Teacher Leadership
Interest in the Teacher Residency Model
In a recent news story, NPR's Claudio Sanchez asked, "What if we prepared teachers the same way we prepare doctors?" The story examined the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR) program, in which "residents" take a full load of courses at area colleges offering master's degrees in education, followed by "clinical training" in a Boston school with an accomplished teacher. While the BTR’s impact on student achievement remains unclear, its director says that the program has placed more minority teachers in Boston’s public schools and that its graduates tend to remain in teaching much longer than other new teachers. "The secret to their longevity appears to be a really strong support system and camaraderie," he observes. Read the complete story here.
Does Teacher Turnover Have a Negative Impact on Student Achievement in High-Needs Schools?
Despite popular belief, a new study by Eric Hanushek and Steven Rivkin for the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that the answer to this question is “no.” When the researchers studied a large (anonymous) Texas district, they found that teachers who left their school tended to be significantly less effective than teachers who stayed. Click here to read the study.
Michon Benson, Rtl Team Leader, Charles R. Drew Academy
Dr. Michon Benson is a member of the inaugural cohort of Houston A+ Challenge’s Regional Principal Leadership Academy (RPLA). After completing her internship with middle school principal Earnest Washington, Jr. at Charles R. Drew Academy in Aldine ISD, Benson decided to remain at Drew to complete the first year of her residency. Taking what might be perceived as an unconventional route to the principalship, she has assumed the role of Response to Intervention (RtI) Team Leader – a role that is honing her craft and developing her repertoire as an instructional leader. "I work with the administrative team to build human capital in every member of the learning community," Benson says.
Leadership For All
At ASCD's 2010 Annual Conference, education reform expert Michael Fullan gave a rousing presentation entitled "Leadership for All" in which shared his views on the characteristics of effective leadership during change. The nine "best practices" offered by Fullan are:
- Relationships first
- Honor the implementation dip
- Beware of fat plans
- Behaviors before beliefs
- Communication during implementation is paramount
- Learn about implementation during implementation
- Excitement prior to implementation is fragile
- Take risks and learn
- It's okay to be assertive
To learn more about the presentation, visit the Ecology of Education blog at http://ecologyofeducation.net/wsite/?p=1805.
Teacher Leadership Resources
Are You a Teacher Leader? There’s a place for you. Check out www.teacherleaders.org. It’s full of resources, articles, and news to keep the teacher leader well-informed.
Another Great Resource: Developing Teacher Leaders by Frank Crowther picks up where Katzenmeyer and Moller leave off by providing additional resources for a campus with emerging leadership potential. (Link to Amazon)
Teacher Leadership and Partnership at Challenge Early College High School
Ask Josh Silberman, a teacher at Challenge Early College High School in Houston ISD, what he loves most about teaching you’ll get a variety of answers – among them, the chance to lead in the school. Currently, Josh and his colleague Paul Cross are working on a new reform project sponsored by Houston A+ Challenge that partners Challenge with Quest High School in Humble ISD. It’s a natural partnership. Quest, a small school that features a senior exhibition project, is planning to become an early college; and Challenge, a small early college, is looking to make the senior year more meaningful. Furthermore, Challenge has a history of teachers in leadership roles advancing the school’s mission, and Quest has a similar tradition of cultivating leaders from the inside. In fact, Principal Kim Klepcyk was formerly a teacher at Quest.
Breakthrough Ideas for Knowledge Workers in 2010
According to The Harvard Business Review, what motivates "knowledge workers" most is not recognition, incentives, interpersonal support, or clear goals. Rather, it is a sense of progress. These and other "breakthrough" ideas for 2010 grew out of a multiyear study that followed knowledge workers in an array of settings, gathering data on their activities, emotions, and motivation levels. "On days when workers have the sense they're making headway in their jobs, or when they receive support that helps them overcome obstacles," the authors wrote, "their emotions are most positive and their drive to succeed is at its peak." Conversely, their moods and motivation are lowest on days characterized by obstacles. Based on the findings, the authors advise those in charge to: "Scrupulously avoid impeding progress by changing goals autocratically, being indecisive, or holding up resources.
What Do Teachers, Principals, and Students Think?
In the fall of 2009, MetLife asked 1,003 K-12 public school teachers, 500 K-12 public school principals and 1,018 public school students in grades 3-12 to share their views on their respective roles and responsibilities, current practice, and priorities for the future. The effort marked a continuation of MetLife’s Annual Survey of the American Teacher, which it has been conducting since 1984. The first report on the survey findings, Effective Teaching and Leadership, compares teachers’, principals’, and students’ perspectives on responsibility and accountability and explores the nature and extent of collaboration in schools today.
Among the key survey findings:
Teacher-Centered Professional Development
It’s no surprise: professional development as it has been provided in many schools and school districts does not work. In his highly useful and insightful book, Diaz-Maggioli starts here and asks the logical follow-up question, “So what does?”
The answer? Teacher-Centered Professional Development.
For Diaz-Maggioli, professional development “should be understood as a job-embedded commitment that teachers make in order to further the purposes of the profession while addressing their own particular needs. It should follow principles that guide the learning practices of experienced adults, in teaching communities that foster cooperation and shared expertise.”
School Reform Initiative, Inc
An offshoot of the National School Reform Faculty (NSRF), the School Reform Initiative, Inc. focuses on the professional learning of educators through collaboration, best practice sharing and reflection. Schools interested in pursuing teacher-centered professional development models can find many valuable resources here.
