Learning Forward
Equity and excellence in teaching and learning.
Critical Conditions
What teacher leaders need to be effective in school
By Learning Forward
December 2013
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Guiding Questions About
Shared Leadership
Structured discussions that focus on alignment across levels of school leadership can help teacher leaders make a bigger difference in their roles.
- Do key leaders in your school have the same vision of improvement?
- Do they have a shared conception of what it takes to get there?
- Does your school have opportunities for leaders to talk about this to get on the same page?
Authority
Through dialogue with other school leaders, teacher leaders can fulfill their responsibilities with a clear sense of authority.
- Has the leadership team thought about how leadership is distributed in the school and whether strategic actions can improve how this is done?
- Do key leaders in your school sometimes find they are duplicating efforts or stepping on toes?
- Is there a place to talk about this?
Trust
To achieve school improvement objectives, leaders must collaborate in coordinating their approaches to promoting trust within a school.
- Do key leaders in your school discuss openly the importance of trust?
- Is trust an issue in your school? Do you know how to tell if it is or is not?
- Do leaders share responsibility for monitoring and promoting trust?
Time
School administrators and teacher leaders must consult together in order to devise strategies for maximizing the use of available time.
- Have key leaders in your school already reviewed the literature for creative ideas at work in schools to address this pervasive issue?
- Have leaders explored the ways that our time is influenced by our values?
- Do leaders have a clear idea of what responsibility they have to ensure that time is being used effectively?
- Do leaders have strategies for improving the use of time?
For More Information
To read more about the Boston Teacher Leadership Certificate program, see “Checks and balances: Built-in data routines monitor the impact of Boston’s teacher leader program” in the October 2013 issue of JSD, available at www.learningforward.org/publications/jsd.
FREE DOWNLOAD: The leadership discussion guides are available free for download at www. teachers21.org/TLR.
About the program
The Boston Teacher Leadership Certificate program was established in 2010 through a federally funded Teacher Quality Partnership grant that included the Boston Plan for Excellence, Boston Teacher Residency, Boston Public Schools, and the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The program is now led by a governing board of teachers and has expanded beyond Boston through a partnership with Teachers21.
FREE DOWNLOAD: The leadership discussion guides are available free for download at www.teachers21.org/TLR.
References
Collinson, V. & Cook, T.F. (2007). Organizational learning: Improving learning, teaching and leading in school systems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.
Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.
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