Review the ILTS Principal as Instructional Leader Subtest 1 exam outline, content-area weights and the TeacherPreps school leadership study guide lessons for this exam.
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ILTS Principal as Instructional Leader Subtest 1: Study Guide
Exam facts
- Exam
- ILTS Principal as Instructional Leader Subtest 1
- State / jurisdiction
- Illinois
- Credential area
- School principal
- Delivery
- Computer-based test
- Questions
- 56 multiple-choice questions; 2 constructed-response assignments
- Testing time
- 225 minutes (3 hours 45 minutes)
- Appointment time
- 240 minutes (4 hours)
- Passing score
- 240
ILTS Principal as Instructional Leader Subtest 1 study guide lessons
The TeacherPreps study guide for this exam has 31 lessons organized by chapter, each written for the content areas above. The first lesson, Collaborative vision development and ownership, is free to read without a membership.
Read the free first lessonWhat this exam covers
This outline summarizes the content areas in the publisher framework. Use it as a study checklist, and follow the source links below for the full framework.
each area's combined share of the score across selected-response and written items
1. Planning, Change, and Accountability (40%)
Topics to review
- Gathering a useful evidence base
- Diagnosing strengths, needs, and gaps
- Setting priorities and measurable goals
- Collaborative planning and decisions
- Designing the improvement plan
- Selecting defensible improvement strategies
- Managing change and supporting people
- Monitoring, evaluating, and revising
- Communication, alignment, and accountability
- Cycles of inquiry and organizational learning
- Assessment purposes, strengths, and limits
- Sound assessment design and selection
- Multiple sources of learning evidence
- Disaggregation, gaps, and bias
- Using evidence to adjust instruction
- Evaluating programs and instructional outcomes
- Assessment and educator development
- Accountability systems
- Collaborative data use and assessment capacity
- Feedback, reporting, and data tools
- Baselines, benchmarks, targets, and progress monitoring
- Patterns, trends, and root causes in school data
- Audience, purpose, and communication choices
- Two-way communication and listening
- Consensus, negotiation, and shared commitment
- Reporting progress and celebrating contributions
2. Instructional Improvement (60%)
Topics to review
- Gathering a useful evidence base
- Diagnosing strengths, needs, and gaps
- Illinois curriculum and student-service implementation
- Coherent curriculum design
- Alignment across classrooms and grade levels
- Research and evidence for instructional decisions
- Learning theories and child and adolescent development
- Literacy and numeracy across grade levels
- Differentiation, intervention, and student needs
- Language, culture, and learner strengths
- Disability supports and instructional access
- Technology, digital literacy, and responsible participation
- Academic and nonacademic program coordination
- School structures that affect instruction
- Instructional implementation and program improvement
- Assessment purposes, strengths, and limits
- Multiple sources of learning evidence
- Using evidence to adjust instruction
- Assessment and educator development
- Collaborative data use and assessment capacity
- Feedback, reporting, and data tools
- High expectations and shared commitments
- Safe reflection, voice, and innovation
- Collaboration and collective responsibility
- Consistent expectations and accountability
- Assessing and improving school culture
- Equity, access, and high expectations
- Cultural and linguistic assets
- A caring and personalized learning environment
- Academic, developmental, and engagement needs
- Coherent systems of student support
- Behavior expectations and positive behavior support
- Bullying, harassment, and conflict prevention
- Access, accommodations, and specialized needs
- Nonacademic opportunities and community services
- Monitoring student support and school climate
- English learners and language-development services
- Gifted education and talent development
- Purposes and models of supervision
- Instructional expectations and evaluation criteria
- Gathering multiple forms of evidence
- Interpreting evidence and identifying needs
- Actionable feedback and coaching conversations
- Individual growth and improvement plans
- Evaluation and personnel responsibilities
- Named supervision models: clinical supervision, peer coaching, mentoring, and conferencing
- Adult learning and differentiated professional development
- Professional learning tied to student evidence
- Job-embedded learning and resource support
- Professional learning communities
- Formats for professional learning: seminars, book studies, workshops, and coaching
- Innovation, reflection, and action research
- Teacher leadership and distributed responsibility
- Evaluating professional learning
- The principal’s own professional growth
- Professional health and ethical learning practices
- Principles of adult learning and staff motivation
- Disability education and educational plans
This exam also includes written responses (2 constructed-response assignments). The free diagnostic and Exam Builder practice cover multiple-choice content only.
Check the exam or component you need
Similar names can refer to different exam codes, credentials or components. Confirm the code your program requires before choosing a study plan or paying a registration fee.
Publisher sources
Checked November 7, 2026. Content areas and weights come from the exam framework; administrative details come from the publisher test pages.
- ILTS Principal as Instructional Leader Subtest 1: source 1
- ILTS Principal as Instructional Leader Subtest 1: source 2
TeacherPreps practice questions and lessons are independently written and are not publisher exam questions.
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Read the study guide lessons, practice by content area in the Exam Builder and review the explanation for each answer.
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