As schools enter a new calendar year with fresh energy, many leaders bring renewed focus to fueling conditions in which teachers and students thrive. Increasingly, research points to a powerful lever for both strengthening school communities and improving student outcomes: teacher leadership. When teachers play meaningful roles in shaping instruction, culture, and shared improvement efforts, schools can become even more vibrant, effective places for learning and growth.
Teacher Leadership and Administrator Support: The Evidence
A recent meta-analysis found that teacher leadership is positively associated with student achievement, particularly when teachers influence curriculum, instruction, and assessment (Shen et al., 2020). This finding is encouraging for school leaders because teacher leadership is a resource that every school—large or small, rural or urban—can intentionally cultivate.
A second landmark adds an important insight: principals play a central role in activating teacher leadership by shaping the conditions in which it can develop. Research shows that principals can influence teacher leadership and student achievement outcomes when they focus on creating positive, safe, and collaborative school climates (Sebastian, et al., 2016).
Together, these studies offer a clear message: teacher leadership is most powerful when it is purposefully supported by principal leadership.
Clarifying What Teacher Leadership Is
While awareness about the value of teacher leadership continues to grow, the term is often used in different ways. Across studies, research points to seven broad dimensions where teacher leadership can take root (Shen et al., 2020):
- Shared Vision and Direction: Helping shape a common vision for teaching and learning and bringing it to life.
- Managing or Coordinating Beyond the Classroom: Leading or supporting school-improvement efforts beyond the classroom.
- Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: Influencing what is taught, how it is taught, how learning is measured and improved.
- Professional Learning: Supporting colleagues through mentoring, coaching, modeling, staff development, and professional learning communities (PLCs).
- Policy and Decision-Making: Participating in meaningful school or district decisions.
- Family and Community Connections: Strengthening relationships with families and the broader community.
- Collaborative Culture: Fostering trust, collegial relationships, and shared responsibility.
Where Teacher Leadership Makes the Biggest Difference
The 2020 meta-analysis found that teacher leadership has the strongest impact on student achievement when teachers are directly involved in influencing the domains closest to students’ daily learning experiences:
- Curriculum design and alignment
- Instructional improvement and modeling of effective practices
- Assessment literacy, data analysis, and data-informed decision-making
Where Principal Leadership Has the Greatest Impact
Research also clarified how principals can most effectively support teacher leadership alongside student learning outcomes (Sebastian et al., 2016):
- Engage Teachers in Shaping School Culture. Principals have the greatest indirect impact on student achievement when they empower teachers to influence decisions related to school culture, such as routines, expectations, and conditions that support safe, positive learning environments.
- Ensure Coherence and Alignment of Curriculum, Instruction, and Professional Learning. At the same time, student outcomes are strongest when principals remain actively involved in aligning curriculum, instructional expectations, and professional learning across the school.
A Practical Leadership Model for the New Year
Together, these studies point to an integrated, complementary approach to school improvement:
- Principals lead for coherence and alignment across curriculum, instruction, and professional learning, based on school and district goals.
- Teachers help guide culture, along with improvements to curriculum, instruction, and assessment, from within the classroom and beyond.
- Leadership is distributed intentionally, based on where teachers and administrators can have the greatest impact.
- Student learning improves when strong instruction and positive culture reinforce each other, supported by both teacher and principal leadership.
Teacher leadership is an accessible and powerful lever for schoolwide improvement. When administrators and teachers lead together, each contributing where their influence is most impactful, both students and educators can grow and thrive.
