As educational policy expectations increase the demands for both teachers and students, teachers are challenged to develop instructional practices that promote meaningful quality intellectual work for students. Although various reform efforts target improved instructional practices, a greater understanding is needed of the ways in which principal leadership in middle schools supports or hinders the development of teachers’ instructional practices associated with increased student cognitive engagement. Using a mixed method design, this research examines the dimensions of principal leadership associated with teachers’ professional development (PD) and instructional practices. The purpose of this inquiry is to better understand the type of interventions and organizational conditions through which school principals can best support instructional improvement and student cognitive engagement in the classroom. Using interview, survey, and observation data of teachers and administrators at two middle schools, this study examines teachers’ learning in the Authentic Intellectual Work PD initiative. The findings indicate that teachers demonstrated different levels of enactment of AIW instructional practices in the classroom, although the levels of student cognitive engagement among teachers were not clearly distinguishable in this study. Furthermore, high and low-level teachers, as measured by classroom observation of AIW instruction, held different conceptions of student engagement. In the next part of the study, three dimensions of principal leadership influenced teachers’ PD experiences and the development of their instructional practice: PD coherence; cultivation of shared goals, collaboration, and teacher input; and promotion of a growth mindset. In addition, the greater degree of alignment between teachers’ knowledge, values, and beliefs and AIW objectives, the more likely they were to demonstrate higher levels of AIW instructional practice. The findings provide insight into ways in which principals can enhance learning for both teachers and students through a comprehensive approach to instructional improvement. Implications from this study suggest that the principal is a critical agent in such a comprehensive approach. The principal has the potential to cultivate organizational conditions conducive to teacher and student learning. Specifically, the principal can orchestrate professional development to promote the teachers’ complex understandings of engagement, alignment with the objectives of ambitious reform, and enhanced instructional practices. The principal is also responsible for providing structures of support and resources to foster the teacher professional community, which can serve as a conduit for teacher learning. In turn, a nuanced and in-depth understanding of the ways principal leadership is enacted in different school contexts is critical for policy makers, researchers, administrators, and educators who seek to promote ambitious instruction and student learning that fosters quality intellectual work for students.
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