Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale

Abstract

The Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) is a 71-item assessment tool designed by Philip Hallinger and Joseph Murphy (1995) to measure the instructional leader behavior of elementary and secondary school principals. The instrument was developed to address prior measurement shortcomings by specifically isolating curriculum and instructional management duties from other general managerial tasks. Each item focuses on a specific, job-related behavior, making the PIMRS highly useful for structured school evaluation, targeted staff development, academic research, and district policy analysis. Consequently, the PIMRS functions as an important tool for indirectly assessing a school’s overall effectiveness.

Keywords

Instructional leadership, principal behavior, school management, curriculum coordination, instructional supervision, school effectiveness, PIMRS, educational administration.

Authors

Philip Hallinger, Joseph Murphy.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the PIMRS is to provide a standardized, comprehensive measure of the specific job-related behaviors that constitute effective instructional leadership among school principals. By focusing exclusively on instructional management functions—separate from routine administrative duties—the scale offers a refined profile of leadership effectiveness.

The instrument is highly versatile, serving multiple functions within educational systems. It is utilized by school districts for internal school evaluation, guiding targeted professional development and staff development programs for school administrators, informing district policy analysis regarding leadership expectations, and providing robust data for academic research studies concerning school improvement and student achievement.

Construct

The PIMRS measures the construct of Instructional Management Behavior, often referred to synonymously with instructional leadership. This construct is operationalized through 11 distinct dimensions of principal performance, reflecting a comprehensive theoretical model of how school leaders influence teaching and learning outcomes.

The scale items are structured to capture observable behaviors related to setting academic direction, managing the educational program, and promoting a positive school learning climate. Key behavioral domains assessed include goal setting (framing and communicating goals), resource management (protecting instructional time and coordinating curriculum), and quality assurance (supervising instruction and monitoring student progress).

Validity

Ample evidence supports the validity of the PIMRS instrument across several critical domains, demonstrating that the scale accurately measures the intended construct.

Specifically, the authors report successful establishment of Content Validity, ensuring that the 71 items comprehensively cover the theoretical domain of instructional management behavior. Furthermore, the scale demonstrates Discriminant Validity, indicating that the PIMRS dimensions are distinct from other, unrelated managerial duties. Crucially, Construct Validity was established through rigorous procedures, confirming that the underlying factor structure aligns with the theoretical model of instructional leadership.

Reliability

The internal consistency of the PIMRS is robust, indicating high reliability across its multiple dimensions. The analysis of the 11 derived subscales showed strong coefficients, confirming that the items within each factor measure the same underlying trait.

The lowest reported alpha coefficient (Cronbach’s alpha) for any of the 11 subscales was 0.75. This value meets or exceeds generally accepted standards for reliability in psychological and educational research, suggesting that the instrument provides dependable and stable measurements of instructional management behavior.

Factor Analysis

A comprehensive factor analysis was conducted on the 71-item instrument, resulting in the identification of 11 distinct and interpretable factors, which serve as the scale’s subscales. These factors represent the core components of the principal’s instructional role.

The 11 subscales allow for a detailed, multi-dimensional evaluation of the principal’s performance. They are named as follows: Framing goals, Communicating goals, Monitoring student progress, Supervising/evaluating instruction, Coordinating the curriculum, Protecting instructional time, Maintaining high visibility, Providing incentives for teachers, Promoting professional development, Enforcing academic standards, and Providing incentives for learning. The data analysis confirmed that individual principal profiles obtained using these subscales discriminated substantially among principals regarding their instructional management behavior.

Instrument

Test Type: Behavioral Rating Scale (Multi-rater assessment)

Format: 71 items, 5-point Likert scale (1 = Almost Never to 5 = Almost Always).

Language Available: Primarily English (widely translated for international use in subsequent studies).

Population Group: Elementary and secondary school principals (rated by teachers, supervisors, and themselves).

Age Group: Adult (educational professionals).

Population Details: Initial development sample included teachers, principals, and central office supervisors from a school district comprising 10 elementary schools in California.

Test Methodology: Self-report and observation-based rating. Data analysis indicated that principal and supervisory ratings generally supported the ratings provided by teachers.

Keywords

PIMRS, educational leadership, school principal, alpha coefficient, psychometrics, academic standards, school goals, professional development.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A (Not provided in source)

Affiliation Email addresses: N/A (Not provided in source)

Correspondence Address: N/A (Not provided in source)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The PIMRS was formally published in 1995 (Hallinger & Murphy). The instrument’s foundational work, including the EdD dissertation by Hallinger, occurred in 1983. The scale is widely used in academic research, often requiring direct permission from the authors or their institutions for large-scale commercial use or adaptation.

Reference’s

• Hallinger, P., and Murphy, J. (1995). Assessing the instructional management behavior of principals. Elementary School Journal 86:217–47.

• Hallinger, P. (1983). Assessing the instructional management behavior of principals. EdD dissertation, Stanford University.

• Lyons, B. J. (2010). Principal instructional leadership behavior, as perceived by teachers and principals, at New York State recognized and non-recognized middle schools. EdD dissertation, Seton Hall University.

• McCarthy, M. J. (2009). Teachers’ perceptions of high school principals’ leadership behaviors using the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale (PIMRS) and the relationship to the AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) status in high poverty suburban school districts located in southern Pennsylvania. EdD dissertation, Saint Joseph’s University.

• Peariso, J. F. (2011). A study of principals’ instructional leadership behaviors and beliefs of good pedagogical practice among effective California high schools serving socioeconomically disadvantaged and English learners. EdD dissertation, Liberty University.

