| Recent leadership literature calls for distributed leadership where the principal is not the sole leader in the building. Despite already being overloaded with classroom and other responsibilities, teachers are taking on leadership roles and school leadership is becoming distributed among many individuals. To discover how leadership becomes distributed and how shared leadership impacts teachers, a case study of an elementary school was conducted. Six questions guided the study: (1) How is leadership distributed among leaders? (2) How do leaders complete their tasks? (3) What practices are in place so leadership can be extended to various leaders in the school? (4) How has the teacher/principal leadership relationship been affected as a result of distributed leadership? (5) How have teacher relationships been affected? (6) How has distributed leadership affected the school environment?;Data were gathered through individual interviews, focus group interviews, observations over a period of six months, and the analysis of documents. The data show that leadership becomes distributed among positional and informal leaders in three primary ways: committee work, leadership based on expertise, and informal leaders engaged in leadership actions. Faculty meetings, committee meetings, and grade-level teaching team meetings allow for distributed leadership. As a result of distributed leadership, teacher collaboration has improved and teachers feel supported by each other. In addition, all participants indicated that they have a positive relationship with the principal. Three themes emerged from the data analysis regarding the impact of distributed leadership on the school community: (1) the school has a positive atmosphere for learning; (2) students feel positive about the school; (3) teachers feel positive about the school.;The results of this study suggest several implications for practice. First, the positional leader must be committed to distributing leadership among many individuals. Second, a collaborative culture must be in place in order for distributed leadership to occur. Third, it is imperative that all leaders and followers work toward the same vision and goals. Fourth, distributed leadership must be tied to student achievement. Fifth, practices must be embedded into the school culture to allow for distributed leadership. |
