Each EmpowerED 3.2.1 features 3 Big Ideas, 2 Quotes, and 1 Question with lots of links to resources from different perspectives such as business and industry, medicine, athletics, economics, recreation, and parenting as well as music and the arts. The goal of these brief commentaries is to advance our thinking about how that wide array of information connects with and supports our work as educational leaders. We don’t think you can find a short read like this anywhere else. Access here.
This is just the resource you need to stay up-to-date with the current best thinking about instructional leadership. This e-Newsletter focuses on the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL). These recently published standards are available here.
Click on the graphic above to access the PDF/printable version.
Access the web version here.
Download online tools and templates for Leading the Learning
A few of our favorite issues of Just for the ASKing! that focus on instructional leadership are listed below. Visit the Just ASK Resource Center to access these issues and over 15 more directly related to this focus on instructional leadership.
- All Things Reconsidered
- It’s All About Relationships
- Lesson Plans for Principals
- Maximizing Resources as an Instructional Leader
- Meaningful and Valuable Faculty Meetings
- The Principal as Leader for Change
- See and Be Seen: The Importance of High Visibility
- Summertime…and the Livin’ Is Easy… Or Is It?
- Sustainability: How Schools Keep Their Focus
- Talking Out of School: Conversations with Successful Leaders
Since 2005, the most popular issue of Just for the ASKing! has been The Opening of School Checklist; it was first published in July 2005 and is updated and published each July. It is updated each year to reflect new developments in the educational world. It includes over 100 tasks to consider in the focus areas of teaching staff, students, parents, community, and building.

Instructional Leadership Tools and Templates
19 (plus 1) Questions Your Child’s Teacher Would (Probably) Love to Answer
Accelerated Participation in AP Report
From the School District of Palm Beach County Florida
Contract for Improvement Points
Data Collection Tool: Use of Collaborative Norms
My Compass for Educational Leadership
Non-Negotiables for Creating a Culture for Learning
Observable Conditions for Learning
Parent Conferences
Excerpts from Why Didn’t I Learn This in College?
School Improvement Self-Study: Are We Planning With Purpose and Living Our Plan?
Standards-Based Education Learning Walk
Self-Assessment: Classroom Assessment
Self-Assessment: Classroom Data Use
Self-Assessment: Elevating Teacher Leadership
Self-Assessment: Formats for Professional Learning
Ways We Want Our Schools to Be: From Inside Collaborative Classroom
Yesterday and Today: Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment