In Massachusetts public elementary schools, teaching and leadership roles are perceived as mutually exclusive rather than interwoven. Despite credentials that would recognize Massachusetts public elementary school teachers as leaders beyond their classrooms, the leadership frame of reference attests that those who have the position, power and…

There is growing interest in the value of teacher-learning communities for practice improvement. Lesson Study is an approach to build capacity, strengthen professional communities among teachers, and improve teaching. This article explores the function of leadership in LS. Literature searches were conducted in social science and education…

In chemistry, a catalyst accelerates change without being depleted. As we seek school improvement, we need sustainable, scalable changes, and therefore catalytic structures are ideal. From communities of practice to professional learning communities to Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) much has been made in the scholarly and consultancy…

Purpose: Whilst professional learning communities (PLCs) have been widely explored at the school level, they have received less attention at the departmental level. The study takes the variance between departments and the role of departmental teacher leaders into consideration, and the relationships amongst departmental-level PLC dimensions, two…

Having survived the disruptive global pandemic, the higher education community is believed to grow to be more adaptive and resilient. As contributors to the new 'normal', yet evolving post-pandemic state, faculty have been painstakingly working to support students' learning and human needs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research documents faculty…

This volume of the Perspectives on Mentoring Series explores the role of mentoring in promoting wellbeing of both mentees or proteges and mentors in K-12 school settings. At its core, mentoring is about helping, advising, supporting, and guiding mentees and proteges to gain a wide variety of skills, abilities, and/or attributes. Another outcome of…

The use of information and communication technology-based data systems to support teachers in data-driven decision-making (DDDM) remains limited. Despite the growing number of data systems available, their uptake remains limited, and there is a limited understanding of what data system characteristics increase and factors that influence teacher…

Union County Public Schools (UCPS) received a U.S. Department of Education Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program grant in 2017, supporting the EPIC program aimed at transforming education in 13 low-performing, high-poverty schools. The EPIC initiative had two primary goals: redesigning the Human Capital Management System and…

The number of low-performing schools has drastically increased since COVID-19. During the 2018-2019 school year, there were 488 low-performing schools (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2024). The number increased to 736 schools during the 2023- 2024 school year, a 50.8% increase (North Carolina Department of Public Instruction,…

Writing is an essential life skill. It is a critical area of literacy instruction and high-stakes assessments. However, emphasis on writing instruction and assessment has not correlated with widespread writing proficiency. Within this context, teachers experience the phenomenon of writing instructional leadership. Teachers' preparation as writers…

Background: Developing a school as a learning community is a complex process necessitating active engagement from the entire school community. This paper reports on a study from Finland that focused on exploring learning community development grounded in a shared vision. Purpose: We sought to investigate the development of a school community with…

This phenomenological inquiry investigated the often-overlooked negative aspects of subject leaders'/coordinators' influence on teacher leadership development, utilizing semi-structured interviews with 11 teachers who relinquished leadership roles due to these reasons. Findings suggest that subject leaders/coordinators impede teacher leadership…

The development of teacher leadership is closely intertwined with the transformation of teacher roles. However, few studies have investigated how this concept, first developed in North America, is affected by teachers' role identities (RIs) in an Asian context. To this end, this study aimed to examine the effects of teachers' perceived role…

We present a model for Professional Development (PD) for in-service generalist primary teachers of science. The Remote Classroom Modelling (RCM) model is specifically designed to address salient challenges in the context of professional isolation. We share the principles that supported the design of this PD prototype, and the insights and lessons…

This study aims to better understand how teacher leaders influence the detracking of secondary school schedules through the following research questions (a) How and to what extent do teacher leaders have influence on the detracking of the school schedule? (b) What influences teacher beliefs around tracking and how does professional development…