This progress report of ethnographic research on instructional leadership focuses on a new elementary school principal's role formation in relation to teaching staff and district organizational culture. The project, which examines the prevailing notion of instructional leadership in school effectiveness literature, reveals a gap in perspective between teachers and administrators concerning implications of mandated policies for classroom life. Researchers investigated factors contributing to the principals' identity formation and changes in teachers' and principals' role definitions during research. Intervention methodology--which assumes that teachers possess answers--had researchers share classroom observations and videotapes with principal and teachers. Informants' articulation about experiences and reexamination of tacit knowledge about teaching outcomes challenged the dominant "workshop" view of carefully moving participants up one conceptual notch at a time. With intervention, teachers and principal altered perceptions about roles and accountability. Understanding teachers' expectations thereby becomes a key ingredient of organizational effectiveness. School effectiveness literature treats principals and teachers as both the problem and solution for school improvement. This leads policymakers to demand tighter coupling in the organization whereby teachers and principals are held even more accountable for student performance on standardized tests, thus discouraging innovation. Research findings about role formation will suggest further investigation on ways the principal may legitimize teacher knowledge in school improvement efforts, as well as principal influence on teacher decision making. (CJH)