Wes Jensen As An Instructional Leader

Role of Instructional Leader

According to Mountain View Middle School’s principal, Wes Jensen, the role of the instructional leader, in a nutshell, is to create a positive learning environment that students, teachers, and community members want to be a part of and can be successful in (W. Jensen, personal communication, May 22, 2018). He strives to create this environment by building and sustaining an educational vision for MVMS, having participative leadership, using data to make instructional decisions, and building a professional community through PLCs. In fact, at MVMS, PLCs have been instrumental in creating the infrastructure needed to generate collaborative activity and a collective responsibility among staff members. As an instructional

One of his first actions taken as the instructional leader was to change the environment of the school. According to teachers, during the prior school year, students would roam in “packs” well after the tardy bell and were not in class when they needed to be (C. Gardener, personal communication, June 1, 2017). If we expect students to learn, they need to be in class. Jensen said he worked with several teachers that had “unofficial” leadership status in the building throughout the summer of 2014 to develop an action plan to get students where they needed to be (personal communication, May 22, 2018). As part of this action plan, music was introduced during hall passing times. Music plays for four minutes and then there is a minute of silence. This created a strong auditory cue for students that they needed to get to class. A second part of the plan was asking teachers to stand by their doors and encourage students to get to where they were suppose to be. Additionally, the teachers would close their doors when the bell rang and any students in the hall would go to room 308 to receive a tardy slip. Administration created a strong visible presence in the hallways to ensure students were getting tardy slips and going straight to class. After two tardies, students would need to call their parents and explain why they were unable to get to class on

During his second year as administrator, Jensen created common prep hours for PLC teams. This allowed PLC teams to meet together on a regular basis, during contract time, to discuss data, share ideas and teaching strategies, discuss concerns, and create targeted interventions. Additionally, one teacher from each team was appointed as team leader and participate in a coordinating council. The council meets monthly or bi-monthly to discuss concerns, develop solutions, and help their team members implement solutions developed by the committee. PLC teams identify student needs and develop targeted intervention instruction to help close the gaps between struggling students and their