The purpose of this phenomenological, qualitative study was to explore how curriculum specialists in middle leadership positions perceive their use of democratic leadership to build teachers' leadership capacity across high schools within one Midwestern public school district. The key democratic leadership practices that guided this study include trust, empowerment, shared governance, and distributed responsibility. Participants, identified through purposeful sampling, included seven curriculum specialists from five high schools within one Midwestern public school district. The data collection tools consisted of in-person, semi-structured interviews with curriculum specialists using a series of open-ended questions regarding democratic leadership concepts utilized to build teachers' leadership capacity and field notes completed during the interview process. Findings of the study, categorized by democratic leadership practices, resulted in 12 core themes essential to building teachers' leadership capacity. Curriculum specialists established trust through modeled leadership, open communication, and flexible collaboration. They supported empowerment through resources, professional development, advocacy, and autonomy. They shared governance through teacher voice, decision-making, and school reform. Lastly, they distributed responsibility based on schools needs and teacher capacity. Interpretation of results produced the following key findings to represent how curriculum specialists can effectively build teachers' leadership capacity through democratic leadership practices: embody teacher leadership attributes, build trusting relationships, support individualized empowerment, share governance by elevating teacher voice, and distribute responsibility to meet needs. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]