Distributed Leadership and the Culture of Schools: Teacher Leaders’ Strategies for Gaining Access to Classrooms

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 456-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda M. Mangin
Keyword(s):  
Education Reform ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Instructional Improvement ◽  
Instructional Change ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Peer Leadership ◽  
Teacher Resistance

Formal teacher leadership roles—such as coach and coordinator—have become a standard component of education reform efforts intended to support teachers’ instructional improvement efforts. Yet the culture of schools is widely understood to favor autonomy and egalitarianism, suggesting that classroom teachers may be resistant to peer leadership. This study examines how 12 elementary-level teacher leaders negotiate access to classrooms and encourage instructional change in light of teacher resistance. Findings suggest that teacher leaders make concessions that may ultimately limit their impact on instructional improvement. Also for these positions to contribute to instructional change, teacher leaders require the support of school administrators who offer guidance to teacher leaders and set expectations for teachers with regard to the enactment of teacher leadership roles.

scholarly journals Scaling standards-aligned instruction through teacher leadership: methods, supports, and challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Cassata ◽  
Elaine Allensworth
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Collective Efficacy ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Contextual Factors ◽  
Collaborative Work ◽  
School Context ◽  
School Level ◽  
Instructional Change ◽  
Teacher Leader

Abstract Background The Common Core Standards for Mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards were adopted by states with the goal of preparing students with knowledge and skills needed for college, careers, and citizenry. Adopting these standards necessitated considerable changes in instructional practice. While teacher leadership is known to be important for instructional change, there is little research that articulates the processes through which that influence occurs, and how contextual factors constrain or support those processes. This paper provides a case study of efforts in the Chicago Public Schools to promote widespread instructional change around standards reform through a teacher leader model using retrospective from 2013 to 2017 interviews with 16 math and science teacher leaders serving grades 6–12, along with quantitative analysis of district-wide data showing patterns of change and professional learning. It builds off prior research to articulate a framework of how teacher leaders promote instructional change. Findings There were five patterns of teacher leader action: inspiring others, sharing with colleagues, working in collaboration, advocating for change, and providing individual support, and an interplay between teacher actions and school-level contextual factors, with some contextual factors more important than others for different types of actions. In particular, sharing and collaborative work were facilitated in schools with designated collaboration time, trusting relationships, and colleagues who were also trained and knowledgeable about the new standards. The degree of collective efficacy the teacher leaders felt seemed to be driven mostly by the presence of other knowledgeable change agents in the school. Conclusions and implications The study adds to the existing literature on teacher leadership by articulating the mechanisms through which teachers exert influence around instructional improvement of their school peers and providing examples of each. Further, the study illustrates how these mechanisms are facilitated or constrained by the larger school context. Together, the articulation of mechanisms and contexts, along with illustrative examples, provides a guide for supporting instructional change through teacher leadership in schools and districts.

scholarly journals Teacher Leadership in Special Education: Exploring Skills, Roles, and Perceptions

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 44-63
Author(s):  
Sylvia Bagley ◽  
Kimmie Tang
Keyword(s):  
Special Education ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Special Education Teachers ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Special Education Teacher ◽  
Teacher Leader ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Diverse Field

Special Education teachers frequently assume formal or informal leadership roles and responsibilities across disciplines (Council for Exceptional Children, 2015a, 2015b). However, despite the increasing attention paid to teacher leadership on an international scale (Wenner & Campbell, 2016), little research exists on the experiences and needs of teacher leaders within the diverse field of Special Education. In this descriptive phenomenological study, we addressed the following questions: 1) What does teacher leadership within the landscape of Special Education look like? 2) How does this work relate to the roles and dispositions laid out in both the Teacher Leader Model Standards (2011) and the Council for Exceptional Children’s Special Education Specialist Preparation Standards (2015a, 2015b)? We found that Special Education teacher leaders primarily demonstrate leadership via support, specifically through the skills of advocacy, facilitating, innovating, and ‘administrating’.

