Modeling how professional development interacts with teacher leaders’ outcome expectancies and school environment perceptions

ABSTRACT

There is increasing awareness that teacher leadership can serve a vital role in addressing many of the issues facing schools, but the conditions under which leadership capacity develops is still an open question. Most of the literature addressing this question is theoretical and based on small, qualitative studies. This quantitative investigation involving over 400 teacher leaders explores the relationships among teacher leaders’ outcome expectations and their perceptions of the school environment in which these teachers work. Further, a comparison of how these factors vary according to the teachers’ professional development experiences is examined. This manuscript provides validity arguments for a newly developed survey instrument. The findings of this investigation indicate that professional development focused specifically on developing teacher leadership is significantly associated with elevated outcome expectancies, and that a possible explanation for this increase might be related to how the professional development influences teacher leaders’ views of the resources in their school environment.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants 1758462, 1853560, 1758452, 1758438, and 1758342. Results shared in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the National Science Foundation [1758462, 1853560, 1758452, 1758438, 1758342].

Notes on contributors

Steven G. Barth

Steven G. Barth is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Carolina, Columbia. His research interests include structural equation modeling, teacher preparation and professional development, and teacher leadership development.

Brett A. Criswell

Brett A. Criswell is an associate professor of science education at West Chester University. His research foci include the development of [STEM] teacher leaders and the use of video in teacher preparation to promote noticing for equity.

Wendy M. Smith

Wendy M. Smith is a research professor in the Department of Mathematics and the director of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center for Science, Mathematics, and Computer Education. Their research focuses on leveraging and sustaining institutional changes with attention to more equitable STEM teaching and learning.

Gregory T. Rushton

Gregory T. Rushton is a professor and Director of the Tennessee STEM Education Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. His current research interests include active learning STEM environments, institutional change efforts, and STEM teacher leadership.