Top-Down Support for Bottom-Up Leadership:What Actions can a State Education Agency Take to Best Promote and Support

Teacher Leadership?

Robert SoxEDRS 801-80 Synthesis of Education Research

Western Carolina University

• Providing appropriate supports to teachers in schools to ensure continuous improvement of professional development and student achievement is an issue typically handled at the individual school level.

• Structures to support these teacher leaders vary from district to district, and school to school.

• The differences that exist across schools and districts make strategically deploying teacher leadership efforts, and measuring their impact for broad reaching improvement challenging.

A New Initiative• Home Base is a new tool that offers

transformational potential for instructional improvement and student achievement.

• It is an integrated web-based platform containing a suite of tools to support day-to-day record keeping, instructional planning and professional development

• The web-based tools within Home Base put instructional, assessment, and professional development resources at teachers’ fingertips in a way that has never before been possible.

The Need for Support• The North Carolina Department of Public

Instruction is committed to providing support to educators that will ensure successful adoption and implementation of Home Base in order to improve student achievement.

• Creating conditions that will result in the successful implementation of Home Base throughout the state will require focused and sustained professional development efforts that leverage teacher leadership and collaboration.

A Convergence of Opportunity

• In the effort to improve student achievement for all students and reward teacher leadership, the Governor’s office announced a plan to provide financial support to 1000 Teacher Leaders (with no associated criteria)

• The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) needs to establish a plan to support districts, schools, and teachers with the initiatives and tools that are a part of Home Base

The Practice

• Establish a first-of-its-kind effort to create a state-wide support network of teacher leaders to influence student achievement (with funding incentive)

• Empower these teacher leaders to support the tremendous change Home Base creates in the way teachers plan and manage instructional tasks, and receive professional development.

• Provide centralized support and coaching for this network of teachers

• Determine the impact and success of this network in improving instructional practice

• Consider results for sustaining the network beyond initial implementation

The Problem/Question

• Structures to support teacher leaders vary from district to district, and school to school.

• Providing appropriate supports to teachers in schools to ensure continuous improvement of professional development and student achievement is an issue typically handled at the individual school level.

What Actions can a State Education Agency Take to Best Promote and Support Teacher Leadership?

Questions to explore

• What is Teacher Leadership?– Who is doing it?– Where is it happening?– What does it look like?

• What practices lead to successful Teacher Leadership?– How is it started?– How is it supported?– How is it sustained?

• How is the impact of Teacher Leadership Measured?

Review of the Literature

Emerging ThemesAttitudes

RationaleModels in

Practice

Essential Skills

Structures for

Success

Implications

Teacher Leadership

Reoccurring Voices

• Angelle & Dehart• Ghamrawi• Harris• Harris & Killion• Katzenmeyer• Murphey

Problem of Practice Implications

• What Actions can a State Education Agency Take to Best Promote and Support Teacher Leadership?– Communicating the initiative– Establishing selection criteria– Aligning actions to state initiatives and local needs– Developing skills and expertise– Supporting practice– Evaluating Results