Restructuring Leadership Through Comprehensive School Reform [microform]: the Impact on Teacher Leadership PDF Download

Author: Rutherford, Camille
Publisher: Library and Archives Canada = Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
ISBN: 9780494078594
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 426

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Book Description
Qualitative data were collected over a four-year period where a team of researchers, including the author, made annual visits to the schools to conduct interviews with school staff as well as district administrators. The interviewees included district administrators, school administrators, teachers and members of the support staff. Over 100 interviews were conducted and analyzed for this study. This study examines the restructuring of school leadership at two schools implementing comprehensive school reform models---specifically the Comer School Development Program and Edison Schools models---and investigates the impact these new organizational structures have had on teacher leadership. The impact on teacher leadership was assessed by examining teacher participation in the decision-making process, opportunities for teachers to participate in and lead professional development sessions and the nature and frequency of faculty cooperation and collaboration. To get a full picture of the restructuring process the degree to which these new structures differed from traditional structures was investigated as well as the factors that help or hindered the change process. The research findings indicate that while the structure implemented at the Edison site differed greatly from traditional school leadership structures, as it distributed leadership influence and enhanced the scope and nature of teacher leadership, the structure instituted at the Comer site closely resembled the typical school organizational structure and had little impact on teacher leadership. In part, this was due to differences in the level of implementation of each reform model. Frequent and ongoing contact with the design team and strong site leadership were factors that affected the degree of implementation. The findings also indicate that specific structural elements are required if teacher leadership is to flourish. These elements include procedures that allow teachers play a greater role in the decision-making process; programs that supply teachers with frequent and ongoing opportunities to participate in, produce and deliver professional development training; and systems that create scheduled opportunities for teachers to cooperate and collaborate with their colleagues. The results of this research have implications for how structural changes can be used to influence the nature and scope of teacher leadership practice.