TIPS FOR MONITORING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHER LEADERSHIP

Develop a plan to collect perception data about the impact of teacher leadership on instructional change or student learning.
Possible questions: What kind of data will you collect? How often will you collect it? What information do you want to know? Who is your target group? How will you manage data? Who will manage the data (collecting, analyzing, storing, reporting)?
Continuously monitor teacher leadership using both formative assessments (data that show how you can improve) and summative evaluations (data that show how you did improve). Monitoring progress from the beginning will help you stay on track with your goals. The idea here is to check-in periodically with constituents and to make improvements throughout the year.
Possible questions: What are current administrator, teacher, or staff perceptions of the effectiveness of teacher leadership? How have the perceptions changed?
Collect data on various aspects of teacher leadership -- such as teams, individuals, or professional development -- to get a picture of what structures make the biggest impact to student learning.
Possible question: Are instructional practices improving as a result of coaching?
Intersect perception data with other data to get a clearer picture of the effectiveness of teacher leadership. Look at the data using the perception lens first, and then look at it in relation to student achievement data. Remember, teacher leadership is an endeavour that supports student learning, school improvement, and instructional change. Perception data, combined with other types of data, can provide a complete picture of the status of the school.
Possible question: Are the students of teachers who perceive their instructional practices improved as a result of coaching performing better than students of teachers who are not being coached?
Data is an important aspect of today's accountability climate. In fact, information derived from a variety of data sources makes continuous school improvement possible. Teacher leadership is an effective school improvement strategy when continuously informed by data-based decisions.