Repertoire FAQ

What is Repertoire?

Repertoire is a professional writing app for instructional leaders — specifically designed for principals and assistant principals who do classroom walkthroughs and give teachers written feedback. It solves the problem that causes most feedback to never get sent: the time and friction between the observation and the follow-up note.

The core feature is a personal library of reusable feedback language. As you visit classrooms and write notes, you build a growing collection of observation phrases and feedback sentences. On future visits, you pull from that library instead of writing from scratch, personalize it for the specific teacher and context, and send the note in under a minute.

Repertoire is built by The Principal Center and is included in the Instructional Leadership Association membership. It is available at members.principalcenter.com.

What problem does Repertoire solve?

The core problem is the gap between observation and follow-up. Most principals observe classrooms regularly but send feedback rarely — not because they don't care, but because writing a thoughtful note from scratch takes time they don't have. By the time they get back to the office, there are three other things waiting, and the feedback never gets written.

Repertoire closes that gap in two ways. First, it reduces the time to compose a note from 10 minutes to under a minute by letting you reuse language you've already written. Second, it tracks your visit history so you can see at a glance which teachers you've visited recently and which are overdue — solving the "Pam Problem" of unconsciously avoiding certain classrooms.

The result is that feedback actually gets sent. And feedback that gets sent changes teacher practice. Feedback that sits in your head doesn't.

Who is Repertoire for?

Repertoire is designed for school leaders who are responsible for instructional leadership — primarily principals and assistant principals, but also instructional coaches, curriculum directors, and district leaders who visit classrooms and give teachers feedback.

It's most valuable for leaders who are already trying to do walkthroughs consistently but find that the follow-up is the bottleneck. If you're visiting classrooms but not sending feedback — or sending feedback occasionally but not consistently — Repertoire is designed to change that pattern.

It's less useful for leaders who don't visit classrooms at all. The tool amplifies a practice you're already building; it doesn't substitute for the habit itself.

How does Repertoire work?

You start a visit entry — selecting the teacher, date, and time. During or after the visit, you write observation notes in the entry. These can be low-inference notes capturing what you saw and heard, or they can go straight to feedback language.

When you're ready to send feedback, you compose the note using a combination of new writing and saved snippets from your library. Repertoire stores your past language as reusable entries that you can search, filter, and insert. You address the note to the teacher and send it directly from the app.

Over time, your library grows. The observation patterns you see most often — good and developmental — accumulate as polished language you can deploy in seconds. The more you use Repertoire, the faster it gets.

What is a Repertoire snippet and how do I build my library?

A snippet is a saved piece of observation or feedback language — a phrase, sentence, or paragraph you've written well enough to reuse. It might describe a strength you see frequently: "I noticed students were tracking the speaker during the discussion, which suggests strong expectations are in place for that norm." Or it might capture a development area: "The transition between activities took approximately four minutes. Consider pre-teaching a specific routine for this moment."

Your library builds naturally as you use the app. When you write something you want to save, you mark it as a snippet. You can tag snippets by topic, evaluation domain, or grade level to make them easy to find later.

Most leaders find that after 20-30 visits, they have a working library covering the patterns they see most often. After a full year, the library is extensive enough that most notes require very little original writing — just selection, personalization, and a few new sentences for the specific context.

How is Repertoire different from Google Docs or a notes app?

The core difference is that Repertoire is designed for reuse, not just storage. Google Docs and Apple Notes let you write things down, but every new note starts blank. There's no mechanism for building on previous language, finding relevant past observations, or tracking which teachers you've visited.

Repertoire is structured around the walkthrough workflow: visit, observe, pull from your library, personalize, send. The teacher roster, visit history, snippet library, and email composition are all integrated into a single workflow designed to produce a sent note in under a minute.

The other difference is the visit tracking. Repertoire shows you your visit history across your entire staff, so you can see patterns in who you're visiting and who you're avoiding — which is information Google Docs and notes apps don't give you.

Is Repertoire included in the Instructional Leadership Association membership?

Yes. Repertoire is included in the Instructional Leadership Association (ILA) membership at no additional cost. ILA membership is $99/month and includes Repertoire, the Instructional Leadership Challenge, a hardcopy and audiobook of *Now We're Talking!*, the Classroom Walkthrough Toolbox, access to the Instructional Leadership Show, and ongoing training.

There is no standalone Repertoire subscription — the app is exclusive to ILA members. Learn more about ILA membership.

How do I get started with Repertoire?

Join the Instructional Leadership Association at members.principalcenter.com. Once you're a member, you'll have immediate access to Repertoire along with the full ILA member dashboard.

The fastest way to build momentum is to use Repertoire for your next five classroom visits before worrying about your snippet library. Get comfortable with the workflow — starting an entry, writing notes, composing and sending feedback — before you start optimizing. Most leaders find the workflow clicks within a week, and the library starts to fill itself naturally from there.

If you're starting the Instructional Leadership Challenge (also included in ILA), Repertoire is the tool the Challenge is built around. Using them together accelerates both the habit and the library.

For a full overview of tools The Principal Center recommends, see Tools We Recommend.