Guidelines for Effective Professional Development on Writing Instruction: Principals' Voices

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine principals' perspectives on a model of professional development (PD) in writing. Participants were 14 principals and seven assistants from a rural district's K to 12 school system who shared in an interview their challenges and advice for effective PD at a building and district level. Their comments demonstrate the continuous challenges with scale-up efforts and the need for systematic implementation of literacy initiatives. Principals were positive on the PD model and shared guidelines for other leaders' future implementation of PD on writing. Future research and implications are further discussed.