Collaborative School Leadership:
An Exploration of Teacher Activity
Systems in a Progressive High
School – A Research Proposal
Mollie A. Davis
mad432@drexel.edu
Prepared for Drexel University’s Research Day 2015
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Conceptual Framework
Activity Systems and Expansive Learning
(Engeström, 2009, p. 56)
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Context: Progressive Education
Progressive Curricula Nurtures Students’:
•  Participation in a democratic society.
•  Social, emotional, academic, cognitive, and physical
development.
•  Natural curiosity and innate desire to learn.
•  Internal motivation.
•  Respectful relationships with teachers.
•  Active participation in their learning
“Progressive educators must play an active role in
guiding the educational vision of our
society.” (Adapted from Progressive Education Network, ND)
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Problem Statement
Ideally, communities of practice operate as a space within a school where teachers can learn
from one another, investigate their pedagogical practice, and work collaboratively to improve
student outcomes. Current literature on communities of practice points to evidence of each of
these by-products, but generally in such a way to propose a 'best-practice’ approach to
implementing them. What often gets overlooked is the importance of the context in which the
communities are situated and the types of interactions that occur between teachers. This
research aims to further explore the relationships between teachers within communities of
practice, and between the communities of practice and the structure of the school particularly in
regards to:
•  Teacher leadership and agency,
•  Understanding the context of a school and its curricular choices,
•  Promoting teachers’ trust in one another as they learn together and become critical
from Gross & Shapiro, 2014, p. 1)
Institutional Ethnography
Central Tenet: Framing the individual’s
experience within the organizing framework of an
institution as the central focus of research.
•  Participant Observation – One School Year
•  Semi-structured interviews (teachers)
•  Focus Groups (communities of practice)
•  Document Review (policy documents)
Structure of
Schooling
Democratic Ethical Educational Leaders:
(Adapted
Methodology
(Smith, 1987, p. 171)
colleagues.
Context: Democratic Ethical
Educational Leadership
•  Feel an inner sense of responsibility to the
development of students, families, and the
community.
•  Lead from an expansive community-building
perspective.
•  Integrate democracy, social justice, and school
reform through scholarship, dialogue, and action.
•  Operate from a dynamic, inclusive, democratic
vision.
•  Have a well -developed sense of mission toward
democratic social improvement that cuts across
political, national, class, gender, racial, ethnic,
and religious boundaries.
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Schooling as
Social Change
Teacher Trust
Communities
of Practice
Teachers as
Professionals
Accountability
Transformational
Learning
A special thank you to:
Kristy Kelly
Anthony Matranga
Mary Davis
Please contact the author for references.