Teacher Collaboration and Teacher Leadership: Two Resources for Reimagining Equitable School Systems

• In Event: We Are All in This Together: Distributed, Shared, and Collaborative Leadership

Abstract

Existing research indicates teacher collaboration and teacher leadership support instructional improvement and student learning. As efforts are underway to further advance educational equity, it is important to understand the relationship between these two school level resources for improving educational systems. This study reports findings from a survey conducted with teachers in a U.S. school district (n=1001). The survey included a measure of teacher collaboration, two measures of teacher leadership, and demographic questions. Results indicate that collaboration is a significant positive predictor of teacher leadership. Furthermore, holding a graduate degree is a larger predictor of teacher leadership than collaboration. Findings highlight the need to protect time for collaboration and to better understand why graduate-level education experience positively predicts teacher leadership.

Authors

• Lauren Milam, Kentucky Department of Education

• Roger D. Goddard, The Ohio State University

• Anika Ball Anthony, The Ohio State University