Peer-assisted leadership: Using research to improve practice

Abstract

During the 1983–84 school year, the Instructional Management Program (IMP) Far West Laboratory for Educational Research and Development conducted a unique professional development activity for school principals, the Instructional Management Academy. Since that time, the name has been changed to Peer-Assisted Leadership (PAL) in order to distinguish this staff development activity from the host of other principals' “academies” emerging across the country. Derived from the findings of our program's research on principals, PAL provided practicing school administrators with an opportunity to analyze their own leadership behavior and that of a peer partner in a nonprescriptive and nonjudgmental manner. During the year-long process, participants learned and applied various skills for collecting data about their partners and sharing that information with them in a useful way. This paper provides: (1) a brief history of the Instructional Management Program leading to the development of PAL, (2) a description of the training program, (3) the findings from the first year's effort with two groups of principals, (4) a description of continuing PAL efforts, and (5) the possible future directions of the process.