Does Teacher Leadership Matter? Teacher Decision-Making Authority and Student Achievement

• In Event: Distributed Leadership: The Process and Impact of Shifting Roles for Administrators and Teachers

Abstract

Using the 2015 PISA data, this study examined the relationship between teacher leadership in school decisions and student achievement, considering the influence of other decision-making authorities (i.e., principal, school board, government) and of principal support for distributed leadership. I found that teacher involvement in decision-making, especially in curriculum and staffing decisions, was weakly but positively associated with student achievement in reading. Distributed leadership was also significantly associated with student reading performance. Interestingly, school principals involved their teachers in other school decision domains (i.e., staffing, budgeting) besides curriculum, even though that is a core domain for teachers. These results suggest that principals should encourage teachers to be involved in curriculum decisions in order to improve student reading achievement.

Author

• Hansol Woo, Samsung Global Research