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Checks And Balances

Built-in data routines monitor the impact of Boston's teacher leader program

By Learning Forward
October 2013
Teacher leadership is not new to Boston Public Schools. Teachers in this district have always stepped up in formal and informal ways to assume roles that aim to improve teaching, learning, and school improvement. As data team leaders, members of school leadership teams, grade-level leaders, mentors, and instructional coaches, teacher leaders have been recognized for making contributions to the improvement of teaching and learning in Boston (Education Commission of the States, 2005; Broad Foundation, 2006; Mourshed, Chijioke, & Barber, 2010). In 2009, when the Boston Plan for Excellence, Boston’s public education fund, approached Boston Public Schools about collaborating to create a teacher leadership certificate program that could expand teachers’ capacity for teacher leadership roles like these, attention to impact was paramount. The partners felt it

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Authors

Jill Harrison Berg, Christina A. Bosch, Phomdaen Souvanna, and Nina Lessin-Joseph

Jill Harrison Berg (jhberg@teachers21.org) is director, Christina A. Bosch (cab000@mail.harvard.edu) and Phomdaen Souvanna (psouvanna@brandeis.edu) are former interns, and Nina Lessin-Joseph (nina.alani@gmail.com) is a course facilitator for the Boston Teacher Leadership Certificate program.

checks-and-balances

Course Assessments

Core skills, competencies, and performance-based assessments for the four core courses of the Boston Teacher Leadership Certificate program.
Core skill Core competencies Performance-based assessments
Using data Understanding and analyzing data.

Creating a data culture.

Using data to inform decisions.

 1. Identify a priority problem using multiple data sources, one analyzed in Excel.

2. Analyze and address conditions affecting team engagement and culturally competent conversations about data.

3. Lead team to create and test a hypothesis for a high-leverage change the team can make to address the priority problem and communicate results to three different audiences.
Supporting

instruction

 Facilitating growth-oriented dialogue about instruction.

Expanding colleagues’ instructional resources and routines.

Leading effective professional learning experiences.

 1. Observe self and a colleague around a problem of practice, then analyze both and lead a conversation about the instruction.

2. Identify, experiment with, and evaluate an instructional resource in support of the identified problem of practice.

3. Plan, implement, and evaluate a professional learning experience.
Shared leadership Strengthening unity of vision on a team.

Managing an effective team.

Understanding self and team as part of a system.

 1. Assess the level of trust and unity of vision on a team; implement a plan to strengthen them.

2. Use knowledge of self and the team to identify and introduce routines for improving the team’s process.

3. Create a map illustrating the team’s theory of action and its relationship to other relevant teams; initiate efforts to improve communication within the system.
Professional expertise Maximizing professional expertise.

Tapping into education’s knowledge base.

Taking action for instructional improvement.

 1. Cultivate conditions for tapping internal expertise and maximizing organizational learning around an instructional area of focus.

2. Identify and evaluate professional literature relevant to the area of focus.

3. Develop practical, research-informed recommendations to improve organizational policies or routines around the area of focus.

References

Broad Foundation. (2006). The 2006 Broad Prize for Urban Education. Available at www.broadprize.org/asset/TBP2006Brochure.pdf.

 

Collinson, V. & Cook, T.F. (2007). Organizational learning: Improving learning, teaching, and leading in school systems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

 

Education Commission of the States. (2005). Education leadership policy toolkit. Available at www.ecs.org/metlifetoolkit/boston/boston.htm.

 

Learning Forward. (2011). Standards for Professional Learning. Oxford, OH: Author.

 

Mourshed, M., Chijioke, C., & Barber, M. (2010). How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better. New York, NY: McKinsey & Company.

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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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