Teacher leadership pursuit in one Iowa school district
Creators: name: Stier, Matthew J
Publisher: name: University of Iowa
Year: 2024
Subjects: Educational change
Educational leadership
Educational policy
Motivation
Self-determination theory
Teacher leadership
public abstract

description: Teacher leadership has become an increasingly important form of leadership within K-12 schools in the United States. State and district-level policies have been a central driver for the expansion of teacher leadership in the United States, including the Iowa Teacher Leadership and Compensation System (TLC), which provides funding to Iowa K-12 schools. The goals of the TLC are to create leadership opportunities for teachers, which will, in turn, support teacher collaboration and student achievement.
description: This qualitative case study explored how the TLC was implemented within one Iowa school district and why teachers engaged in teacher leadership roles. Data came from participant interviews, field observations, and documents collected during the 2019-20 school year. Interview participants included 14 teachers—nine of the teachers held teacher leadership roles, three previously held teacher leadership roles, and three administrators in the Esko School District (pseudonym). Self-determination theory served as the theoretical framework for this study as I examined how participants perceived the implementation and outcomes of the TLC program in the Esko School District and their decisions to pursue or not to pursue teacher leadership roles.
description: Findings revealed that the Esko School District lacked a clear vision and goals for their TLC program, which impeded the initial implementation resulting in ill-defined teacher leadership roles, limited impacts on teacher collaborations, and feelings of frustration among new teacher leaders. Despite these initial challenges, leaders were able to restructure the Esko TLC program and align it with district goals, resulting in improved collaborations among educators, increased leadership capacity, and creating an environment focused on continual improvement. Additionally, the findings indicated that several factors influenced participants’ motivations to engage in teacher leadership including the opportunity to engage in new opportunities for leadership outside of the classroom, professional interests in instructional and curricular-focused work, and the desire to collaborate with colleagues. Although external encouragement from peers and school leaders and additional pay acknowledged the abilities and efforts, these factors played a minimal role in participants' decisions to engage in teacher leadership.
description: This study contributes to the research on teacher leadership by providing additional insights into the factors that promote or inhibit teacher leadership pursuit. Additionally, this study contributes insights into why these factors influence teachers’ decisions to engage in teacher leadership by using self-determination theory as a theoretical lens, addressing a central critique of teacher leadership research—that teacher leadership research is largely atheoretical. This study's findings also have implications for teacher leadership programs' design, implementation, and support.