The association between teacher leadership and student achievement

Full report

Teacher leadership is commonly discussed in educational research and practice. Yet, the relationship between teacher leadership and student achievement has not been soundly established by empirical evidence. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to examine the extent to which teacher leadership was related to students’ academic achievement. 

The results revealed that teacher leadership was positively related to student achievement (r = .19). Among seven dimensions of teacher leadership which were all positively associated with student achievement, facilitating improvements in curriculum, instruction, and assessment has shown strongest relationship. 

The results of subgroup analysis indicated the relationships were similar among studies conceptualizing teacher leadership and using outcome measures differently, and for elementary and secondary school students. However, published studies reported larger effect sizes than unpublished studies. The implications and limitations are discussed.