Enhancing Teacher Leadership Influenced Through Principal Leadership

The world of education is constantly evolving with increased accountability and mounting responsibilities from Superintendents, to administrators, to classroom teachers. All stakeholders must work together in order for a school district to run efficiently for their students. Teacher leaders are essential in today’s schools if provided with an environment that encourages them to lead. Principals cannot move a building forward without teacher leadership. The purpose of this study is to explore teacher leadership influenced through principal leadership. A qualitative method approach will be used for this action research project. Data collection will consist of survey questions given to both principals and teachers. Participants will complete the Teacher Leadership Self-Assessment created by Katzenmeyer and Katzenmeyer (2004) survey and open-ended responses. All eight schools in the district located in Southwestern Pennsylvania will participate in this research study. Results indicated that the teachers in the district frequently engaged in behaviors that support self-awareness, diversity, and instructional proficiency. They least often engaged in behaviors related to communication, continuous improvement, and leading change. Communication has to improve in the district in order for teachers to improve as leaders. In addition, teachers want to feel supported and encouraged by their principals. Professional development regarding teacher leadership needs to be supportive, systematic, and strategic in order for teacher leaders to emerge in the district. Principals must communicate, support, build confidence, and motivate teachers in order to begin to build teacher leadership in the district.