Teacher Leaders Designing and Facilitating Professional Development for Teachers

Research on Teacher Leaders Designing and/or Facilitating Professional Development

Teacher leaders frequently provide support to classroom teachers through designing and/or facilitating professional development. Teacher leaders provide various kinds of professional development for teachers (e.g., workshops, seminars, courses) which may be multiple sessions or one-time events. In providing professional development, teacher leaders focus on particular subject matter content or pedagogical approaches intended to build the instructional skills and abilities of classroom teachers. Seventeen studies featured teacher leaders involved in the design and/or facilitation of professional development of classroom teachers (See Table 1).

Subject

Instructional Support Strategies

Name of Study (Click on the name of each study to read a description of the intervention involving teacher leaders' designing and/or facilitating professional development.) [PDF 96K]

Secondary department chair roles: Ambiguity and change in systemic reform (Bliss et al., 1995)

9-12

*

*

*

*

*

Elementary school leadership strategies and subject matter: Reforming mathematics and literacy instruction (Burch & Spillane, 2003)

K-5

*

*

*

*

*

Improving instructional capacity through field-based reform coaches (Coggins et al., 2003)

K–12

*

*

Integrating academic and practical knowledge in a teacher leaders' development program (Even, 1999)

6-12

*

*

Teacher Leaders for Mathematics Success (TL=MS). Final evaluation report (Fancsali, 2004)

K-8

*

*

*

*

*

Infusing earth systems concepts throughout the curriculum (Fortner & Boyd, 1995)

K–12

*

*

Findings from the multi-agency study of teacher enhancement programs (Frechtling & Katzenmeyer, 2001)

K–12

*

*

*

*

The summative evaluation of the Science Quality Education Project (SQEP) (Gillis et al., 1991)

K–12

*

*

*

*

Constraints and contributors to becoming a science teacher-leader (Lewthwaite, 2006)

K-5

*

*

Content is the subject: How teacher leaders with different subject knowledge interact with teachers (Manno & Firestone, 2006)

K–12

*

*

*

*

*

Pebbles in the ocean or fountains of change? New insights on professional development: Examining the links--Professional development, teacher leaders, and school change (Miller et al., 1999)

K-5

*

*

*

*

The role of the science co-ordinator in primary schools. A survey of headteachers' views (Moore, 1992)

K-5

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

The dissemination of doing chemistry. Final evaluation (Russell, 1990)

8-12

*

*

*

A telecommunications project to empower Kansas elementary/middle level teachers as change agents for integrated science and mathematics education (Slater et al., 1998)

K-8

*

*

*

Urban school leadership for elementary science instruction: Identifying and activating resources in an undervalued school subject (Spillane et al., 2001)

2-5

*

*

A state-wide change initiative: The Primary Science Teacher-Leader Project (Venville et al., 1998)

K-5

*

*

Six leadership models for professional development in science and mathematics (Wallace et al., 1999)

K-5

*

*

*

*

*

*

The MSP-Knowledge Management and Dissemination project conducted an extensive review of the empirical literature on teacher leadership. The review was based on a rigorous process developed by the MSP-KMD project (read a detailed description of the process) that applied standards of evidence to the findings of each study. In the review, seventeen studies were found in which teacher leaders designed and/or facilitated professional development for teachers. These studies examined professional development provided by teacher leaders in two ways. One set of studies examined teacher leaders engaged in the practice of designing and/or facilitating professional development for teachers. Another set of studies investigated the impact of programs that prepared teacher leaders to provide instructional support to teachers, including designing and/or facilitating professional development.

Teacher leaders engaged in the design and/or facilitation of professional development

Seven studies (Bliss, 1999; Burch & Spillane, 2003; Coggins et al., 2003; Gillis et al., 1991; Manno & Firestone, 2006; Moore, 1992; Spillane et al., 2001) examined teacher leaders engaged in the practice of designing and/or facilitating professional development for teachers. These seven studies examined two different aspects of this practice: the impact of subject area and content knowledge on teacher leaders engaged in providing professional development for teachers, and the likelihood of teacher leaders providing professional development compared to other teacher leader activities in support of classroom teachers.

Teacher leaders in the STEM disciplines may be more likely to provide professional development to teachers than teacher leaders in English/language arts. Spillane et al. (2001) found that teacher leaders in science were more likely to be engaged in instructional leadership practices, including providing professional development for teachers, than teacher leaders in the language arts. Bliss (1999) found that teacher leaders in mathematics were more likely than teacher leaders in science or English to be engaged in instructional leadership practices, including providing professional development for teachers. These findings should be considered in light of the methodological strengths and limitations of these two studies. The studies examined teacher leadership in different subject areas and in different grade ranges, suggesting that the findings are applicable across settings. Spillane et al. (2001) drew from multiple sources of data and described data analysis strategies which support the validity of the findings. Bliss (1999) drew from a single source of data and included little information on data analysis. Neither study provided information on how participants were identified, which limits the generalizability of these findings to other teacher leaders. While these studies provide some support for the claim that teacher leader roles in professional development may differ by subject area, additional research is warranted.

