This, in turn, allows them to effectively nurture young children’ s learning and development( NAEYC 2020b; Schmidtke 2025).
However, opportunities to influence schoolwide decision making are often limited. While classroom teachers are central to implementing educational goals and building relationships with children and families, they are rarely invited into district or schoolwide planning. This disconnect between those making decisions and those implementing them can leave teachers feeling unheard, even when goals are shared( Loewenberg 2016; Douglass 2017).
We( the authors) are a leader( Amy), a facilitator( Mary Beth), and a storyteller( Greta) at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska. We are part of the institute’ s Teacher Leadership Network, a cohort of educators in Omaha, Nebraska, that came together in 2024 to create opportunities for classroom teachers to lead together, learn from one another, and connect their daily practices to schoolwide improvement efforts. In this article, we explore the literature on teacher agency and teachers as leaders, then share the work we do to empower network participants to lead instructional and schoolwide improvement efforts from their classrooms. Leaning into these examples, we offer ways that educators across the prekindergarten-to-grade-3 age band can lead with agency to improve instruction and family engagement through deep collaboration with colleagues.
Understanding Teacher Leadership
In early childhood settings, leadership often grows out of everyday practice. Teachers lead when they share ideas with colleagues, reflect together on what children need, and help shape how teaching and learning unfold across a program. Rather than stepping away from the classroom to fill formal leadership positions, educators can contribute to broader school improvement efforts while maintaining their teaching responsibilities( Cheung et al. 2018; Cooper 2022). These include making thoughtful instructional decisions, supporting colleagues’ learning, and helping connect classroom practices to shared goals( Cheung et al. 2018).
National frameworks echo this understanding of leadership as a natural extension of teaching. The Teacher Leader Model Standards, for example, recognizes that leadership takes many forms and is often distributed across educators rather than concentrated in a single individual. Such leadership encompasses teaching practices that include fostering collaboration, facilitating professional learning, improving instruction and assessment, partnering with families and communities, and advocating for children and the profession( Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium 2011).
Research examining how teachers enact their leadership roles helps bring the standards to life. For example, Dagen and colleagues( 2017) found that educators certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards frequently engage in leadership by mentoring colleagues, facilitating professional learning, and strengthening collaboration within their schools. These actions emerge directly from teachers’ daily work and their deep understanding of children and classroom contexts.
Together, these perspectives illuminate teacher leadership as relational, practice-based, and grounded in collaboration. Leadership flourishes when teachers are trusted to exercise their professional judgment, supported to learn alongside colleagues, and invited to influence practice beyond their own classrooms. This understanding provides a foundation for exploring how teacher leadership and agency can be intentionally nurtured through local, state, or national efforts.
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