Pathways to Instructional Leadership: A Closer Look at the Shanghai Teacher-Expertise Infusion System

• In Event: 54.080 - Roundtable Session 22
  In Roundtable Session: 54.080-9 - Policy Effects on Leaders in International Contexts

Abstract

The urgency in today’s schools call for a distributed instructional leadership model where teachers are not just recipients of professional development, but also active leaders who are coaches and mentors for their peers. Our study examines the teacher leadership development system in Shanghai, and seeks to identify pathways to constructing actionable models that develop and maximize instructional expertise. Through interviews and observations, our findings identify three key features: recognizing, differentiating, and labeling teacher expertise at multiple mastery levels; providing expert teachers with support and leadership responsibilities to lead practice-embedded and cross-school peer learning; and creating a roadmap for teachers to chart continuous learning pathways individually and build an enhanced content pedagogical knowledgebase collectively.

Authors

• Xiu Cravens, Vanderbilt University

• Jianjun Wang, East China Normal University