacities with a three-step process that involves:

1. Envisioning what good teaching looks like
2. Measuring the quality of current instruction against this standard
3. Working relentlessly to move the quality of instruction closer and closer to the ideal

The authors provide helpful guidance on issues such as hiring, induction, professional development, mentoring, and teacher evaluation. Each chapter offers specific action steps toward building the blueprint for improvement. Also included are frameworks for completing instructional audits in schools, and probes, instruments, and protocols for measuring and tracking the quality of instruction. Leaders will find excellent guidance for spearheading and sustaining a focused and aligned effort to improve the quality of teaching to impact all learners.

Thomas M. McCann is an associate professor of English at Northern Illinois University, where he contributes to the teacher certification program. He taught high school for 25 years, including seven years working in an alternative high school. He has been a high school English department chair, an assistant principal, and an assistant superintendent. His published work has appeared in Educational Leadership, Research in the Teaching of English, the English Journal, and the Illinois English Bulletin. His co-authored books include Explorations: Introductory Activities for Literature and Composition, 7-12 (National Council of Teachers of English, 1987), In Case You Teach English: An Interactive Casebook for Preservice and Prospective Teachers (Merrill/Prentice Hall, 2002), Supporting Beginning English Teachers (NCTE, 2005), and Talking in Class (NCTE, 2006). He edited and contributed a chapter to Reflective Teaching, Reflective Learning (Heinemann, 2005). He is the co-author of The Dynamics of Writing Instruction (Heinemann, 2010). The National Council of Teachers of English awarded him the Richard A. Meade Award for research about the concerns of beginning teachers. He also received the Paul and Kate Farmer Award from NCTE for his writing for the English Journal.

Dr. Alan C. Jones is an educational consultant specializing in curriculum, instruction, and instructional leadership. His teaching career includes teaching English at DuSable Upper Grade Center in Chicago, Illinois; social studies at Thornton Township High School in Harvey, Illinois; and school administration at Saint Xavier University in Chicago. He began his administrative career as an activity’s director at Thornton Township High School and went in to become assistant principal at Bremen Township High School and served as principal of Community High School District 94 in West Chicago, Illinois, for seventeen years. Under his leadership, Community High School was awarded the Blue-Ribbon School of Excellence in 1993 and was recognized as a 1995 School of Excellence by HISPANIC magazine.

      His publications include articles in educational journals on instructional leadership and school reform, and five books: Students? Do not Push your Teacher Down the Stairs on Friday: A Teacher’s Notebook (Quadrangle Books, 1972), Becoming a Strong Instructional Leader; Saying No to Business as Usual (Teachers College Press, 2012), Teaching Matters Most: A School Leader’s Guide to Improving Classroom Instruction (Corwin Books, 2012), The First 100 Days in the Main Office: Transforming a School Culture (Information Age Press, 2018); Living Up to Your School Mission Statement: Reforming Schools from the Inside Out (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

Mrs. Gail Aronoff is an educational consultant who worked for 37 years in several schools, both as teacher and administrator. She has worked with students with special needs in elementary, middle school, and high school, and served as a liaison between schools and the families of struggling learners. At the high school level, she taught struggling learners for fourteen years and held the position of Assistant Principal for Student Services for twelve years. She served a highly diverse population with many ESL students as well as those from low income families. She has mentored and supervised teachers and administrators, creating and implementing model programs to address the needs of reluctant learners and those with special needs. Mrs. Aronoff currently serves as a consultant to schools for school improvement and reform.