Examining the Human Capital of Teacher Leaders

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 12
  In Roundtable Session: School Leaders: Human Capital, Compensation, and Evaluation

Abstract

Recent research indicates that empowering teachers to observe and coach their peers can improve teaching quality and student achievement. Although researchers argue that these teacher leaders should possess content and pedagogical expertise, it remains to be seen if these broad constructs are captured by current measures of human capital, such as highest degree, years of experience, observation scores, and teacher value-added scores. In this study, we draw on administrative and survey data from the state of Tennessee to identify the observable characteristics of who becomes an instructional coach and/or teacher peer observer leader. Preliminary results indicate that teacher leaders are in fact more experienced, have higher levels of education, higher observation scores, and higher value-added scores compared to non-teacher leaders.

Authors

• Christopher Redding, University of Florida

• Seth B Hunter, George Mason University