Enacting Shared Leadership Within the Context of a Teacher-Led School

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Investigating Teacher Leadership

Abstract

This study explored how distributed or shared leadership was enacted within the context of a school leadership model where teachers lead all aspects of school decision making. Using case study methodology and a distributed leadership perspective, the investigator studied two elementary schools in Maine, USA that reorganized to more broadly and equitably distribute leadership among teachers and staff and involved parents and community members. This created more opportunities for stakeholders to lead and empowered them to make decisions, produced more democratic and transparent decision making, and kept decisions student-centered. The study broadens our understanding of how leadership could be distributed or shared beyond the principal-led school leadership model, and identifies key supports and challenges to consider.

Author

• Janet C. Fairman, University of Maine