Teacher leaders with deeper knowledge of subject area content and pedagogy may be more likely to provide support to classroom teachers through designing and/or facilitating professional development. Manno and Firestone (2006) compared the practice of teacher leaders identified as content experts, defined as holding a Bachelor’s degree and certification in mathematics or science, to teacher leaders without such degrees or certification. Manno and Firestone (2006) found that teacher leaders identified as content experts were more likely to provide support in curriculum implementation, including professional development, and established greater trust between themselves and the teachers with whom they worked. Coggins et al. (2003) found that instructional coaches were more likely to provide instructional support to teachers, including designing and/or facilitating professional development, if the coach felt that they were knowledgeable about issues related to classroom pedagogy and subject area content. Both studies used multiple data sources and included teacher leaders from grades K–12, providing some evidence that these findings apply across school settings. Coggins et al. (2003) as well as Manno and Firestone (2006) provided detailed descriptions in support of the reliability of their data analysis strategies and instrumentation, providing additional confidence in the validity of their findings. These studies indicate that knowledge of subject area content and pedagogy may influence the likelihood that teacher leaders provide support to classroom teachers through professional development.

Two studies (Gillis et al., 1991; Moore, 1992) considered the frequency with which teacher leaders designed and/or facilitated professional development, compared to other forms of support for teachers. Findings from these two studies are mixed. Moore (1992) reported that providing professional development is among the most common activities in which science coordinators were expected to engage. Gillis et al. (1991) found that, in a study of science teacher leaders, informal forms of sharing with teachers were more frequently reported than formal forms of support, such as providing workshops. These findings should be viewed with caution, as both studies relied on a single source of data. Given these concerns, additional research is needed to identify factors that impact when teacher leaders engage in professional development among other possible teacher leader activities.

Programs impacting teacher leader engagement in the design and/or facilitation of professional development for teachers

Teacher leaders, when prepared explicitly to lead professional development of other teachers, go on to provide professional development for teachers. When teacher leaders are prepared without explicit attention to leading professional development, this practice becomes one of several strategies they employ to support classroom teachers. Ten studies (Even, 1999; Fancsali, 2004; Fortner & Boyd, 1995; Frechtling & Katzenmeyer, 2001; Lewthwaite, 2006; Miller et al., 1999; Russell, 1990; Slater et al., 1998; Venville et al., 1998; Wallace et al., 1999) included findings related to the impact of teacher leader preparation programs on their participants, for whom designing and/or facilitating professional development for teachers was an outcome. In studies of programs where teacher leaders were prepared to lead professional development with a specific design, such as two-day workshops (Slater et al., 1998), and around a specific set of instructional materials, such as a new curriculum (Russell, 1990; Slater et al., 1998), the teacher leaders used only these specified strategies for working with other teachers. Programs that prepared teacher leaders to engage in unspecified instructional support to teachers (Fancsali, 2004; Fortner & Boyd, 1995; Frechtling & Katzenmeyer, 2006) reported that teacher leaders engaged in designing and/or facilitating professional development as one of several possible strategies for supporting teachers’ classroom instruction. This suggests that initiatives that employ teacher leaders with the expectation that they will provide professional development for teachers should address, in the preparation of the teacher leaders, the content and design of the professional development that they will be leading.

The alignment of teacher leader preparation with the activities they engage in as teacher leaders is supported by the findings of two related studies: Miller et al. (1999) and Wallace et al. (1999). Wallace et al. (1999) found that teacher leaders reproduced in their own practice the model of teacher leadership presented to them in their teacher leader preparation program. Miller et al. (1999) extended the findings from Wallace et al. (1999) with attention to the impact of mathematics, science and leadership content in the model of the preparation programs on teacher leader practice. Miller et al. (1999) found that these models, and thus teacher leader practices, varied in the level of teacher leader initiated activities for teachers. The variability was attributed to the degree to which the models included preparation in leadership knowledge and skills, such as how to effectively lead workshops or understanding principles of adult learning, in addition to knowledge of mathematics or science content and pedagogy. This finding from Miller et al. (1999) underscores that attention to leadership skills in teacher leader preparation directly impacted which strategies, including providing professional development, teacher leaders employed when providing instructional support to classroom teachers.

Among the set of studies investigating programs that prepared teacher leaders, the majority (Fancsali, 2004; Frechtling & Katzenmeyer, 2001; Lewthwaite, 2006; Miller et al., 1999; Slater et al., 1998; Wallace, 1999) supported their findings through analysis that considered data from multiple sources. This set included studies of teacher leaders across all grade levels within K–12, and in mathematics and science, providing some evidence that these findings apply across settings. A common methodological concern among these studies is a lack of information on the selection of participants, or the use of samples where participation in the program was voluntary (Fortner & Boyd, 1995; Lewthwaite, 2006 Slater et al., 1998; Venville et al., 1998). This limits the generalizability of these findings, in that the findings might be attributed to a common characteristic among the participants rather than the program intervention. This concern is mitigated to an extent by consistencies in the findings and methodological strengths across the studies. Considered as a set of studies, there is support for the claim that teacher leaders are more likely to provide professional development for teachers when prepared explicitly to engage in this practice.

For a bibliography for the research on lesson planning, click here. [PDF 15K]

The three studies described above were part of a more inclusive review of research on teacher leaders' practices designed to provide instructional support to teachers. For a summary of research on teacher leaders' instructional support practice, click here. [PDF 262K]