Teacher leadership: Prospects and promises

2019 ◽  
Vol 100 (7) ◽  
pp. 49-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barnett Berry
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Educational Technology ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Digital Media ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
State Policies ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
New Models

For many decades, most of the decision-making authority in public schools has been vested in individual principals and other administrators. However, new models of collaborative teacher leadership are beginning to emerge, thanks to four trends: 1) evidence on the positive effects of teacher leadership continues to mount, 2) districts and state policies are codifying teacher leadership roles, 3) teacher leaders are becoming more proficient at using educational technology and sharing their expertise through digital media, and 4) researchers are deepening their knowledge about how teachers learn to lead effectively.

scholarly journals A qualitative study of teacher leadership in secondary schools in central Missouri

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Julie A. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Distributive Leadership ◽  
Leadership Roles

This qualitative study examined teacher leadership with the purpose of gaining knowledge and insight as well as adding to existing research about teacher leaders. Research was conducted in the form of surveys and interviews. Ten principals and their ten selected teacher leaders were interviewed. The researcher discovered characteristics teacher leaders possess, how their respective principals view them as leaders, and how they view themselves as leaders. Several subthemes emerged from the overarching theme of "let's go." Results from the study revealed teachers, when given opportunities for leadership roles, impact the school in many positive ways and this distributive leadership helps alleviate pressure from principals.

scholarly journals Teachers as Leaders: Equipping English Language Teachers with Leadership Knowledge and Skills in TESOL

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-190
Author(s):  
Sayyed Rashid Shah
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
English Language ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Software Analysis ◽  
Efl Context ◽  
Efl Teacher

As part of a larger qualitative case study, this article explores the perceptions of EFL teacher leaders with regards to leadership knowledge and skills they consider important for their leadership roles in the Saudi EFL context. Twelve EFL teacher leaders were interviewed to identity various types of knowledge and skills for teacher leadership practices in the EFL context. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structured interviews and open-ended questionnaire, and analysed using the Nvivo 10 software. Analysis led to 18 main categories and four overarching themes; however, four major categories and one key theme are part of this article that reflect the participants’ perceptions of leadership knowledge and skills. The findings reveal that TESOL background and pedagogical knowledge helped the participants to establish their identity as EFL teacher leaders. Likewise, knowledge about the people and context supported their roles and their acute awareness of the culture, people and the context contributed to their self-efficacy. There is an emphasis on improved pedagogical skills for teacher leadership roles; however, those with operational duties, such as academic coordinators have not considered teaching skills important for their jobs. The findings have highlighted the significance of role-related skills, basic management skills and personality traits for effective EFL teacher leadership.

scholarly journals Transformational Teacher Leadership in Rural Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirk David Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
School Context ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Interactive Decision Making ◽  
Decision Making Styles ◽  
Promising Area

In this paper, the author explores the rural school context and its teacher leaders as a third transformational leadership prototype adding to Leithwood and Jantzi’s (1999) two transformational leadership prototypes of females and new teachers in the elementary school. The author helps illuminate new understanding of rural schools and their highly interactive decision making styles where teacher leaders are a source of creativity development of unique forms of leadership. If researchers focus on teachers as leaders in rural schools, specifically those who operate outside of traditional leadership roles, there exists a promising area of new understanding for educational leadership as transformational teacher leadership.  

Using Self-Mentoring to Increase Teacher Efficacy and Confidence as Leaders

2016 ◽  
pp. 307-320
Author(s):  
Marsha L. Carr
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Efficacy ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Organizational Citizenship ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
The Self ◽  
Teacher Leader ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Public School Teachers

Self-mentoring, the act of leading oneself in an unknown environment, is a sustainable practice of leadership with developing teacher leaders. One manner in which self-mentoring contributes to the development of a teacher leader is through increased confidence and self-efficacy (Bond & Hargreaves, 2014). When the self-efficacy of a classroom teacher increases, the efficacy of the students also increases (Bandura 1997), promoting higher levels of achievement. Public school teachers involved in self-mentoring studies harvested benefits of self-mentoring in their role as a classroom leader through augmented student engagement and motivation, but analogously in school-wide leadership roles. This chapter will elucidate how to use self-mentoring to increase confidence and teacher efficacy as leaders. It begins with an overview of self-mentoring inclusive of theory and the results yielded from several research studies; self-efficacy and confidence as it relates to teacher leadership; and how self-mentoring supports the development of teacher leaders and organizational citizenship.

