Teacher leadership within a districtwide STEM teacher professional network

ABSTRACT

This research sought to investigate teacher leadership in a districtwide STEM professional network using a previously developed community of practice teacher leadership identity model (CoPTLM). A qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews was used for the identified teacher leaders, teacher collaborators, and network staff members. Collected interview data were analyzed with the CoPTLM in four stages (i.e. identifying and clustering ‘units of meaning’, reviewing profiles, and synthesizing across cases). The research revealed that leadership identity authoring for this professional network occurred as teachers engaged in four pursuits: (a) proposing, planning, and facilitating professional development, (b) collaborating with peers, (c) mentoring other teachers, and (d) communicating in a large group or to the public. Further, the research revealed the multiple identities teacher leaders take up as they engage in different communities of practice and how teacher leaders’ roles and identities are dynamically shaped by and help shape the professional learning of other teachers. The outcomes of this research provide insights into the complex and dynamic roles of teacher leadership in the districtwide STEM teacher professional network, while also providing insights into how other contexts (e.g. schools, community settings) can more thoughtfully create conditions under which TL can emerge and flourish.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The total number of survey respondents who named a teacher.

2. The summation of tie values between a teacher and each survey respondent that named them, where tie value is weighted to take into account frequency of collaboration and whether or not teachers worked in the same school.

3. The sum of shortest paths between this teacher and all other teachers, used to identify teachers who may act as a ‘bridge’ between different groups of teachers.

4. We recognize, like Wenger (1998), that CoPs can be varied in many ways, including with respect to their stages of development, the different levels of member interaction, and different activities CoPs undertake. However, because this current research sought only to identify the different and multiple CoPs in which teacher leaders engaged in the network and understand how TL identity was authored within and across these CoPs we did not distinguish between the varied types and instead referred to all more generically as CoPs.

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Math for America .

Notes on contributors

Byung-Yeol Park

Byung-Yeol Park is a Research Professor at Dankook University.

Todd Campbell

Todd Campbell is the Department Head of Curriculum and Instruction and a Professor of Science Education at the University of Connecticut.

Jennifer Hanrahan

Jennifer Hanrahan is a Director of Program Evaluation at MfA.

Tsamchoe Dolma

Tsamchoe Dolma is a Manager of Program Evaluation at MfA.

Eileen Murray

Eileen Murray is a Founder and Principal Consultant at Urso Educational Consulting.

John Russell

John Russell is a Director of Internal Research at EL Education.

Emily Lisy

Emily Lisy is a Doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Connecticut.

Yue Bai

Yue Bai is a Doctoral student in Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Connecticut.