The Relative Importance of Work With Teacher Leaders in Promoting Instructional Change: An Exploratory Study

• In Event: Innovative System and School Redesign: Improving Leadership Practice to Support Instructional Reform

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to test propositions about the relative importance of teachers’ work with teacher leaders in supporting instructional change. We view the broad process of instructional change from two vantage points: teachers’ reflection on their practice, and their perceptions about how much they have changed their practice. Ideas that organized and motivated the inquiry are grounded in experiential learning models and sociocultural learning theories. Reflecting on and synthesizing these theoretical perspectives, we developed potential explanations of the relative importance of interactions with teacher leaders in the instructional change process compared with other factors.

A quantitative approach was used to test relationships between teachers’ work contexts on one hand, and their engagement in reflective practice and instructional change on the other. We used two-level hierarchical linear models which nested teachers within schools. Teacher survey data used for these models come from 922 teachers in 43 schools who taught reading/language arts or English.

Two outcomes were examined—teachers’ engagement in reflective practice and self-reported change in English/Language Arts instructional practice. The key independent variable measuring the frequency of teachers’ work with teacher leaders was captured with 5 items that formed a scale with a reliability of .86. Measures of other factors that might support instructional change included: teachers’ participation in formal professional development, teachers’ engagement in peer collaboration, the degree to which teachers accessed instructional advice networks, and social capital supports for improvement (teacher trust, open dialogue, and innovative climate).

We found substantial support for the proposition that contexts in which teachers have regular access to teacher leaders can support instructional change. Teachers who spent more time working with teacher leaders were significantly more likely to engage in reflective practice and report greater changes in their English/Language Arts instruction. We also found a positive association between the two outcomes lending support to the proposition that experiences that engage teachers in reflection may support the adoption of new practices.

While interacting with teacher leaders was positively associated with both outcomes, results for other factors were less consistent. Teachers who worked with colleagues more often, who sought advice from colleagues more regularly, and who participated in professional development more often, reported significantly higher levels of reflective practice. However, none of these three factors were positively associated with reports of instructional change. While not conclusive, these results suggest that working with teacher leaders can play a particularly important role in supporting teacher development.

We believe these results are significant because they speak directly to longstanding assertions from policymakers and researchers that access to instruction experts and opportunities for reflection support instructional improvement. While certainly not conclusive, the exploratory results provide a modest basis for continued support and further exploration and development of teacher learning opportunities with these characteristics.

Authors

• Eric M. Camburn, University of Wisconsin

• Seong Won Han, University at Buffalo - SUNY