Jon Eckert, Ed.D.
Copple Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership | Executive Director, Baylor Center for School Leadership Baylor University
- Waco TX
Researches collective leadership, teaching effectiveness, evaluation and compensation to enhance effectiveness and science education.
Media
Biography
Dr. Eckert came to Baylor in 2019 with over two decades of experience in education. He taught and coached intermediate and middle school students outside of Chicago and Nashville for 12 years. After completing his doctorate at Vanderbilt University in 2008, he was selected as a Teaching Ambassador Fellow at the U.S. Department of Education, where he worked in both the Bush and Obama administrations on teaching quality issues. Prior to joining Baylor, he prepared teachers at Wheaton College.
His research interests include collective leadership, teaching effectiveness, evaluation and strategic compensation to enhance that effectiveness, and science education. Dr. Eckert has conducted research for the U.S. Department of Education, the Carnegie Foundation, the National Network of State Teachers of the Year, the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, and the Center for Teaching Quality.
He is the author of books including Just Teaching: Feedback, Engagement, and Well-being for Each Student (2023), Leading Together: Teachers and Principals Improving Student Outcomes (2018), and The Novice Advantage: Fearless Practice for Every Teacher (2016); book chapters; numerous peer-reviewed articles in journals such as Educational Administration Quarterly, Elementary School Journal, Leadership & Policy in Schools, Professional Development in Education, and Education Policy Analysis Archives, and practitioner publications such as Education Week and Phi Delta Kappan. He has written and presented white papers on Capitol Hill and the National Press Club and has been invited to present all over the U.S., Australia, Canada, Windsor Castle, and Muscat, Oman at a G8-Broader Middle East Summit for education ministers.
Areas of Expertise
Accomplishments
Baylor Fellow,
2020-2021
Academy for Teaching and Learning
Outstanding Faculty Award for Teaching for Tenured Faculty
2022
Baylor University
Education
Wheaton College
B.A.
Elementary Education
1996
Benedictine University
M.Ed.
Curriculum and Technology-Integrated Instruction
2001
Vanderbilt University
Ed.D.
Educational Leadership, Policy, and Organizations
2008
Media Appearances
Great teachers are a gift: Jill Anderson and Jon Eckert
Just Schools Podcast online
2024-05-07
In this episode of the Just Schools Podcast, Jill Anderson and Dr. Jon Eckert engage in conversation about the profound impact of educators and the importance of recognizing their contributions.
We delayed getting our kid a phone, social media until high school. We were right | Opinion
Austin-American Statesman
2025-04-21
Social psychologist Jonathan Haidt recommends no phones until high school and no social media until students are 16.
Research Grants
TechnologyEnhanced Engagement and Feedback
Baylor Academy for Teacher and Learning Grant
2020
The sustainability of Christian Schools
McLellan Foundation
2020-2023
Thriving learning communities: Enhancing protective factors and reducing risk factors for substance abuse in Mississippi schools
Subaward from University of Mississippi for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
2023-2026
Articles
Collective Leadership: A Catalyst for School Improvement
Education Policy Analysis Archives2023
Collective leadership of teachers and administrators can be a vehicle for catalyzing school improvement. In chemistry, a catalyst is any substance that increases the rate of reaction without itself being consumed. Leadership that accelerates good work without using up the leader is increasingly necessary. We identified schools that demonstrated exemplary Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematical (STEM) learning. Using a theoretical model of collective leadership development, we conducted a multiple-case study to identify common themes that provided insight into school improvement. We surveyed STEM leaders (n=113), conducted interviews and focus groups with teachers (n=52) and administrators (n=18), and conducted site visits to five schools.
Collective school leadership and collective teacher efficacy through turbulence
Leadership and Policy in Schools2024
Based on data collected in South Carolina from 2020–2022 through the Collective Leadership Initiative, we examined the collective leadership of six schools through cascading crises that resulted in extreme turbulence in many schools. Through an annual collective leadership survey, a collective teacher efficacy survey that we administered three times each year, and focus groups, we found remarkable consistency across all six schools. After conducting a multi-level confirmatory factor analysis and a categorical confirmatory factor analysis to determine that we could report collective leadership and collective teacher efficacy as single school-level factors, we found moderate to strong correlations between collective leadership and collective teacher efficacy.
Catalytic improvement through collective leadership in Christian schools
International Journal of Christianity & Education2025
We examine collective leadership across seven conditions in public and Christian schools. We conducted a survey (n = 4525) of public (n = 2701) and Christian school (n = 1824) educators and compared the results to determine if there were significant differences. While responses were generally positive, we found differences in six of seven conditions with Christian schools reporting less positive results for supportive administration, work design, shared influence, and improvement. Christian schools were more positive about resources and supportive norms and working relationships. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving Christian schools.
Promoting educator wellbeing: the relationship between political skill, community empowerment, and collective leadership
Frontiers in Education2025
Purpose
Recent demands placed on educators to navigate crises in schools have further solidified the urgency to promote wellbeing. The purpose of this study is to understand how to promote wellbeing for teachers and administrators with collective leadership through political skill and community empowerment.
Research methods
We surveyed N = 314 teachers and administrators in a central region of Texas during Fall 2021 to understand their influence and wellbeing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Educators were invited to participate in this survey, which included four instruments, and was collected using an email list through an educational service center when schools opened after quarantine. This survey data was applied to a multigroup structural equation model to demonstrate how factors lead to wellbeing. Teachers and administrators were compared to show varying relationships between responses about wellbeing, political skill, community empowerment, and collective leadership.
School belonging and adult outcomes: Exploring the predictive power of SOBAS for flourishing
International Journal of Wellbeing2026
A sense of belonging at school (SOBAS), or students’ feelings of being accepted, respected, and supported in the school environment, is consistently linked to positive outcomes for students. Individuals flourish within communities (VanderWeele et al., 2023), and belonging is an essential component of flourishing (Carter, 2021). Guided by Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-ecological Systems Theory and building on the conceptualization of flourishing from VanderWeele as embedded in the context of community, this paper focuses on SOBAS as the quality of students’ relationships and social connections within the school community, examining the long-term impact of perceptions of SOBAS as a high school student on adult flourishing. Four univariate general linear models (GLMs) are used to assess the predictive value of SOBAS for flourishing as measured by life satisfaction, enhanced mental health, civic engagement, and educational attainment.
