Developing Math/Science Teacher Leadership: A Consensus Approach to Evaluating Program Quality

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This ECR synthesis project will build consensus on the key attributes of high-quality math/science teacher leadership development programs. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in STEM interest, education, learning and participation.The project objectives are to 1) review the literature on math/science teacher leadership development and descriptions of existing programs; 2) organize a symposium of knowledgeable practitioners, researchers, and policymakers to build consensus on attributes of quality programs; and 3) communicate the consensus attributes and recommendations for implementation and future work to stakeholders. The researchers argue that a workforce development systems approach to teacher leadership development considers not only training/development but also the systems and structures that shape it, including infrastructure development, organizational development, recruitment/retention, and research and evaluation. Thus, using a workforce development perspective, the researchers can look at how teacher leadership development is embedded within the system in which math/science teachers collectively work, noticing where there are advances, gaps, or deficiencies. The project will produce critical guidance for the design of teacher leadership development programs that is grounded in scholarship and exemplary practice and that represents consensus among leaders in the field. It will help decrease fragmentation across the math/science education system and facilitate more thoughtful connected approaches to teacher leadership development. The specific research questions are: 1) What patterns exist among attributes of math/science teacher leadership development programs? 2) What patterns exist in how leadership development programs define and measure program quality? 3) What evidence exists for the effectiveness of leadership development programs? The researchers will apply a coding scheme matched to the research questions and a two-coder process to analyze the information to test whether math/science teacher leadership programs predominantly focus a) on improving individual teachers? classroom practice to prepare them to serve as instructional leaders in their schools or districts and b) on developing teacher leaders (individuals) rather than building capacity for teacher leadership. They will include initially approximately 20-30 studies on this topic.