Teacher Leaders as Change Agents: Scaling Up a Middle School Reading Initiative

• In Event: 46.046 - Teacher Leaders' Influence on Content Instruction

Abstract

This study investigates the role of Teacher Leaders (TLs) in a district’s initiative to scale-up an Evidence Based Practice, Collaborative Strategic Reading, in all its middle schools. Qualitative analysis was used to compare activities and perceptions of teacher leadership by the TLs, the teachers they supported, administrators and district leaders. Findings show variability in multiple aspects of CSR teacher leadership, including the number of hours allotted for release time, the activities enacted, and the perceived success of the TLs to support the CSR initiative. Schools purported to enact a successful TL model practiced collective conceptions of leadership that included guidance from district CSR coaches and a valuing of the formal CSR certification process.

Authors

• Karla Scornavacco, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Alison Gould Boardman, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Chao Wang, University of Colorado