Self‐efficacy, agency, and values as predictors of <scp>STEM</scp> teacher leader identity in urban‐like learning environments

Abstract Teacher leaders influence their peers by introducing innovative instructional methods and enhancing teaching quality. They have proven invaluable to school principals as they prioritize comprehensive teacher development, bolster teacher effectiveness, and promote teacher retention. Despite their importance, little to no research—prior to the present study—has shed light on the development of teacher leaders and the evolution of their leadership identity. While science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teacher leaders offer a potential remedy for attrition in public schools, a substantial gap exists in understanding how a STEM teacher's self‐efficacy, values, and agency contribute to their transformation into effective STEM teacher leaders, especially in urban‐like learning environments. The present study focuses on STEM teacher leadership identity development and the challenges encountered. It ascertains the interplay between urban‐like learning environments, self‐efficacy, agency, the teacher leader's role within the school, and values in forecasting STEM teacher leadership identity. This research involved 100 in‐service PreK‐12 public school STEM teacher leaders. It yielded significant, positive, and meaningful relations between urban‐like learning environments, self‐efficacy/agency, teacher leader role, values, and STEM teacher leadership identity. These findings can enhance various facets of PreK‐12 STEM education, including educational programming, teacher training, and cultivating STEM teacher leadership.