Teacher leadership plays a significant role in the professional culture of many schools across the country, according to principals who value it. This is the major conclusion from a survey and telephone interviews conducted by the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL). While limited in scope, the study confirms the contributions of teacher…

Research suggests the need to provide leadership opportunities for teachers within school settings in order to increase professional collaboration and community. This research explored one rural district's professional development model, which was evaluated to determine its potential in developing teacher leaders. This district's professional…

The Colorado Partnership for Educational Renewal has created a professional development opportunity for teachers who are skilled in and committed to teaching for equity and diversity. Participants discuss benefits of their participation, especially valuing the support that crosses district and age-level boundaries. (Contains 1 note.)

Schools have differing levels of ability to develop leadership capacity. Yet even high leadership capacity schools may not always sustain improvements in student achievement. Several factors are key to realizing the promise of leadership. These factors challenge traditional concepts about leadership and the distribution of power, but when…

Prior to 1994, the education system of South Africa was characterized by a hierarchical and bureaucratic style of management as well as a situation where white schools were the key beneficiaries of resources and black schools massively disadvantaged. In 1996 a national task team made strategic proposals for education management capacity, including…

This book examines how to generate successful professional development programs. There are 14 chapters in five parts. Part 1, "Set the Stage for Powerful Professional Learning," includes: (1) "The Case for Powerful Professional Learning"; (2) "Stretch Goals, Deep Change, and a Compelling Vision"; and (3) "A…

This book illustrates an approach to achieving a positive, harmonious classroom environment which enables educators to evolve effectively from managers to leaders by rethinking their roles as teachers, discussing how to create classrooms where students are more self-managing and demonstrate mutual respect, self-esteem, and responsibility. Key…

This report presents information from a study of teachers of the year regarding their personal experiences with teacher leadership. It highlights: reasons to promote leadership (e.g., teachers have the most expertise and knowledge of how to improve education for students and can form a critical mass with their peers for positive or negative change…

In Boston schools, change coaches and content coaches are offering principals and teachers the kind of professional development that research deems most effective: ongoing, in school, high-quality, and focused on instruction and teacher cooperation. To succeed, coaches must be (unrecognized) leaders who unobtrusively foster teacher leadership.…

Kerry and Murdoch (1993), analysing the essential characteristics of leaders and school principals, raised two key questions: (1) What kind of leadership will schools require to help them face the next ten years?; and (2) How equipped are managers in school to provide that leadership? Traditionally, aspiring school principals emerge from the…

New DEEL does not refer to a specific policy or reform, but rather to an ideology, unencumbered by international borders and domestic politics. In this paper, we first endeavor to identify the rhetoric of New DEEL and social justice, and the reality of its implementation in schools today; spending time on the NCLB Act which we postulate is a major…

This report pays tribute to the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Rural Systemic Initiatives (RSIs), an investment of more than $140 million to improve mathematics and science education in some of rural America's most impoverished communities. The report illustrates the impact of NSF's RSI program on a national scale. Each RSI planned a project…

This publication of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Educational Laboratory is dedicated to articles on educational leadership. This issue contains the following articles: "Educational Leadership: Reports and Recommendations From a National Invitational Conference" (Joseph Murphy, JoAnn B. Manning, Herbert J. Walberg); "Redefining Educational Leadership:…

This report presents information from discussions by the Institute for Educational Leadership Task Force on Teacher Leadership, highlighting dilemmas surrounding teacher leadership and suggesting that education's policymakers should exploit the experience and capacity to lead today's schoolteachers. Overall, the system has not been organized to…

This report has two main purposes: to examine the perceived impact of teacher leadership, and to explore the conditions in schools that support or constrain teacher leadership. It discusses peer-nominated, nonadministrative leaders; leadership practices; and sources of power. The report is based on a multisite case study of three schools, serving…