Teacher Leadership

School leadership is critical to student success, instructional capacity, and school culture.  In many schools, teachers assume leadership responsibilities centered on developing the instructional capacity of faculty while promoting a collective leadership model.  Research in this area focuses on the influence this model has on various components of teaching, learning, and leadership.

Projects

STEM School Transformation

The formation of STEM-focused schools has been a priority for local school systems and state and national policymakers. Yet despite calls for 1,000 new STEM-focused schools within the next decade, little consensus exists on what defines a STEM-focused school and the process by which they come to be. As greater emphasis is placed on the formation of STEM-focused schools we, as a research field, must better understand the process by which STEM-focused schools develop and how such transformations impact student outcomes and teacher practices in order to improve their outcomes across different contexts.

Our research explores the emergence of a more contemporary phenomenon - the formation of STEM-focused Catholic schools.  Our research addresses the following research questions:

  1. What factors define a Catholic STEM-focused school?
  2. What are the critical components of a Catholic STEM-focused school?
  3. How does a STEM transformation impact the nature of schooling?