This article presents findings from a 2-year reflexive action research study of a cohort-based Master's degree program in literacy for practicing teachers. Questions revolved around whether and how the program brought about changes in candidates' conceptions about literacy, expertise in literacy, and leadership/activist skills to foster equity in…

This article presents findings from a qualitative case study that examined the role of teacher leaders amid whole school reform. Findings suggest that leadership is ambiguous: a contested notion between principal and teacher(s) and among teachers as well. This ambiguity was manifest on the conceptual and operational levels and significantly…

Every teacher who chairs a department, leads a committee, manages a team, coordinates a program, or mentors other teachers needs this hands-on resource to accomplish basic leadership tasks with speed and precision. Filled with tips and how-to's that are left out of most teacher education courses and inservice programs, the guide covers formal and…

Recent advice on improving schools has centred on the distribution of responsibilities within schools. Whilst the focus of leadership in schools has traditionally been upon the Headteacher, there are now strong arguments to support a greater participation in leadership from teachers (Gold "et al", 2003). This article reports on…

Motivated by the increasing prevalence of shared decision making and distributed leadership in restructured schools, six teams of Canadian secondary teachers were interviewed to explore their collective learning and the conditions influencing it. Qualitative and quantitative evidence identified numerous conditions to explain across-team learning…

This article reports on a study that explores collaborative structures of shared decision-making in an urban secondary school in the USA. The data in the study came from unstructured interviews with 20 teachers, the principal, the assistant principal, a counsellor and 10 students. The interviews took place over a three-week period in June of 2001…

This study explores novice teachers' experiences as team leaders for school-community partnerships. Six focal teachers who were enrolled in an MA program in teacher development and leadership were recruited for the study. The focal teachers volunteered to serve as leaders of a reading-focused community involvement activity as members of their…

In the 1980s, the National Geographic Society launched a multi-million dollar campaign to improve teachers' knowledge of geography through the establishment of geographic alliances--networks of geography professors, teacher educators, and elementary and secondary teachers. To coordinate reform efforts in geographic education, the Society provides…

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of employing preservice teachers as leaders in technology to change teacher education curriculum, and to mentor and support inservice teachers, teacher education faculty and preservice teachers. We describe the evolution of the design of this program by comparing the first and fourth year, and…

The creation of multiple small schools from a single comprehensive high school elevates the necessity for many, rather than few, to assume leadership for various functions associated with helping each school to thrive. The nature of this effort calls for a view of leadership that moves away from reliance on administrative hierarchies and toward a…

Through their visits and conversations with students, teachers, and administrators involved in the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI) over the past decade, the people at Inverness Research Associates came to believe that ARSI served as an important leadership capacity-building effort for improving mathematics and science education in…

The mission of the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI) was to build a long-term capacity that would improve the educational structures of the rural communities it served. The major strategy ARSI used to create improvement communities across Appalachia was to identify, embrace and educate individual teachers, who became ARSI Teacher…

In Kentucky, one of the six participating Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI) states, the Teacher Partner concept soon gave rise to the Regional Teacher Partners (RTPs). This complementary project, known as the "Master Teacher Project," was designed after the Teacher Partner model but with one key difference. This paper…

This is the story of Barbara Shoemaker and her work as an Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative (ARSI) Teacher Partner in Oneida, Tennessee. It is the story of what she values and the experiences that shaped her approach to education. In particular it is about what she learned from her experience with the Appalachian Rural Systemic Initiative, and…

Closing the digital divide requires much more than buying equipment, it requires increasing the knowledge and skills of teachers using the technology, and access to digital tools in the community. In such a larger system of change, technology can serve as a catalyst for increasing teacher and student learning. The Anaheim City School District…