Introduction
Cultivating the Capacity of Teacher Leaders A Qualitative Case Study of a Middle School Grade Team Program
Adam Davison
Literature Review
Problem
While there is extensive research about how principals distribute leadership to teachers, more can be learned about how their own experiences as teacher leaders shaped them as school leaders.
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative pilot study was to learn how assistant principals’ prior experiences as teacher leaders informed their approaches as school building leaders, including how they viewed the role of current teacher leaders in their school settings.
I was also interested to learn how assistant principals’ work with grade team facilitators helped to build these teachers’ capacity as leaders, preparing them for future leadership roles at the school or district level.
Field Setting
Franklin School District
Participants were sampled from three high schools in a large suburban public school district on Long Island.
School Organization of Grade Team
Pinewood High School
2 7th grade teams and 2 8th grade teams
1 assistant principal supervises all teams
1 7th grade team and 1 8th grade team
Fairview High School
2 assistant principals loop with students
The AP supervising each grade team alternates from year to year
2 7th grade teams and 2 8th grade teams
Lexington High School
3 assistant principals loop with students
The AP supervising each grade team alternates from year to year
Findings
My analysis revealed four overarching themes
Supporting and Facilitating Teacher Collaboration
• Creating Consistency Across Classrooms for Teachers and Students
• Providing Administrative Support
• Responding to Problematic Student Behavior
Enabling Teacher Autonomy
• Empowering Teachers to Set the Agenda
• Limitations on Assistant Principals’ Participation Cultivating Teachers’ Leadership Skills
• Recruiting Future Leaders
• Seeing the Big Picture & Involving Multiple Stakeholders
• Setting a Positive Tone
• Career Optimism
The Importance of Beliefs and Values
• Shared Values
• Modeling Values
• Lack of a Centralized Vision
Key Themes
Distributing Leadership to Teachers
•Collaborative Planning Teaming Models (e.g., PLCs)
Preparing Principals as Instructional Leaders
•The Instructional Role of Assistant Principals
Pathways for Teacher Leadership Development
•Building the Capacity of Future Leaders
Interview Participants: Assistant Principals
Assistant Principal 1 AP at Fairview High School
Former team facilitator at Pinewood
Assistant Principal 2 AP at Lexington High School
No prior team facilitator experience
Focus Group Participants: Grade Team Facilitators
Teacher Leader 1 Pinewood High School 8th Grade Team Facilitator 12th year as facilitator
Teacher Leader 2 Fairview High School 7th Grade Team Facilitator 5th year as facilitator
Teacher Leader 3
Pinewood High School
7th Grade Team Facilitator 2nd year as facilitator
Discussion
RQ1
• APs and team teachers agreed that teams helped to create a consistent, supportive environment for middle school students and to address behavioral and academic issues in a student-centered manner.
• Generally, APs afforded team teachers autonomy. When they did impose an agenda, teachers were wary at times.
• The AP who had been a team facilitator appeared more inclined to afford autonomy than the one who had not.
• APs’ influence was limited because they could not participate in meetings consistently.
RQ2
• APs described the skills that made teacher leaders effective (e.g., ability to consider multiple perspectives, set a positive tone, and keep teams focused), and they saw themselves as helping them to learn these skills.
• APs agreed that the grade team facilitator position gave teachers opportunities to learn leadership skills that could help them as future building leaders.
Conceptual Framework
“In a sense, all teachers are teacher leaders in their own capacity because they lead their own classrooms every day.” - Assistant Principal 2
SemiStructured Interviews
Focus Group
Observation
I interviewed Assistant Principals 1 & 2 following protocol via Zoom for 45 minutes I had the recording transcribed on Rev.com
I conducted one 45-minute focus group discussion with Teacher Leaders 1, 2, and 3 following protocol via Zoom I had the recording transcribed on Rev.com
I observed an 8th grade team meeting led by Teacher Leader 1; Math, Science, ELA, and Social Studies teachers participated I took detailed low-inference notes
Document Analysis I gathered and analyzed the following documents: email, planning document, 2 historical articles, and the district’s Strategic Plan
Discussion (continued)
RQ3
• All participants agreed that the core value that drove the grade teams’ work was providing the best level of support for students possible to prepare them for high school.
• Some participants said that lack of clear expectations and variability in the organization of teams across the district made the program fall short of its full potential.
Limitations
I did not interview principals, who would have a valuable perspective on the questions.
Only one of the assistant principals I interviewed had prior experience as a grade team facilitator. My sample size was small.
I work in the district as a curriculum supervisor, so I bring biases and participants may not have felt comfortable being completely open in their responses.
Research Questions
RQ1: How do assistant principals in the Franklin School District believe their experiences with the grade team program inform their approach to building leadership?
RQ2: How do assistant principals in the Franklin School District believe their experiences in the grade team program inform their work with teachers?
RQ3: How, if at all, did the beliefs of Franklin’s assistant principals about leadership change after they became involved in the grade team program?
“My beliefs are grounded in working hard to provide the best for kids, to put them in the center our learning community.” - Assistant Principal 1
Analytic Memoing: I wrote extensive memos throughout the study.
Reading & Annotating Documents: I carefully read my transcripts, meeting notes, and documents and annotated them using comments on Microsoft Word.
First Cycle Coding: I cut and pasted all annotated excerpts and comments into an analytic table on Microsoft Excel and assigned each a code using a coding scheme, which I continuously revised.
Second Cycle Coding: I used Excel to sort excerpts that shared codes, identified patterns, and engaged in analytical writing to explore emergent themes.
Implications
School leaders should establish shared expectations of their roles and teachers’ roles, allowing autonomy while also getting teachers to buy in to their own priorities.
Teacher leadership programs could serve as pipelines to build the capacity of prospective school leaders.
Districts should seek to make grade team programs consistent across all schools with a shared vision.
Recommendations for Further Research
Interview principals and district leaders to get their perspectives on how collaborative teacher teams inform their practices.
“Dealing with teachers [means] finding the best way to approach. It’s not a one size fits all handle for sure. You got to find what works with each one.” – Teacher Leader 1
Note: Pseudonyms were used for the case-study district and the schools within it as well as all participants and other named individuals.
Data
Study Participants Methods
Analysis
Leadership Practice from a Distributed Perspective (Spillane, 2006, p. 3)