• Shatzer, R. H. (2009). A comparison study between instructional and transformational leadership theories: Effects on student achievement and teacher job satisfaction. PhD dissertation, Brigham Young University.

Items of the Principal Instructional Management Rating Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

To what extent does your principal . . . ? Framing The School Goals

1. Develop goals that seek improvement over current levels of academic performance.
2. Frame academic goals with target dates.
3. Frame the school’s academic goals in terms of staff responsibilities for meeting them.
4. Use needs assessment or other questionnaires to secure staff input on goal development.
5. Use data on student academic performance when developing the school’s academic goals.
6. Develop goals that are easily translated into classroom objectives by teachers.

Communicating the School Goals

7. Communicate the school’s academic goals to people at school.
8. Refer to the school’s academic goals in informal settings with teachers.
9. Discuss the school’s academic goals with teachers at faculty meetings.
10. Refer to the school’s academic goals when making curricular decisions with teachers.
11. Ensure that the school’s goals are reflected in highly visible displays in the school (e.g., posters or bulletin boards indicating the importance of reading or math).
12. Refer to the school’s goals in student assemblies.

Supervising and Evaluating Instruction

13. Conduct informal observations in classrooms on a regular basis (informal observations are unscheduled, last at least five minutes, and may or may not involve written feedback or a formal conference).
14. Ensure that the classroom objectives of teachers are consistent with the stated goals of the school.
15. Meet with teachers and aides to ensure that they are working toward the same objectives.
16. Review student work products when evaluating classroom instruction.
17. Evaluate teachers on academic objectives directly related to those of the school.
18. Point out specific strengths in teacher instructional practices in postobservation conferences.
19. Point out specific weaknesses in teacher instructional practices in post observation conferences.
20. Note specific strengths of the teacher’s instructional practices in written evaluations.
21. Note specific weaknesses of the teacher’s instructional practices in written evaluations.
22. Note student time on-task in feedback to teachers after classroom observations.
23. Note specific instructional practices related to the stated classroom objectives in written evaluations.

Coordinating the Curriculum

24. Make clear who is responsible for coordinating the curriculum across grade levels (e.g., the principal, vice principal, or a teacher).
25. Ensure that the school’s academic goals are translated into common curricular objectives.
26. Draw on the results of school-wide testing when making curricular decisions.
27. Ensure that the objectives of special programs are coordinated with those of the regular classroom.
28. Monitor the classroom curriculum to see that it covers the school’s curricular objectives.
29. Assess the overlap between the school’s curricular objectives and the achievement test(s) used for program evaluation.
30. Participate actively in the review and/or selection of curricular materials.

Monitoring Student Progress

31. Meet individually with teachers to discuss student academic progress.
32. Discuss the item analysis of tests with the faculty to identify strengths and weaknesses in the instructional program.
33. Use test results to assess progress toward school goals.
34. Distribute test results in a timely fashion.
35. Inform teachers of the school’s performance results in written form (e.g., in a memo or newsletter).
36. Inform students of the school’s performance results.
37. Identify students whose test results indicate a need for special instruction such as remediation or enrichment.
38. Develop or find the appropriate instructional program(s) for students whose test results indicate a need.

Protecting Instructional Time

39. Ensure that instructional time is not interrupted by public-address announcements.
40. Ensure that students are not called to the office during instructional time.
41. Ensure that truant students suffer specified consequences for missing instructional time.
42. Ensure that tardy or truant students make up lost instructional time.
43. Visit classrooms to see that instructional time is used for learning and practicing new skills and concepts.

Maintaining High Visibility

44. Take time to talk with students and teachers during recess and breaks.
45. Visit classrooms to discuss school issues with teachers and students.
46. Attend or participate in cocurricular or extracurricular activities.
47. Cover classes for teachers until a late or substitute teacher arrives.
48. Tutor or provide direct instruction to students.

Providing Incentives for Teachers

49. Reinforce superior performance by teachers in staff meetings, newsletters, or memos.
50. Compliment teachers privately for their efforts or performance.
51. Acknowledge special effort or performance by teachers in memos for their personal files.
52. Reward special efforts by teachers with opportunities for professional development (e.g., new roles or inservice training).

Promoting Professional Development

53. Inform teachers of opportunities for professional development.
54. Select inservice activities that are consistent with the school’s academic goals.
55. Support teacher requests for inservice that is directly related to the school’s academic goals.
56. Distribute journal articles to teachers on a regular basis.
57. Actively support the use of skills acquired during inservice training in the classroom.
58. Ensure that instructional aides receive appropriate training to help students meet instructional objectives.
59. Arrange for outside speakers to make presentations on instruction at faculty meetings.
60. Provide time to meet individually with teachers to discuss instructional issues.
61. Sit in on teacher inservice activities concerned with instruction.
62. Set aside time at faculty meetings for teachers to share ideas on instruction or information from inservice activities.

Developing and Enforcing Academic Standards

63. Set high standards for the percentage of students who are expected to master important instructional objectives.
64. Encourage teachers to start class on time and to teach to the end of the period.
65. Make known what is expected of students at different grade levels.
66. Enforce a promotion standard requiring mastery of grade-level expectations.
67. Support teachers when they enforce academic policies (e.g., on grading, homework, promotion, or discipline).

Providing Incentives for Learning

68. Recognize students who do superior academic work with formal rewards such as the honor roll or mention in the principal’s newsletter.
69. Use assemblies to honor students for their academic work and/or behavior in class.
70. Recognize superior student achievement or improvement by seeing students in the office with their work products.
71. Contact parents to communicate improved student performance in school.

Scoring: 5 = Almost Always; 4 = Frequently; 3 = Sometimes; 2 = Seldom; and 1 = Almost Never.