Teacher Leadership leads to Individual and School Wide Growth

In the article ‘Teacher Leadership Is Linked to Higher Student Test Scores in New
Study’, Madeline Will (2017) conducted a study in order to determine if there was a
positive correlation between teacher leadership roles in schools and student test scores.
The study conducted gathered data from over 1 million teachers from 25,000 schools in
16 states between 2011-2015.This study concluded that there was in fact a positive
correlation between teacher leadership roles and student test scores as the data
showed that schools with the highest level of leadership opportunities rank on average
10 percentile points higher in both Language Arts and Math as opposed to schools with
lower levels of teacher leadership. The author suggested that since teachers are closest
to their students, they know what they need in order to succeed. Therefore, with this in
mind, the author stated that schools ought to compose an effective school improvement
team consisting of both teachers and administrators as they both play an integral role in
student achievement.
                In the article ‘The Many Faces of Leadership’, Charlotte Danielson (2007)
conducted a study in regards to various roles and opportunities within the school and
the wider profession that allow teachers to extend their reach outside the classroom. In
her article, Danielson surveyed a wide array of educators across subject matters in
order to determine ways in which they were able to step into leadership roles either
within their school site or in the larger educational community. One such example was
Maria, a high school Spanish teacher who noticed that there were not ample
opportunities for her to engage with other foreign language teachers in the area as the
state organization of language teachers had not recruited many members in her school
or in neighboring schools. With this in mind, Maria started a chapter of the American
Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese in her area, therefore allowing her
to not only step into a leadership role but also learn practical classroom skills from the
other teachers who were involved as well. In her article, Danielson suggested that while
much weight and stress is placed on Administrators to lead the school, the administrator
cannot be an expert on everything. Therefore it is beneficial to have a well-qualified
group of educators in leadership positions in order to further the improvement of the
school.
                Both of these articles provide support for the claim that teacher leadership
brings about positive change not only to the school community but to the profession
altogether. However, while Madeline Will advocates for increased teacher leadership
positions in regards to school wide decisions, Charlotte Danielson recommends that
teachers develop leadership positions if there are none available to them, as this
provides a means both educator and school-wide growth.
                Charlotte Danielson’s article ‘The Many Faces of Leadership’ directly spoke to
me, as I have had the opportunity to step into greater leadership positions this year in
leading both department and PLC meetings.
References

 Will, M. (2017).  Teacher Leadership is Linked to Higher Student Test Scores

in New Study. Education Week Teacher.
 Danielson, C. (2007). The Many Faces of Leadership. Educational
Leadership, 65(1).