Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Teacher leadership'

This qualitative study used a phenomenological approach to determine the mentoring process Black mentors used when mentoring White beginning teachers. Five mentors and their six mentees were surveyed and interviewed to find how cross-race mentoring processes in an urban school district in the Commonwealth of Virginia work. Seven themes emerged from the study: (a) perceptions of the mentoring process; (b) perceptions of classroom management; (c) perceptions of school quality; (d) perceptions of urban teaching; (e) perceptions of White advantage; and (f) presence of White privilege.

This mixed model study analyzed the relationship between school climate and teachers’ intentions to remain in their current position, teacher job satisfaction, and teacher absenteeism. All participants completed the Organizational Climate Description Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction Survey, and a personal questionnaire. Among elementary educators, significant negative relationships existed between restrictive principal behavior and disengaged teacher behavior and job satisfaction. Among middle school educators, a significant negative relation existed between restrictive principal behavior and teacher job satisfaction, and significant positive relationship existed between supportive principal behavior and teacher job satisfaction. This study led to a recommendation to focus on both teacher-principal and teacher-teacher relationships to improve job satisfaction among educators.

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to identify and describe the most important factors that motivate or deter teachers in deciding to take on the informal or formal role of teacher-leader in Riverside County elementary school districts.

Methodology: Endemic of a Delphi method, the instruments used within this study collected data from an expert panel of elementary school teacher leaders from Riverside County, California through electronic surveys in a four-round process. The expert panel consisted of teacher leaders in formal and informal roles as selected by elementary site administrators using criteria established by the researcher. The researcher collected data and tabulated frequency distribution, percentages of participant responses on the level of importance, median scores, and factors reaching 70% consensus.

Findings: The research data showed that increasing student achievement, making a difference, creating a collaborative community, being informed, and informing others are the most important factors motivating teachers in deciding to become a teacher leader in a formal or an informal role. Additionally, making decisions was important in a formal role, and recognition and respect were important in an informal role. The most important deterrents for a formal and an informal teacher leader role were lack of time, lack of support, lack of direction or goal, and increased responsibility. Another deterrent in a formal role was fear; for an informal role, it was not having enough pay.

Conclusions: These findings support the need to build a collaborative culture of authentic decision-makers through distributive leadership. The lack of time, support, and direction that teachers experience must be addressed by building teacher-leadership capacity.

Implications for Action: Districts should train teachers in the Teacher Leadership Model Standards, provide teacher pre-service coursework in leadership skills and distributed leadership, train or hire administrators and teachers who support an authentic collaborative leadership culture, recognize and monopolize individual’s areas of expertise, re-examine job titles, change the traditional school calendar, create or change support personnel positions to be housed at the site level where teacher leaders can support teachers on-site.

Researchers on bullying have given little attention to workplace bullying. This study examined the frequency among teacher-to-teacher bullying in the public school environment. From a sample of 318 teachers in 18 elementary, five high school, and three unit districts, rates of bullying were identified by three negative act sub-factors—work-related, person-related, and physically intimidating related bullying. Teacher demographics were utilized to determine if certain subsets of the population were more susceptible to bullying than others.

This study collected and analyzed data using a mixed-methods approach. Six questions were developed to address the purpose of the study and to provide the context within which data were gathered to answer the questions. The Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised was utilized for the purpose of measuring exposure to bullying in the workplace. Six demographic questions preceded the 22 questions of the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised. One self-identifying question asked at the conclusion of the survey whether the participant identified as a bully, onlooker, or victim. The qualitative portion of the study examined laws as well as school district documents to determine how teachers were informed of anti-workplace bullying policies.

