Providing Classroom Release Time for Teacher Leaders

Teacher leaders – current or former classroom teachers working with other classroom teachers and other educators in the school or district – are present in many reform efforts in mathematics and science education. Teacher leaders may be released from traditional classroom responsibilities to engage in their work as teacher leaders. The amount of release time provided to teacher leaders varies broadly and influences their support to other teachers. Whether teacher leaders are granted no-, part-, or full-time release, expectations for teacher leader practice should be aligned with the amount of release time provided.

Practice-based Insights on Providing Release Time for Teacher Leaders

Advice from experienced practitioners offers guidance to those involved in decision making regarding release time for teacher leaders. Insights provided by a group of expert practitioners with diverse backgrounds and experiences in working with teachers included the following ideas:

• Make a public statement – Emphasize that providing release time for teacher leaders signals that substantive work is expected.
• Support is key – Advocate that teacher leaders depend on administrator support for their work.
• Make the best of the situation – Recommend that teacher leaders work, to the extent possible, within established structures for improving classroom practice.
• Capitalize on the classroom – Ensure that teacher leaders who continue to have classroom teaching responsibilities take advantage of their own classrooms in their leadership work.
• Be strategic in the use of time – Work with teacher leaders to be purposeful about how and when release time is used.
• Create a pipeline – Advocate for no, part- and full-time release teacher leaders when possible.

Teacher Leadership Matters

Empirical evidence shows that teacher leaders' practice impacts teachers' instructional practice and, in some studies, provides evidence of positive impact on student outcomes. Findings across studies include:

• Teacher leaders' practice, particularly in providing instructional support to teachers, impacts teachers' classroom practice.
• Teacher leaders' practice occurs in a larger context of conditions that impact teachers' practice.
• Teacher leaders' practice is related to positive student outcomes.

Research on Providing Classroom Release Time for Teacher Leaders

In a review of the published empirical literature, eleven research studies were identified that included findings related to release time for teacher leadership. Findings from across these studies indicated that part- or no- time release teacher leaders reduced the opportunities teacher leaders had to work directly with teachers in their classrooms and that additional release time was needed to support teacher leaders’ influence on teachers' classroom instruction. There was strong support for the validity of these findings, which were consistent across studies of different subject areas and grade levels.