Enhancing Teacher Leadership

Establish professional development programs that involve faculty members as leaders.

Resource 1:
Teacher-Led Professional Development
Beasley,W., & Butler, J. (2002). Teacher leadership in science education reform: Learning from
Australian-led best practice in the Philippines. Australian Science Teachers Journal,
48(4), 36-41.
This article outlines a successful, large-scale, international teacher-led professional development initiative. The Australian-led project has resulted in cadres of teacher leaders in district schools in the Philippines providing continuous in-school professional development of science teachers.
This project was based on acknowledged outstanding practice in professional development and
provides “a model for Australian education authorities interested in systemic, long-term
sustainable professional development of science teachers.”

Resource 2:
Teacher Leadership in Mathematics Education Reform
Center for Development of Teaching, Education Development Center. (2008). Teacher
leadership in math education reform. Newton, MA: Author. Retrieved November 1,
2007, from http://www2.edc.org/CDT/cdt/cdt_teachlead.html
Teacher leaders play an important role in a number of professional development projects of the
Center for the Development of Teaching. Many teacher development projects have teacher
leadership components that allow teachers participating in the project to take on leadership roles.
In addition, some projects have been used in other settings to build teacher leadership. For
example:
• The Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) Leadership Institutes—Teacher leaders
attend the DMI in the summer at Mount Holyoke College and learn how to further the
mathematics agenda at their own schools..
• The Developing Mathematical Ideas (DMI) Network—Through summer institutes, an
electronic network, and an apprenticeship program, selected teacher leaders learn to offer
DMI seminars at various sites across the country.

Resource 3:
Resources for Teacher Leaders in Math and Science Reform
Center for Science Education, Education Development Center. (2006). Resources for teacher
leadership. Newton, MA: Author. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from
http://cse.edc.org/products/teacherleadership/default.asp
This site provides a compilation of resources for secondary school teachers who plan to assume
leadership roles in math and science reform. The resources are intended to support teachers in the following leadership activities: making presentations, writing for publications, reaching out to the community, mentoring and coaching, providing professional development, and supporting
preservice education.

Resource 4:
Houston Teachers Institute
Yale National Initiative. (2007). In Houston, teachers take the lead . New Haven, CT: Yale
University. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from
http://teachers.yale.edu/story/index.php?skin=m&page=000
Cooke, P. D. (2001, Fall). Generating teacher leadership. On Common Ground, 9, 1–5. Retrieved
November 1, 2007, from
http://education.vermont.gov/new/pdfdoc/pgm_assessment/summit/research_resources/ge
nerating_teacher_leadership.pdf
“Houston Teachers Institute is a partnership between the Houston Independent School District
and the University of Houston. The Institute replicates, as closely as possible, the 20-year-old
model developed by Yale University and the New Haven, Connecticut public schools. In that
model, fifteen-week academic seminars are offered by university professors to public school
teachers each fall. Through this annual set of seminars the Institute builds relationships between University faculty and school teachers in order to strengthen teachers and teaching in the city’s public schools. To carry out its program, the Institute relies heavily on the participation of a small group of teachers, each of whom acts as the official representative of the Institute to his or her school, and the school’s representative to the Institute. The Institute’s teacher-leaders guide their colleagues into the Institute program and help orient and support them once they become involved as Fellows. Because of the Institute’s emphasis on teacher leadership, this program is a place where teachers are trained and encouraged to be leaders in their schools” (Cooke, 2001, p. 1).

Resource 5:
NTC Mentor Professional Development
The New Teacher Center. (n.d.). Teacher induction: Mentor professional development offering.
Santa Cruz: University of California. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from
http://www.newteachercenter.org/ti_mentor_pro_development.php
The New Teacher Center offers mentor training to experienced teachers who will then provide
mentoring and coaching to beginning teachers at their own schools.

Enhancing Teacher Leadership

Identify and create opportunities for teachers to assume leadership roles in schools.

Resource 1:
Teacher Leadership Practices
York-Barr, J. & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from
two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255–316.
Research reveals that teacher leadership is practiced in a variety of ways. Sometimes
teachers serve in formal leadership positions and, at other times, leadership is
demonstrated in informal ways. This piece discusses the ways in which teacher
leadership has evolved over time; the levels of leadership work for teacher leaders; and
specific domains of teacher leadership practice.

Resource 2:
Ten Roles for Teacher Leaders
Harrison, C., & Killion, J. (September, 2007). Ten roles for teacher leaders. Educational
Leadership, 65(1). Retrieved 9/25/07 from http://tinyurl.com/2l9xzn
This resource describes 10 roles that teacher leaders can assume to help support school
and student success.

Resource 3:
Teacher Leadership Opportunities
Barth, R. S. (2001). Teacher leader. Phi Delta Kappan, 82(6), 443–449.
This article identifies 10 areas where teacher leadership is essential to the health of a school.
These areas affect “a teacher’s ability to work with students” and are among the domains in
which teacher leadership is most needed and least seen.”

Resource 4:
Opportunities for Teachers to Lead
Childs-Bowen, D., Moller, G., & Scrivner. J. (2000, May). Principals: Leaders of leaders.
National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Bulletin, 84(616), 27–34.
This article describes the areas in which principals can create opportunities for teachers to lead.

Resource 5:
New Approaches to Teacher Leadership
Smylie, M., Conley, S., & Marks, H. M. (2002). Exploring new approaches to teacher leadership
for school improvement. In J. Murphy (Ed.), The educational leadership challenge:
Redefining leadership for the 21st century (pp.162–188). Chicago: University of Chicago
Press. This article presents three new approaches to teacher leadership that appear to be more effective than formal leadership roles in promoting school improvement:
• Teacher research as leadership; teacher inquiry in collaborative contexts can create new
opportunities for teachers to learn and to lead efforts to improve their schools.
• New models of distributive leadership; these models indicate that teachers can and do
perform important leadership tasks inside and outside formal positions of authority.
• Leadership of teams; self-managed teams promote teacher collaboration; improve
teaching and learning, and address problems of school organization.