Statistical significance was found between teachers who had less than 10 years of teaching experience and teachers with 10-30 years of teaching experience for the work-related and person-related bullying. Teachers with graduate degrees reported higher frequency of encountering negative acts compared to teachers with bachelor degrees. The difference was found to be statistically significant in all three sub-factors. There were no significant statistical differences found with gender, age, grade level taught, or teaching experience for the physically intimidating sub-factor. One percent of the teachers (n = 3) perceived themselves as bullies; 72.6 percent of the teachers (n = 231) self-identified as onlookers; and 18.9 percent (n = 60), self-identified as a victim of bullying by another teacher. There are currently no federal or state laws; or Illinois School Codes that address workplace bullying. One school district of the 26 had anti-bullying workplace policy language. In this study, the highest frequency of encountering negative acts related to having your opinion ignored, or being ignored or excluded.

The attrition rate of teachers in an urban/suburban school district in a northeastern state caused schools to fail to attain annual yearly progress. To reverse this problem, administrators must understand the importance of their leadership and teacher efficacy and the need to nurture teachers to increase student performance. The purpose of this sequential mixed-methods study was to determine whether a relationship existed between leadership and efficacy. Total-population sampling was used to obtain 19 elementary and middle teachers who completed two surveys to examine the relationship between principals' behaviors (human relations, trust/decision making, instructional leadership, control, and conflict) and teacher efficacy (student engagement, instructional strategies, and classroom management). Survey data were analyzed using Pearson's product-moment correlations. In addition, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 3 teachers who had 5 or fewer years of teaching experience. These data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Quantitative findings indicated significant relationships between instructional leadership with teacher engagement and conflict with teacher engagement. Themes, based on the integrated model of teacher efficacy, revealed connections with the principal and support, guidance, and structure provided by the principal. Principals must focus on leadership behaviors that may increase teacher efficacy. These endeavors may contribute to positive social change when school leaders support teachers, who, in turn support students in their educational challenges to increase academic performance.

In this study, the focus was on determining leadership strategies that promote teacher empowerment among urban middle school science teachers. The purpose of the paper was to determine if leadership strategies are related to teacher empowerment. The emphasis was on various forms of leadership and the empowerment of teachers in context in restructuring the democratic structure. An effective leadership in science education entails empowering others, especially science teachers. In this regard, no published studies had examined this perspective on empowering teachers and school leadership. Therefore, this study determined if a relationship exists between leadership strategy actions and teacher empowerment. The significance of the study is to determine a relationship between leadership strategies and teacher empowerment as a positive approach toward developing successful schools. Empowerment is essential for implementing serious improvements. Empowering others in schools must form a major component of an effective principal’s agenda. It is becoming clearer in research literature that complex changes in education sometimes require active initiation. For this study, a quantitative methodology was used. Primary data enabled the research questions to be answered. The reliability and validity of the research were ensured. The results of this study showed that 40% of the administrators establish program policies with teachers, and 53% of teachers make decisions about new programs in schools. Furthermore, the findings, their implications, and recommendations are discussed.

The extent to which students' and teachers' perceptions agree about excellent teachers has implications for educational philosophy, training, and leadership practices. Teacher excellence depends teachers are rarely sought. Experts write about what should be taught, how it should be taught, but those who are being taught have little voice. Learning what traits and practices exemplify excellent teachers would enable us to capitalize on those traits and train teachers to use those practices.

The intent of this study was to learn what teacher excellence was like for students and teachers. From those who have experienced teacher excellence from both sides of the desk, particular characteristics and practices were identified as important or essential.

This study employed interviews of high school seniors and teachers. Questions were related to a district's contract appendix, literature about best practices, career interest and personality inventories, and from discussions with students and teachers. Fourteen student interviews and fourteen teacher interviews were transcribed. Ten of each category were distributed to a team of coders, by the researcher. Using the Consensual Qualitative Research method, coders and researcher placed participants' responses in domains, categorized them, and with an auditor's guidance, searched for those that were typical and those that were variant. Discarded interviews were to be replaced by other interviews until stability occurred. The team sought patterns among the participants' responses. Finally, the researcher analyzed the data and drew and reported conclusions.

Students described excellent teachers who connected with their students on a social, emotional level. Examples of student's responses were instances of a teacher approaching a student to ask if the student needed assistance, opening classrooms at non-instructional times to provide a welcome setting in which to relax until the next class, visiting the student at his workplace, and attending students' performances.

