"Featuring a diverse and distinguished group of scholars, this volume provides a much-needed, research-based analysis of nonsupervisory, school-based, instructional leadership. Frequently referred to as teacher leaders, specialists, or coaches, these new positions have the potential to provide teachers with the skills and knowledge necessary for continued instructional improvement and, ultimately, enhanced student learning. This authoritative collection presents both qualitative and quantitative evidence on the enactment, design, conditions, constraints, and successes of this type of instructional leadership. Offering important lessons for the improvement of policy and practice, this book: presents new conceptual frameworks to unify a divergent field and to create deeper understandings of teacher leadership role designs and functions; looks at the functions performed by nonsupervisory instructional teacher leaders as well as the supports and barriers to role enactment; and examines the organizational contexts of teacher leadership, including formal and informal networks, communication structures, and social influence relationships."--BOOK JACKET.