Coaching Teachers To Be Leaders

by Evelyn Cortez-Ford
How Do I Know If Teacher Leadership Is Working?
For principals and teachers who have worked hard to embed structures and processes of teacher leadership, that question is an important one. It is grounded in an understanding that "gut feelings" are not enough to fully understand effectiveness. Creating a community of leaders seems like the right thing to do, but how can schools ensure that teacher leadership is supporting the achievement of school goals?
Of course, the answer lies in the data process. A school's ability to improve is dependent upon its ability to make data-based decisions about professional development, goal setting, instruction, curriculum, programs, and teacher leadership. To ensure that schools are improving, a variety of data must be collected. Perception data is particularly useful in understanding how teacher leadership is working.

COLLECT PERCEPTION DATA Perception data is valuable to determine if teacher leadership is working because it can provide valuable information about the beliefs, opinions, and attitudes of students, staff, and parents. Perception data can provide insight into how the members of the school community view the effectiveness of teacher leadership. It answers the question How are we doing?
Perception data can be collected in a variety of ways including the following methods:
Surveys and questionnaires. This method of collecting perception data is relatively straightforward. Creating a survey is an easy process that permits control over the kinds of questions asked based on the information desired.
Individual or group interviews. Surveys are a good place to start, but to delve deeper and gain more information about teacher leadership you might consider conducting interviews. Sometimes, the information gained from a survey or questionnaire is puzzling. Individual or groups interviews allow for asking follow-up questions that dig a little deeper.
Observation of teacher leader activities. A third way to collect perception data is direct observation, which is useful for understanding leadership behaviours, processes, and events. Observations of teacher leaders facilitating a meeting, delivering professional development, and coaching another teacher on an instructional technique are examples of observable situations.
Surveys, interviews, and direct observations are useful tools in understanding the attitudes, values, and beliefs about the effectiveness of teacher leadership when used regularly and efficiently. Perception data can add important information about the school's improvement efforts.