Distributed Leadership in Delaware

The Delaware Education Research and Development Center (DERDC) conducted a two-part study to determine the impacts of this program on participating schools in the state. In the first part, DERDC interviewed a sample of administrators and teachers from 6 of the 15 participating schools. Their responses helped design a survey that was administered in the second part of the study administered to 13 of the 15 schools involved in the DL effort and 3 comparison schools not involved in the effort. The work undertaken by DL teams, and other members of the schools, more often involved collaboration between teachers and, sometimes, between teachers and administrators. Interview responses suggested that teachers and principals were generally positive about the initiative, feeling that DL provided an opportunity to “open up so many doors,” reduce “the isolation” that many felt, and “let…everyone have a voice in the school.