Issues in Teacher Leadership 

A Comparison of Three Articles by Megan Donoff

First Article: ​T​eacher Leaders and Student Achievement: Can the Dots be Connected?​. Authors’
Calderone Kent and Green (2016) ​conducted a study about the benefits of schools developing teacher
leaders. The author connects several writings on educational leadership. The article repeatedly compares
the authors’ findings to the findings in other studies. These studies include ​Characteristics based on the
literature of Danielson (​ 2006, 2007), ​Andrews & Crowther ​(2002), and ​York-Barr & Duke (2004) for these
connections. The findings in summary were that although teacher leadership could not be directly
connected to all student achievement, there were several positive benefits to the school in having teacher
leaders. The author states that “the results of this study suggest that teacher leaders are more effective in
increasing student academic achievement in advanced students than with non- advanced students.” The
authors suggested that this study is useful in identifying important leadership characteristics and trying to
put them into practice.

Second Article: ​The Many Faces of Leadership. ​Danielson, C. (2007) conducted a study about ​what
some have called the “leadership itch.” This “itch” is the desire for teachers to be leaders beyond the walls
of their classroom. The different categories of teacher leaders are split between formal and informal
leaders. Formal are given titles such as department chair or instructional coach. They are assigned
specific tasks and rigidly defined leadership roles. Informal teacher leaders, however, naturally emerge as
leaders in their school. They are the teachers who ​take the initiative to address a particular problem or
institute a new program.

Third Article: ​A Culture in Common​: Ravitch (1991) conducted a study about diversity in classrooms and
the importance of teaching cultural understanding. The article discusses the difference between
multiculturalism and the common culture. The common culture being the gross generalization of the
American classroom grating against the ethnic and social diversity. The article calls teachers to be
leaders in instilling empathy and training students to connect with those from a different cultural
background than themselves.

Compare/Contrast: These three articles suggest that leadership is a sought after and highly valuable role
for educators to hold. They all discuss what leadership looks like in the educational field and what traits or
characteristics teacher leaders possess. However, whereas Authors’ ​Calderone Kent and Green (2016)
focus more on how leadership affects academics of students​, Danielson focuses more on how to inspire
leadership. The last article I read was selected as a research based connection to my inquiry “How can I
improve communication and experience for teachers and our international families?” My leadership skills
for this individualized learning plan involved teaching my fellow educators how to communicate more
effectively and inspire connections to internationally visiting students of foreign cultural background.

These articles inform my teaching practice by identifying leadership qualities and aiding in the process of
developing myself as a leader. The third article mentioned above in particular, instills a sense of
obligation to pursue global citizenship and teach culturally responsive pedagogy.
 Articles Cited:

Calderone,S, Kent, A, and Green, A. (2016). Teacher Leaders and Student Achievement: can the dots
be connected? ​Revista Eletrônica de Educação, 12​.
DANIELSON, C. Teacher leadership that strengthens professional practice. Alexandria, VA:
Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. 2006. DANIELSON, C. The many faces
of leadership. Educational Leadership, 65(1) 14-19, 2007.

Danielson, C. (2007). The Many Faces of Leadership. ​Educational Leadership, 65​(1).

Ravitch, D. (1991). A Culture in Common. ​ASCD​, ​Dec.Jan. Retrieved from

http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/journals/ed_lead/el_199112_ravitch.pdf​.