NewLeaders_Untapped

We must transform teacher leadership. Initiatives likethe federal Teach to Lead program show widespreadinterest in unleashing its power to accelerate schoolimprovement. But what will it take to developteachers into true leaders?We have identified some encouraging early answersfrom our selective Emerging Leaders Program, orELP, a job-embedded teacher leadership developmentprogram that has trained more than 1,000 participantsin 13 high-need school districts since it waslaunched in 2011.Through ELP, we work with schools to strategicallyempower their best teachers to lead colleagues towardsimilar success. First, we help principals carefullyselect candidates with the right foundational skills todeliver on that promise. Then, we help participantsmaster a focused set of high-impact instructional andadult leadership skills through targeted, on-the-jobpractice, expert coaching and actionable feedback.We assess progress and leadership readiness alongthe same standards that inform our highly effectiveprincipal training programs.After two years of data collection, ELP has providedvaluable early insights into the transformative potentialof hands-on teacher leadership training, including:• Teacher leaders can immediately boost studentlearning in their schools. Some 70 percent ofELP participants achieved notable gains in studentachievement across classrooms they supervisedduring their training year.• Teacher leaders can quickly develop and applycritical leadership skills. ELP participants madesignificant, measurable gains on high-impactskills, such as using data to strengthen instructionand coaching teachers to improve.This paper describes ELP and these findings in greaterdetail. In addition, we offer several recommendationsfor principals, policymakers and district and charterleaders based on our experience. They include:• Policymakers should remove barriers toincremental leadership development activitiesand ensure professional development funds cansupport both teacher leadership training andongoing support.• District and charter leaders should encouragesupervisors to guide principals to build leadershipcapacity at their schools, provide high-qualitytraining and support to teacher leaders and secureopportunities to bolster teacher leadership incollective bargaining conversations.• Principals should strategically share responsibilitiesamong a strong and diverse instructionalleadership team, and provide meaningfulfeedback to enable teacher leaders to develop theskills needed to effectively manage new leadershipresponsibilities.To be sure, we are at the outset of this work, and ourteacher leadership training practices continue to evolve.We are sharing our experiences now in hopes of informinga critical conversation about developing diversesources of leadership at schools across the country.The need is urgent, particularly as teachers and studentswork to achieve rising academic expectations, such asCommon Core and similarly rigorous college and careerreadiness standards. Teachers are uniquely positioned tobuild a collaborative instructional team and lead theircolleagues and students to academic success.With the right training and support, we can tap theirpotential.• Teacher leaders can fill gaps in the leadershippipeline. After one year of training, 80 percent ofELP participants who were accepted to a principalapprenticeship met proficiency standards on keyleadership skills.UNTAPPED | 7