formative walk-through process. During
formative walk-throughs, the principal assumes the role of the leading
learner—a role that goes a long way
toward forging a culture of collaborative
and evidence-based practice.
The Problem with Tradition
Traditional walk-through protocols
place value on a discrete list of best
practices. In doing so, they perpetuate
three education myths.
First, they foster the belief that prin-
cipals know exactly what to look for,
have been trained to critically assess
teaching quality, can infer what teachers
should do to raise student achievement,
and know the right next steps to suggest
to teachers. This myth of the principal
the classroom and how it contributes to
student learning.
The myth of the principal as “evaluator in
chief” suggests that only teachers need to
continue their professional development.
as “evaluator in chief” implies that
only teachers need to continue their
professional development and that
the principal already possesses deep
understanding of teaching and learning.
Because of this myth, traditional walk-throughs are rarely seen as learning
opportunities for the principal.
Second, traditional walk-throughs
suggest the existence of a foolproof
recipe of best practices that raise
student achievement regardless of the
content, the context, or the students in
question. Armed with a prescriptive set
of one-size-fits-all criteria, the principal
focuses on what the teacher is doing,
saying, making, or writing (uses a variety
of instructional techniques; promotes
increased time on task; uses formative
assessment strategies; displays evidence
of preparation; uses logical, purposeful,
and thought-provoking questions) to draw
conclusions about what’s going on in
Third, traditional walk-throughs
perpetuate the notion that information
about student learning flows from the
top down. Principals gather data and
interpret it for teachers, who then use
that interpretation to better instruct
the students. Such “trickle-down
decision making” ignores the role of
the most important decision maker in
the school—the student. By looking
through a static lens of best practices,
the principal can certify whether strat-
egies are in place and promote their
use in classrooms without ever deter-
mining whether those strategies actually
improve student learning.
If the Principal Were a Student
A formative walk-through is an inten-
tional learning process focused on
raising the achievement of all learners
in the building—the students, the
teachers, and the principal. Principals
use formative walk-throughs to assess
and strengthen their own knowledge
and skill, reveal and challenge their
assumptions about student learning,
and use what they learn to promote
future-focused and evidence-based col-
laborative conversations.
