NewLeaders_Untapped

Recommendations for District and Charter LeadersTeacher leadership sounds like an easy win—but as we’ve seen, in practice it needscareful planning and support. Education leaders can help schools avoid commonpitfalls in these ways:Apply talent management practices to teacherleadership.• Encourage principals to collaborate and createteacher leadership pipelines, so effective teacherswith clear potential to lead other adults can buildskills over time.• Promote collaboration among principals to sharebest practices for building strong leadershippipelines, including by convening meetings orestablishing cohort groups.Expand pathways to teacher leadership positions.• Work with principals to identify current and futureneeds for particular skills and expertise at theschool and district level.• Support principals to provide incremental, job-embeddeddevelopment opportunities for aspiringteacher leaders.Guide supervisors to support meaningful teacherleadership development by school principals.• Provide high-quality professional development andongoing support for principals to build leadershipculture and staff capacity.• Require principals to include opportunities forteacher leaders to practice and receive feedbackon specific leadership strategies as part of existingprofessional development plans.Ensure that professional development supportsgrowth in teacher leadership.• Provide professional development around newacademic standards that includes a focus on teachercollaboration and leadership.• Choose high-quality training that empowersand supports teacher leaders to model and coachcolleagues’ instruction.Establish up front that collectively bargainedagreements need to support teacher leadership.• Build awareness and interest among school staff topursue leadership responsibilities.• Define and secure appropriate flexibility for teachersto assume meaningful leadership responsibilities.• Establish and communicate clear expectations forteachers as they take on leadership roles and designprofessional development specifically to cultivateskills aligned with their new responsibilities.Share best practices for leadership training andpractice.• Reach out to district and network leaders withsimilar leadership goals, and share experiences andlessons learned at conferences, in journals, or invirtual communities and platforms.26 | UNTAPPED