The two overarching research questions of this study are: What are the perceptions of high school administrators regarding the effectiveness of their current approach to instructional management? What recommendations do high school administrators have for effective strategies for instructional management? To answer these questions, a qualitative research approach, phenomenology, was used to study the lived experiences, observations, and perspectives of 10 site administrators from 4 Southern California rural high schools in 2 neighboring school districts with similar demographics. Data were gathered by way of 2 separate in-depth interviews with each participant, utilizing open-ended protocols to allow for free responses. After the interviews were transcribed, coded for common themes, and analyzed, a focus group discussion with 4 of the participants was utilized to gain deeper insight into some of the findings of the individual interviews. Findings from the study's 2 research questions were as follows: (a) that only 2 of the 10 participants entered administration to mentor teachers; (b) that administrators need to have a strong background in teaching; (c) that administrators need to build trusting relationships with the teachers; (d) that not all administrators have these competencies and that administrators need training in instructional management; (e) that time was the biggest barrier to performing effectively as instructional managers; (f) that the 3 main recommendations by the participants for a more effective approach to instructional management include making improvements with their personal time management, redistributing administrative responsibilities to non-administrative personnel, and redistributing administrator responsibilities among site administrators; and (g) that the district office should mandate deadlines for instructional management for site administrators to make it a priority in their daily activities.