Teacher leadership: teacher leaders can be key to a school's success in achieving goals for students. Here are some ways principals can help teachers become instructional leaders

Leadership, Sept-Oct, 2009 by Shelly Kurtz

As with most educational ideas, the concept of instructional leadership has evolved over time. In the 1980s it was principal centered, with images of heroic leaders single-handedly keeping the school on track. In the 1990s the paradigm shifted to effective principals working cooperatively with teachers to create learning communities to enhance teacher and student learning.

Today, instructional leadership is distributed across the school community to principals, superintendents and teachers. This new distribution is more than just a division of labor within the traditional hierarchy of leadership. Principals' and teachers' roles as instructional leaders are interdependent and frequently span the assumed boundaries of their titles.

Traditionally, the work of teachers has been centered on the classroom, helping children to learn. Although teachers who are instructional leaders still focus most of their energy on their classroom, these professionals are now being called upon to help improve their schools and even their school districts.

The recent educational reform movements, such as restructuring and site-based management, have promoted increased teacher participation and leadership in the decision-making processes of various aspects of school administration.

Today's instructional leadership

So what does instructional leadership look like today? The National Association of Elementary School Principals frames instructional leadership in terms of "leading learning communities." In its view, instructional leaders have six roles:

1. Making student and adult learning the priority.

2. Setting high expectations for performance.

3. Gearing content and instruction to standards.

4. Creating a culture of continuous learning for adults.

5. Using multiple sources of data to assess learning.

6. Activating the community's support for school success.

Teresa Northern and Gerald Bailey (1991) have identified seven professional competencies that are apparent in instructional leaders. These competencies are the goals for effective principals and administrators and the characteristics of many teacher leaders. They include:

1. Visionary leadership--Having a clear vision of the future and a flexible plan for arriving at that vision.

2. Strategic planning--Being proactive by recognizing what is presently occurring and being able to anticipate changes and plan different courses of action.

3. Change agency--Understanding the stages of change and being aware of the leaders and blockers of change. People who are agents of change are able to implement change with minimal disruption.

4. Communication--Being a master communicator by communicating with clarity and meaning.

5. Role modeling--Modeling high expectations in all settings of the learning environment.

6. Nurturing--Fostering a positive school climate where teachers and students feel sale and connected.

7. Disturbing--Finding ways to disturb those who are comfortable with the status quo. Change is inevitable. Growth is a requirement. Complacency is the kiss of death.

Roles for teachers as instructional leaders

As instructional leadership has evolved, the roles for teachers as instructional leaders have also evolved. Traditionally, teacher leadership has been seen in roles such as department heads, textbook adoption committee chairpersons and union representatives. In addition to being restricted to these areas, opportunities for teachers were extremely limited. They served an efficiency function rather than a leadership function.

Today, in schools where there is little or no consensus around goals, teacher leaders are recognized by their efforts in non-instructional areas. They are noted as being strong administratively and are perhaps involved in the teachers' union, active in the parent teacher organization, or involved in the state education association. They can also be characterized as "mothering" their colleagues by offering comfort and support. They often empathize with others' personal or professional problems. They are good listeners, sympathetic and kind, and they may often be outspoken.

These are all great qualities to have on staff but they are not really instructional leaders. In order for a teacher leader to be an instructional leader there must be collaboration and a shared vision. Since educational reforms have led to site-based management and collaborative school settings, teachers at these sites are now involved in the decisionmaking process and are becoming leaders of change. The success of site-based managed schools frequently depends upon the willingness of teachers to work with their colleagues in taking responsibility and directing activities of the school.

Current teacher leadership roles involve teachers as mentors, team leaders, department chairs, curriculum developers, staff development providers, grade-level chairs, and designers of new assessment processes, to name a few.

Teacher leaders in collaborative schools make effective instructional leaders and agents of change for several reasons. First, they have a vested interest. They care about what they do, how they do it and how it affects student learning. They also have a sense of history. They are aware of the norms of their colleagues and they remember the results of the trials and errors of previous times. They also know the community, and understand its values and attitudes. And unlike administrators, teacher leaders can implement real change by returning to their classrooms and making it happen.