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.