Resource 6:
State Projects to Strengthen Leadership in Schools
State Action for Education Leadership Project. (2002, Winter). Leading the Way [Newsletter].
Retrieved November 1, 2007, from http://www.nasbe.org/Research_Projects/saelp.pdf
The State Action for Education Leadership Project (SAELP) is a partnership that assists state
decision makers in strengthening school leadership. Connecticut’s efforts to support education
leadership include “increasing opportunities for teachers to take on leadership responsibilities
within schools” (p. 3). Rhode Island has as a leadership goal “to provide opportunities for shared leadership between teachers and principals to build capacity, thereby creating potential
succession programs” (p. 6).

Resource 7:
Strengthening Teacher Leadership
Zehr M. A. (2001, April). Teacher leadership should be strengthened, report says. Education
Week, 20(32), 5.
Schools should be reorganized to give teachers “richer opportunities to be leaders.” For
example, if teachers were involved in educational policy matters, states would not have the
problem of “having standardized tests that are not aligned with academic standards.” As this
article points out, seeking input from teachers in developing and implementing test standards and accountability measures would alleviate the alignment problem.

Resource 8:
Teacher Leadership Development on School-based Teams
Brown, C. L. (2001). Teachers Academy: A qualitative study of teacher leadership development
on school-based teams. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
This study analyzed the development of the Teachers Academy, a locally initiated network of
secondary schools, and its impact on teacher leadership within individual schools. The
researcher, using a case study approach, observed, described, and analyzed nine Teachers
Academy teams within one school district.

Resource 9:
Teacher Leadership Roles
Boyd, V., & McGree, K. (1995). Leading change from the classroom: Teachers as leaders.
Issues…About Change, 4(4). Retrieved November 1, 2007, from
http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues44.html
Traditional teacher leadership roles include team leaders, department chairs, association leaders, and curriculum developers. Today, there is a movement to increase teacher professional
development to expand teacher leadership roles; this movement is based on the understanding
that “teachers, because they have daily contacts with learners, are in the best position to make
critical decisions about curriculum and instruction” and are better able “to implement changes in a comprehensive and continuous manner.” Further, the advocates for expanded teacher
leadership roles are also motivated by the need to attract and retain qualified teachers.

Resource 10:
The Role of Teacher Leaders in Shaping School Policies and Programs
Danielson, C. (2006). Chapter 5: Schoolwide policies and programs. In C. Danielson, Teacher
leadership that strengthens professional practice. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from
http://www.ascd.org/portal/site/ascd/template.chapter/menuitem.5d91564f4fe4548cdeb3f
fdb62108a0c/?chapterMgmtId=0c11876d39b29010VgnVCM1000003d01a8c0RCRD
Teacher leaders can play a pivotal role in shaping school structures, policies, and programs to
maximize student learning. These schoolwide policies and programs fall into the following major
categories:
• School organization and structure
• Student policies
• Student programs and activities
• Staff programs
This resource provides examples of how both emerging and established teacher leaders can work
in specific areas of school organization and structure, student policies, student programs, and
staff programs.

Resource 11: Formal and Informal Tasks of Teacher Leaders
Gabriel, J. G. (2005). How to thrive as a teacher leader. Alexandria, VA: Association for
Supervision and Curriculum Development.
This hands-on resource is a guide that covers “formal and informal tasks that teacher leaders at
every grade level are expected to know but rarely do.”

Enhancing Teacher Leadership

Recognize the Importance of Teacher Leaders

In developing high-performing schools, recognize the importance of teacher leaders.

Resource 1:
Educational Improvement through Teacher Leadership
York-Barr, J., & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255–316.
Recognition of teacher leadership comes from new understandings about organizational
development and leadership that suggest “active involvement of individuals at all levels
and within all domains of an organization is necessary if change is to take hold.”
Educational improvement at the level of instruction “necessarily involves leadership by
teachers in classrooms and with peers.” In addition, teacher leadership has expanded to
include roles ranging “from assisting with the management of schools to evaluating
educational initiatives and facilitating professional learning communities.” With this
expansion, the hope for teacher leadership today is continuous improvement of teaching
and learning in all schools resulting in increased achievement for every student.

Resource 2:
Promoting Leadership in Teaching by Teachers
Hinchey, P. (1997). Teacher leadership: Introduction. The Clearing House, 70(5), 233.
Two ideas that can redefine teaching are as follows:
• “Teachers need to assume leadership positions if efforts to improve education are to succeed.”
• “Teachers must assume leadership if teaching is ever to be accepted as a profession”
(p. 233). This article is an introduction to a special section of The Clearing House on teacher leadership and its “transformative potential” to improve education.

Resource 3:
Teacher Leaders’ Influence Beyond the Classroom
Danielson, C. (2007, September). The many faces of leadership. Educational Leadership, 65(1).
Retrieved November 1, 2007, from http://tinyurl.com/2q8edz
School improvement depends on the active involvement of teacher leaders at the classroom level
and beyond. In every school, teacher leaders can find numerous opportunities to extend their
influence beyond their own classrooms to the department or teaching team, across the school,
and beyond the school to the district.

Resource 4:
Engaging Teacher Leaders in School—Level Decisions:
Who Controls Teachers’ Work in America’s Schools Ingersoll, R. M. (2003). Who controls teachers’ work? Power and accountability in America’s Schools. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Retrieved November 1, 2007, from http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/INGWHO.html
The author explores the role of teachers in the decision-making process in schools.