What Do We Know About Teacher Leaders' Practice and How Well Do We Know It?
Based on the empirical research and expert practitioner knowledge, one can conclude that the phenomenon of teacher leaders (i.e., current/former teachers charged with working with classroom teachers on instruction) is prevalent in many reform plans for improving mathematics and science instruction and that there is support for the claim that teacher leaders' practices, particularly their work organized around teachers' classroom instruction, does impact teachers' practice. There is, though, the need for more empirical and practice-based research on which teacher leader practices impact which teacher classroom practices. There is also the need for investigation into how teacher leaders' efforts impact teachers' practices, since there is little that is known to date from empirical research or from practice-based insights on this issue. What is known from the practice of expert practitioners in the field of teacher leadership can, however, offer guidance into how to continue with a systematic study of teacher leader practices.
