Innovation at the Front Line: A Theoretical Model of Entrepreneurial Teacher Leadership

• In Event: Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Innovative Leadership Practices

Abstract

In this paper, we craft a descriptive theoretical model of teacher leadership based on the ways Entrepreneurial Teacher Leaders (ETLs) drive educational innovation. This paper responds to the gap in the literature where descriptions of teacher leadership fall short. The data supports a model that distinguishes strong, innovative, and influential teacher leaders from their less innovative colleagues. An ENA analysis of the interview data provides a visual mapping that sheds additional understanding of ETL and non-ETL perspectives. These results are significant in that is shifts the focus of teacher professional development away from content expertise to the well-rounded basis of five perspectives, the most important one being student engagement.

Authors

• Emily Savage, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Holli Burgon, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Janet S. Gaffney, The University of Auckland

• Raymond Price, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

• Elizabeth Bagley, University of Illinois

• Anita Martin, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Fouad S. Abd-El-Khalick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign