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Short Title

Organizational Roles for Effective Teacher Leadership

Keywords

teacher leadership, tiered leadership, qualitative research, teacher retention, professional development

Abstract

Teacher leader (TL) retention has emerged as a critical concern as educators increasingly exit leadership roles due to policy pressures, inadequate compensation, limited administrative support, and diminished professional recognition. Although schools rely on teacher leaders to support instructional improvement and professional collaboration, many leadership structures fail to provide sustainable pathways for teacher leadership development. Guided by a Distributed Transformational Leadership Framework, which integrates transformational and distributed leadership theories, this qualitative study examined how teacher leaders perceive leadership opportunities, organizational barriers, and potential leadership structures within K–12 school systems. Data were drawn from archived capstone reflections of 39 teacher leadership master’s candidates enrolled in a summer 2025 program at a university in southeast Texas. Using inductive thematic analysis, findings revealed several organizational barriers limiting teacher leader advancement, including inadequate funding, inequitable access to leadership opportunities influenced by internal politics, limited recognition of leadership contributions, excessive workload, and the absence of clear career pathways. Participants also envisioned a tiered leadership structure that distributes transformational leadership practices across multiple levels, enabling teachers to expand their leadership influence while remaining in the classroom. Findings highlight the importance of intentionally designed leadership systems that provide protected time, recognition, and equitable access to leadership roles. Such structures may strengthen teacher leader retention, expand instructional leadership capacity, and support sustainable school improvement.

Keywords: teacher leadership, distributed leadership, transformational leadership, tiered leadership, teacher retention

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