Teacher Leadership in Georgia: Results from a Scoping Survey
Location
Preston 2
Session Format
Presentation
Abstract
Researchers solicited responses to a survey on Teacher Leadership opportunities and conceptualizations from educators and administrators around the state of Georgia in the spring of 2024. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data collected through this venture revealed important differences between how teachers and their supervisors perceived teacher leadership as well as insight into how teacher leaders are being utilized in their schools.
Using responses to a validated instrument - the Teacher Leader Inventory - researchers find that teachers perceive there is significantly less opportunity for leadership than do their principals and also perceive that principals are more influential to opening those doors to leadership than principals themselves do. Responses to open-ended items clarify what teacher leaders are doing and also discuss the impact of credentialing in that area on their work at schools.
Keywords
teacher leadership, survey research, descriptive analyses, teachers, principals
Professional Bio
Dr. Jeffrey Keese is an Assistant Professor of Teacher Leadership and the Director of the Teacher Leadership Ed.S. and Coaching Endorsement programs in Mercer University's Tift College of Education. A former K-12 classroom educator, Dr. Keese is keenly interested in how teachers can affect change in their schools through exercising leadership as well as how the two structures of preservice teacher training and in-service teacher supports interact and impact teacher effectiveness and retention.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Keese, Jeffrey; Neal, Gale; and Terry, Karen, "Teacher Leadership in Georgia: Results from a Scoping Survey" (2026). Georgia Educational Research Association Conference. 32.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/gera/2026/2026/32
Teacher Leadership in Georgia: Results from a Scoping Survey
Preston 2
Researchers solicited responses to a survey on Teacher Leadership opportunities and conceptualizations from educators and administrators around the state of Georgia in the spring of 2024. The quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data collected through this venture revealed important differences between how teachers and their supervisors perceived teacher leadership as well as insight into how teacher leaders are being utilized in their schools.
Using responses to a validated instrument - the Teacher Leader Inventory - researchers find that teachers perceive there is significantly less opportunity for leadership than do their principals and also perceive that principals are more influential to opening those doors to leadership than principals themselves do. Responses to open-ended items clarify what teacher leaders are doing and also discuss the impact of credentialing in that area on their work at schools.
