Teacher leadership is not easy but it is an essential component of today's accountability driven schools. Teacher leaders can be formal or informal leaders, but their goal remains the same--maximizing student learning and improving the school culture. And who better to teach us about the obstacles, challenges, and victories of teacher leadership than teachers themselves? Krovetz and Arriaza place teachers' voices and stories at the center of this book, using these moving narratives to illustrate the key concepts of teacher leadership. The book is organized around the habits of mind of inquiry, equity, and advocacy as a means of developing effective teacher leaders. Further, the authors include information on how teacher leaders can document and sustain their growth as teacher leaders. Based on the authors' work with hundreds of teacher leaders, this essential guide is ideal for school leaders and leadership teams.

This book addresses the critical gaps among understandings of teacher leadership across organizational and cultural contexts. It challenges the use of the term teacher leadership as if there is a widely shared understanding of what it is and what it means for exercising influence and making decisions. The book describes how implicit meanings and competing assumptions about teacher leadership may contribute to uncertainty and confusion in school communities. The authors caution against the incorporation of teacher leadership in international policy making discussions without adequate consideration of contextual, organizational, historical, and cultural differences that may lead to school community members struggling to accommodate the concept or, worse, ignoring other frameworks for facilitating more culturally appropriate decision making. This book shares the findings of research conducted in several North American, European, African, Latin-American, and Australasian contexts as part of the International Study of Teacher Leadership. Study findings are used to posit contextualized conceptualizations of teacher leadership and to offer a perspective for positioning researchers and practitioners in the international teacher leadership discourse.

This pioneering book shares a fresh vision for school leadership that connects current knowledge from mind, brain, and adult learning research to the process of teacher development and leadership. Providing clear steps and real-life examples, the authors demonstrate a broad array of leadership pathways to help teachers collaborate with colleagues and advocate with administrators and parents.

"This field-tested toolkit from the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching gives teacher leaders the practical guidance they need to unlock their own power and drive lasting instructional improvement"--

The editors and authors of Professional Teacher Dispositions: Additions to the Mainstream contribute to the long tradition in education of the discussions of teacher dispositions. It is intended for novice and experienced teachers, for those who educate future teachers, and for those who hire teachers. This book includes theoretical aspects of dispositions in education and case vignettes for discussion and reflection. Professional Teacher Dispositions provides a resource for school administrators in the professional selection of teachers, teacher educators in the selection of candidates for teacher education programs, and as a basis for developing professional development or pre-service activities in education. The authors address issues of character and passion that have a profound impact on the decision to be a teacher, the reasons for teaching and effect the day-to-day functioning of teachers in our school classrooms. Chapters address social justice and equity issues, reflection, caring, love, teaching as a calling.

Interest in and knowledge of leadership and learning, separately and together, is an international and continuing phenomenon. This book adds to a somewhat under-researched aspect of the field. It focuses both on a particular form of leadership – teacher leadership, and on a particular form of learning – professional development. It considers the connection between teacher leadership and professional development and the first chapter relates this connection to a ‘Leadership for Learning’ conceptual framework, developed through an international, three-year project. The book’s chapters explore teacher leadership and professional development from a number of perspectives, giving rise to three points of particular significance. Firstly the chapters show that, either by accident or design, there is a growing cadre of teacher leaders emerging from a multitude of professional development activities and initiatives. Secondly, a number of new conceptual frameworks are put forward, alongside the adaption and development of extant ones that add to the ever-increasing theorisation of educational leadership and professional development literature. Thirdly, the chapters provide evidence of the connections between leadership and learning as conceptualised in the ‘Leadership for Learning’ framework. This book was originally published as a special issue of Professional Development in Education.

Featuring scholarly descriptions, teacher leader reflections, and thoughtful questions, this thoughtful collection will immerse readers in deep exploration of teacher leadership and student learning; definitions, structures, and cultures that promote teacher leadership; and teacher leader preparation and development.

Experiencing Teacher Leadership is unique in the sense that it chronicles the experiences of five novice teacher leaders as they navigate their new roles as teacher leaders in their respective schools. Teacher leadership is a not a new term in most educational circles, but many educators are still unclear about the benefits of using teachers as leaders let alone what it looks like in action. This book takes a deep dive into the experiences, good and bad, as five teacher leaders move in, move through, and move out of their first year as leaders in their respective buildings. In order to do truly appreciate and understand their experiences, qualitative research methods, mainly interviews and observations, were used to obtain valuable information from a first person perspective. It is imperative that the (voice) of actual teacher leaders is heard and documented for anyone who is interested in learning more about school leadership that falls somewhere in between the classroom and the administration. Quite possibly, the most beneficial feature for the reader is to discover what these teacher leaders learned along the way. Transitioning from the classroom to a leadership role is difficult for many, and the first year in this new role is certainly the most challenging. This book highlights the challenges, but most importantly, offers practical guidance to prepare for and overcome some of the impediments first-year teacher leaders face.

Many national initiatives in K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education have emphasized the connections between teachers and improved student learning. Much of the discussion surrounding these initiatives has focused on the preparation, professional development, evaluation, compensation, and career advancement of teachers. Yet one critical set of voices has been largely missing from this discussion - that of classroom teachers themselves. To explore the potential for STEM teacher leaders to improve student learning through involvement in education policy and decision making, the National Research Council held a convocation in June 2014 entitled "One Year After Science's Grand Challenges in Education: Professional Leadership of STEM Teachers through Education Policy and Decision Making". This event was structured around a special issue of Science magazine that discussed 20 grand challenges in science education. The authors of three major articles in that issue - along with Dr. Bruce Alberts, Science's editor-in-chief at the time - spoke at the convocation, updating their earlier observations and applying them directly to the issue of STEM teacher leadership. The convocation focused on empowering teachers to play greater leadership roles in education policy and decision making in STEM education at the national, state, and local levels. Exploring Opportunities for STEM Teacher Leadership is a record of the presentations and discussion of that event. This report will be of interest to STEM teachers, education professionals, and state and local policy makers.

Co-published with Kappa Delta Pi, The Power of Teacher Leaders provides a comprehensive resource for understanding the ways that teacher leaders foster positive change in their schools. Distinct from school administrators, teacher leaders are professionals who remain in the classroom and use their specialized knowledge and skills to improve student achievement, influence others, and build organizational capacity. Written by leading educational researchers, each chapter of The Power of Teacher Leaders describes a different way that teachers are leading. Moving beyond the question of why teacher leaders are important and how such work is implemented, the contributing scholars to this collection offer a critical examination of the field by presenting original research, case studies, and programs in practice. Topics covered include how teachers become leaders, their wide-ranging leadership roles, and the effects of teacher leadership on student academic success and school communities. A cohesive edited collection, this book demonstrates how teacher leaders play an increasingly active role in the improvement of student learning, teacher professional development, and school climate.