Teachers described the excellent teacher's relationship with students as a teacher who might attend performance events, but might also insist the student come in for extra help or encourage the student to put forth greater effort. The emphasis the teachers placed on rapport building between teacher and student was based more on academic than on emotional support. The role that teachers were described by students as performing was that of nurturer or counselor, whereas the role the teachers' description described was that of facilitator and coach.

Purpose. The purpose of this quantitative ex post facto design research study was to determine the impact of a teacher leadership professional development academy on teacher leaders’ use of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership behaviors as measured by the Leadership Practices Inventory.

Methodology. The research was a quantitative ex post facto design.

Findings. The results of the analysis revealed a significant difference in teacher leadership behaviors before and after participation in a transformational leadership professional development academy.

Conclusions. This study responded to the call to provide teachers, administrators, districts, policymakers, and researchers new insights on transformational teacher leadership, which was deemed important to assist and develop teachers to lead or co- lead through this time of great change in education. Understanding the difference in leadership scores before and after participation in a teacher leadership professional development academy could assist teachers, administrators, districts, policymakers, and researchers to develop and set expectations for transformational teacher leadership professional development.

Recommendations. Provide teacher leaders, administrators, superintendents, and pre- service teachers with transformational leadership development on the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership. Provide opportunities for 360-degree feedback with the use of the Leadership Practices Inventory in conjunction with the use of the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.

ABSTRACT DEVELOPING COLLECTIVE TEACHER EFFICACY THROUGH JOB-EMBEDDED PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ELEMENTARY TEACHERS Michele Schluntz, Ed.D. Department of Curriculum and Instruction Northern Illinois University, 2018 Elizabeth Wilkins, Director The purpose of this mixed-method study was to explore the outcomes of a Job-Embedded Professional Development (JEPD) approach on Collective Teacher Efficacy (CTE). Teachers volunteered to participate in one of three literacy teams designed for the study. At the opening of the study, teachers completed the Collective Teacher Efficacy Belief Scale (CTEBS) to determine the level of CTE present prior to engaging in the JEPD sessions. During the three JEPD sessions, teachers engaged in meaningful conversations about situated problems of practice and potential changes to address such concerns. At the conclusion of each JEPD session, teachers completed individual reflection journals documenting their experiences. Upon completion of the final JEPD session, teachers again completed the CTEBS. The study concluded with the completion of one-on-one interviews to provide a deeper understanding to the responses provided through the individual reflection journals. Three major findings were identified in this study. First, it was concluded that a JEPD approach to the professional development of teachers may play a role in influencing CTE. Second, this study supported the Social Cognitive Theory framework of human agency and Triadic Reciprocal Causation. And third, meaningful conversations about situated learning in authentic problems of practice contributed to the development of CTE. As a result of these findings, this study supports a sociocultural approach to the professional development of teachers. Embedded in Vygotsky?s (1978) Socio-cultural Theory, there are five principles that encompass a sociocultural approach to teacher professional development. Teachers in this study experience four out of the five: teacher agency, situational appropriate, dialogical practice, and systemic in view. Utilizing these findings, recommendations for professional development and future research are also discussed.

Teacher leadership in schools has evolved many times as schools have looked to utilize teacher leaders in various ways to help support school organization, school reform, and ultimately impact student achievement. The purpose of this study is to develop, and evaluate the impact of a curriculum for leadership development rooted in the Teacher Leader Model Standards. The Teacher Leader Model Standards were published in 2011 by the Teacher Leadership Model Consortium and using those standards as a foundation for research and development, a course was created that provided participants with readings and activities designed to have a positive impact on their understanding of teacher leadership from the classroom perspective.

This study utilized a mixed methods design as participants completed both pre- and post-surveys based on the Teacher Leader Model Standards, as well as participated in focus groups. The data collected in surveys, gleaned from the focus groups, as well as my own field notes were utilized to look at the overall impact of the curriculum in improving teacher efficacy.

The study results indicate that there was a significant impact in teacher efficacy in six of the seven domains assessed.