


The presenter contends, “The primary purpose of the supervision of teachers is student achievement and their continued improvement of instruction!” Due to the complexities of school leadership, it's easy to be so inundated by the non-instructional aspects of the work that the instructional side of the leadership inclusive of instructional coaching suffers. When the instructional side suffers, it adversely impacts the entire school academically. The principal and assistant principals are the instructional leaders of the school. Consequently, there is a direct correlation between how effectively the administrators lead the school instructionally and student achievement. To that end, in this high-engagement, self-reflective session, the presenter will provide attendees with strategies toward maintaining a focus on the instructional side of their leadership toward increasing the probability that teacher pedagogy will improve significantly via coaching and student achievement will soar.

A highly regarded urban educator in New Jersey for over twenty years, Principal Baruti Kafele distinguished himself as a master teacher and a transformational school leader. As an elementary school teacher in East Orange, NJ, he was selected as the East Orange School District and Essex County Public Schools Teacher of the Year and New Jersey State Teacher of the Year finalist. As a middle and high school principal, Principal Kafele led the turnaround of four different New Jersey urban schools, including "The Mighty" Newark Tech, which went from a low-performing school in need of improvement to national recognition, which included U.S. News and World Report Magazine recognizing it three times as one of America's best high schools.