Developing Teacher Leaders
How Teacher Leadership Enhances School Success

Second Edition

Frank Crowther - University of Southern Queensland, Australia
Margaret Ferguson - UC Davis, USA
Leonne Hann - University of Southern Queensland, Australia

Foreword by Andy Hargreaves

Other Titles in:
Leadership | Mentoring | Staff Leadership

September 2008 | 216 pages | Corwin

'This book contributes to the literature on teacher leadership with a particular focus on schoolwide excellence in teaching, learning, and assessment. The exercises are filled with solid and practical but generative ideas.'ùRichard Ackerman, ProfessorThe University of MaineRediscover the importance of teacher leadership in revitalizing schools!Teacher leadership is a transformative process that can drive school and community reform. This revised edition of the groundbreaking bestseller builds on current research to help teachers and administrators work together to foster, develop, and support teacher leadership. Principals and staff developers will learn how collaborating with teacher leaders can result in significantly improved school outcomes. With the Teachers as Leaders Framework, teachers can become leaders who facilitate communities of learning, strive for pedagogical excellence, confront barriers in the school's culture and structures, and nurture a culture of success. Featured in the second edition are:Five new school case studies with insights about the complexity of teacher leadershipExpanded discussion of the capacity-building process for teacher leaders and principalsAn outline of a school development program based on teacher leadership and parallel leadership With exercises for systematically developing teacher leaders, the second edition of this invaluable guide is for every educator who believes in teacher leadership as a crucial step toward making schools a source of instruction and inspiration.

Foreword to the Second Edition by Andy Hargreaves

Preface to the Second Edition

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

1. Teachers as Leaders: Emergence of a New Paradigm

Needed: A New Paradigm of the Teaching Profession

Snapshot One: Greenhills State High School

Snapshot Two: Whistlerock Elementary School

Probing the Work of Teacher Leaders: An Exhilarating Endeavor

The Framework in Action

Conclusions

2. Five Premises to Guide Revitalization of the Teaching Profession

Sustaining the Reform Agenda

Snapshot Three: Adams Secondary College

Five Premises to Guide the Development of the Teaching Profession

Conclusions

3. Building School Capacity Through Shared Leadership

Snapshot Four: Johnsonvale State School

Defining Parallel Leadership

Three Essential Characteristics of Parallel Leadership

Parallelism in the Sciences, Arts, and Humanities

How Parallel Leadership Works in Schools

Holistic Professional Learning

Distinctive Culture Building

Schoolwide Pedagogical Development

The Dynamics of School Capacity Building

Conclusions

4. New Roles for School Principals

The Principal's Role: Change Is Overdue

Snapshot Five: Minnemanka Senior High School

The Principal’s Five Metastrategic Functions

Enabling Teacher Leadership: Seven Challenges for School Principals

Snapshot Six: St. Monica’s, Boeing Heights

Conclusions

5. Preparing for Teacher Leadership

Introduction

Key Questions and Concepts Underpinning the CLASS Plan

Orientation to, and Preparation for, the Program

Stimulating and Nurturing Teacher Leadership Capabilities

Developing Parallel Leadership Relationships and Strategies

Sustaining Teacher Leadership Into the Future

6. The CLASS Plan

Component One: Orientation

Component Two: Stimulating and Nurturing Teacher Leadership Capabilities

Component Three: Developing Parallel Leadership Relationships and Strategies

Component Four: Sustaining Teacher Leadership Into the Future

Resource A: Overview of the IDEAS Project

Resource B: Overview of the Teachers as Leaders Research Design

Resource C: A Report on the Michigan Review

References

Index

"I have used this book to teach educational leadership, and I recommend it highly to principals, professional learning specialists, and teacher leaders alike."

Jennifer York-Barr, Associate Professor

University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

"Case studies and vignettes are used effectively to demonstrate authentic applications of the authors’ theoretical perspective in diverse school settings. This research will empower principals and teachers."

Deborah Bambino, National School Reform Faculty

Harmony Education Center

"This book contributes to the literature on teacher leadership with a particular focus on schoolwide excellence in teaching, learning, and assessment. The exercises are filled with solid and practical but generative ideas."

Richard Ackerman, Professor

The University of Maine

The second edition of Developing Teacher Leaders provides a chronicle of new insights gained through the implementation of our initial research and extensive work in school capacity building in schools across Australia.

Testing and re-testing our theories of teacher leadership and parallel leadership, along with the introduction of a process for school capacity building has resulted in confirmation that such work brings about school success across a range of diverse school settings. This is reflected in our refinement of the crucial Teachers as Leaders Framework.

The implementation and professional critique of the exercises has resulted in a robust revision presented in the CLASS plan – a set of exercises to assist schools build t heir teacher leadership capacity.