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Elementary teacher leaders: theory and methodology of development

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dc.contributor.authorMedina, Andrew J., author
dc.contributor.authorTimpson, William M., advisor
dc.contributor.authorAragon, Antonette, committee member
dc.contributor.authorBimper, Albert, committee member
dc.contributor.authorFolkestad, James, committee member
dc.date.accessioned2007-01-03T06:42:57Z
dc.date.available2007-01-03T06:42:57Z
dc.date.issued2014
dc.description.abstractEducation reform in K-12 public education continues to be a national priority. The call for improvement includes teachers to emerge as leaders to reform K-12 education where it matters most – at the classroom level. In the past decade, the discussion of teacher leadership is gaining legitimacy in education literature as well as in educational practice. The first section discusses topics in current educational reform that have led to the conclusion a new paradigm is needed in the teaching profession. The second part considers challenges of teacher leadership. The third part discusses what is known about teacher leadership. This review is an attempt to place teacher leadership in context of changing work force issues and improving student achievement in Jefferson County Schools K-6. The purposes of this study are to explain teacher leadership in Jefferson County K-6 public education and to identify the principles of effective teacher leadership and the barriers that inhibit teacher leader participation in public school reform efforts. This study presented eight principles from complexity theory. Complexity theory suggests K-6 public education be viewed as a complex organization calling for leadership that can transform education from past practices and to prepare public education for the twenty-first century. Identification of a set of guiding principles in teacher leadership practice could further empower classroom teachers in public school reform. The eight principles and implications for teacher leadership explain how educational and organizational theories apply to issues related to teacher leadership in elementary public education. Several factors were studied related to distributive leadership. Leadership types, roles and positions, influence, context, and expertise are factors. If factors are considered with regard to interactions of leaders, followers, and the situation, then practice can be placed centrally in a framework for leadership practice. The tenets used to frame the analysis were related to distributed leadership and pertaining to elementary public education. Sociocultural learning was a way to analyze how teachers were learning to be teacher leaders in public elementary education. A teacher (person) is learning in characteristic ways by engaging in social processes (activity) in a defined community of practice (world). Teacher leaders participate in various activities in the school system. Participation sets a teacher leader on a trajectory to becoming a member in the social world of elementary public education. Sociocultural learning theory provides a lens through which the social world and participation in activities that places the person as the focal point. This view suggests practice in social structures as a way of explaining the person as a learner. This perspective maintains an explicit focus on the whole person as inseparable from learning by membership in a learning community. From this view, learning to lead is an activity engaged in by classroom teachers in elementary education. Given this study of teacher leaders is a grounded theory from case studies, a theoretical framework explains the key constructs that were studied and presumed relationships among them. The three theoretical constructs for this study of teacher leaders are the guiding principles of complexity of their work, qualities of practices in the distribution of leadership, and sociocultural learning experience. The outcome of this study is a theory and a process of teacher leaders' development and practice.
dc.format.mediumborn digital
dc.format.mediumdoctoral dissertations
dc.identifierMedina_colostate_0053A_12328.pdf
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10217/82620
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherColorado State University. Libraries
dc.relation.ispartof2000-2019
dc.rightsCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.
dc.subjecteducational leader
dc.subjecteducational resource
dc.subjectelementary education
dc.subjectorganizational leader
dc.subjectorganizational resource
dc.subjectteacher leader
dc.titleElementary teacher leaders: theory and methodology of development
dc.typeText
dcterms.rights.dplaThis Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights (https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/). You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
thesis.degree.disciplineEducation
thesis.degree.grantorColorado State University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

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