The Semiformality of Teacher Leadership on the Edge of Chaos

2020 ◽  
Vol 90 (3) ◽  
pp. 397-418 ◽  
Author(s):  
JASON MARGOLIS
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Systems ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Edge Of Chaos ◽  
Systemic Learning

In this article, Jason Margolis draws from complexity theory to explore the twenty-year negotiation between formal and informal teacher leadership in research and practice, making the case that there has been a drift toward a conception of semiformal teacher leadership in the field. Through both theory and examples, he illustrates how semiformal teacher leadership has the potential to afford school systems and educators both information and processors of information they likely would not otherwise have. Teacher leaders, in roles that are neither inflexible or ill-defined, can carve out intentional spaces on the edge of chaos to promote professional learning and communication in ways that solely school teachers or solely school leaders may not. In these spaces, productive complexity, agency, and systemic learning can coevolve.

“Tearing Down the Wall”: Making Sense of Teacher Leaders as Instructional Coaches and Evaluators

2020 ◽  
pp. 105268462096993
Author(s):  
Meghan Comstock ◽  
Jason Margolis
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Level ◽  
Relational Dynamics ◽  
Instructional Coaches ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
School Norms ◽  
Leadership Policy

Some recent district-level teacher leadership programs have incorporated both instructional coaching and formal evaluations into teacher leaders’ (TLs) responsibilities, which research suggests could challenge the relational dynamics necessary for effective coaching. Using a sensemaking lens, we conducted a qualitative case study of one district’s effort to integrate coaching and formal evaluation in their teacher leadership policy. We conducted a total of 26 semistructured interviews with district administrators and school leaders, TLs, and teachers in two schools, and seven observations of teacher leadership activities. We coded interview transcripts and field notes deductively and inductively. We found that when granted autonomy, principals drew on varied sources for making sense of and enacting this policy, and the messages they conveyed through school leadership norms deeply influenced how teachers and TLs enacted and experienced the integration. The integrated district policy in and of itself did not hinder relationships between teachers and TLs; rather, what mattered most for teachers was the extent to which they perceived their TLs as part of a larger system of support or accountability. This study suggests that the school norms that school leaders put into place when enacting teacher leadership policies deeply influence teachers’ perceived relational dynamics with TLs. Teacher leaders have a unique role in implementation that is shaped by school-level norms and conceptions of effective leadership and coaching.

scholarly journals Utilizing Teacher Leadership as a Catalyst for Change in Schools

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 151
Author(s):  
Raymond J. Ankrum
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Shared Leadership ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
School Community ◽  
School Staff ◽  
Maximum Output ◽  
School Building ◽  
Leadership Potential ◽  
Community Responsibility

<p>School leaders are constantly trying to find alternative ways to leverage and explore teacher leadership potential in their school building(s). Teachers leaders that are willing to go above and beyond their general duties. Teacher leaders are the type of educators that fall under the motif of potentially taking on additive responsibilities that will help to improve the school community. This paper looks at ways to leverage relationships between teacher leaders and school leaders in order to get maximum output from school staff. By infusing shared leadership in the school community, responsibility and accountability becomes a shared belief, that can be utilized as a catalyst for change in the school community.</p>

Leading as boundary crossing: How teacher leaders lead across a professional learning network in Shanghai China

2021 ◽  
pp. 174114322110553
Author(s):  
Yan Zeng ◽  
Leslie NK Lo
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Boundary Crossing ◽  
Leadership Strategies ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Leadership Practice ◽  
Leader Identity ◽  
Learning Network ◽  
Professional Learning Network

This paper explores how teacher leaders enact leadership practice across a regional learning network, Master Teacher Studios, an officially initiated teacher learning program in Shanghai. It investigates the leadership strategies that are employed for cross-boundary endeavors in the network. The concepts of boundary and boundary crossing, as expounded by Wenger and others, are used to guide an examination of the process of teacher leadership enactment across a network, which is elucidated as interpreting the boundaries, selecting/designing boundary objects, and participating in communities of practice. The paper fosters an understanding of teacher leadership practice as boundary work in a network context, and delineates a process of teacher leadership enactment, as well as the importance of teacher leader identity in the process.

scholarly journals Expanding the role of teacher leaders: Professional learning for policy advocacy

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Mary Lynne Derrington ◽  
Lezli S. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
State Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Teacher Participation ◽  
Policy Advocacy

Teacher leadership is important both within and beyond the school. Teacher leaders have the potential to expand their role beyond policy implementation in the classroom to influence educational policy development. However, few teachers receive explicit preparation or guidance for contributing their voice and providing first-hand knowledge of policy’s classroom impact. This study investigated the perceptions and experiences of educators who had completed a year-long fellowship designed to inform and guide teacher participation in state policy. The results indicate that participants perceive themselves as strong policy advocates with local stakeholders but believe they face barriers to influencing state policy leaders. The findings suggest that (1) barriers to policy advocacy must be examined and removed so that teachers can expand their expertise beyond the classroom and that (2) professional learning opportunities can develop teacher leadership skills for influencing policy formulation and adoption resulting in benefits for students.

The Theoretical and Empirical Basis of Teacher Leadership

2016 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 134-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julianne A. Wenner ◽  
Todd Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Leaders ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
School Structures ◽  
Equity Issues ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Policy Decision Making ◽  
Leadership Research

In the current review, we examined teacher leadership research completed since York-Barr and Duke published the seminal review on teacher leadership in 2004. The review was undertaken to examine how teacher leadership is defined, how teacher leaders are prepared, their impact, and those factors that facilitate or inhibit teacher leaders’ work. Beyond this, the review considered theories informing teacher leadership, teacher leadership within disciplinary contexts, and the roles of teacher leaders in social justice and equity issues. The most salient findings were (a) teacher leadership, although rarely defined, focused on roles beyond the classroom, supporting the professional learning of peers, influencing policy/decision making, and ultimately targeting student learning; (b) the research is not always theoretically grounded; (c) principals, school structures, and norms are important in empowering or marginalizing teacher leaders; and (d) very little teacher leadership research examines issues of social justice and equity.

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.

Envisioning a New Foundation for Gifted Education: Evolving Complexity Theory (ECT) of Talent Development

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. 172-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Yun Dai
Keyword(s):  
Complexity Theory ◽  
Gifted Education ◽  
Adaptive System ◽  
Talent Development ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Creative Productivity ◽  
Education Needs

This article presents a new theory of talent development, evolving complexity theory (ECT), in the context of the changing theoretical directions as well as the landscape of gifted education. I argue that gifted education needs a new foundation that provides a broad psychosocial basis than what the notion of giftedness can afford. A focus on talent development rather than giftedness should be based on a theory of talent development that is truly developmental, treating the developing person as an open, dynamic, and adaptive system, changing oneself adaptively while interacting with environmental opportunities and challenges. To introduce ECT, I first delineate the meaning and significance of four dimensions or “parameters” of talent development undergirding this new theory: domain, person, development, and culture. I then describe how ECT explicates the developmental processes and transitions as the result of human adaptations to environmental opportunities and challenges. More specifically, ECT uses the constructs of characteristic and maximal adaptation to elucidate how domain, person, development, and culture jointly shape a particular line of talent development, and how cognitive, affective, and social processes interact to push and sustain a critical transition from characteristic adaptation to maximal adaptation, eventually leading to high-caliber performance and creative productivity. I finally discuss the theoretical contributions and practical utilities of ECT for future research and practice.

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