Implementing The K–4 Mathematics Standards in Kentucky

1993 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 166-169
Author(s):  
William S. Bush
Keyword(s):  
Mathematics Education ◽  
Education Reform ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Department Of Education ◽  
University Faculty ◽  
Classroom Teachers ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
Mathematics Standards ◽  
The Past ◽  
Education Of Students

The state motto of Kentucky is “United We Stand—Divided We Fall.” Never has this creed been so evident than through the recent statewide mathematics education reform efforts in grades K–4. Over the past two years, university faculty, classroom teachers, school administrators, public policymakers, the Kentucky Department of Education, and corporations have developed partnerships to initiate systemic changes in the mathematics education of students in grades K–4. These groups banded together to enact for Kentucky the vision set forth by the Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989).

scholarly journals Practices of and Roadblocks to Teacher Leadership in the United Arab Emirates’ Schools

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaikah Al-Taneiji ◽  
Ali Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Personal Factors ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Individual Interviews ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Big City ◽  
Self Administered Questionnaire

This study investigates teachers’ perceptions of their leadership practices in United Arab Emirates schools and the contextual and personal factors which support or deter them from becoming teacher leaders. The study used a mixed research design. First, a self-administered questionnaire was completed by 937 teachers in one big city in the UAE. Then, individual interviews with ten teachers were conducted. The study found that while certain leadership roles, as measured by the questionnaire items, are often practiced by teachers, other activities such as leading action research or participating in professional groups, are practiced infrequently. Interview data revealed that teachers perceive that school administrators usually encourage them to take on leading roles, but that administrators also rely heavily on “in-group” teachers to take on leadership activities. Further, school contextual factors such as lack of time, language barriers, and style of leadership; or personal factors such as teachers’ assumptions about and willingness to take on additional leadership duties are roadblocks to a full realization of the potential for teacher leadership and its associated benefits in UAE schools. Recommendations on how to foster teacher leadership on a wider scale in the UAE schools are presented.

scholarly journals Developing agents of change : a case study on preservice teacher leaders' conceptualizations of social justice teacher leadership

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Urme Nazneen Ali
Keyword(s):  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
School Administrators ◽  
Future Research ◽  
New Model ◽  
Study Results

The purpose of this study was to investigate how a set of preservice teachers who have been identified as leaders in their teacher education programs conceptualize social justice teacher leadership. A collective, qualitative case study design using five preservice teachers as individual cases was used to address this study's purpose and a social justice teacher leadership conceptual framework was developed and used in data analysis. Two interviews were conducted with each case participant and resulting data were analyzed using the framework. Research findings support potential theoretical expansions of critical pedagogy, transformative learning, and the nature of taking action as a social justice teacher leader. Findings further suggest scholarship and practice should consider how democratic learning environments and servant leadership are addressed in teacher and leadership education. Reflexive practice following the completion of this project encouraged the conceptualization of an Evolved Social Justice Teacher Leadership Model. This new model points to research opportunities extending from this study. Results of this study deliver a call to action involving those who currently hold power for reform in teacher and leadership preparation and PK12 schooling contexts. School administrators must empower teachers as leaders in social justice through professional development and deliberately recruit teachers with capacities for social justice teacher leadership and from programs with such orientations. Preparation program administrators must reform their course curriculum to include the empowerment of future and inservice teacher leaders, with leadership programs holding unique responsibilities in such work. Further, future research should be longitudinal in nature, aim to develop the social justice teacher leadership framework and its new model, and investigate relationships between school administrators and social justice teacher leaders.

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