Monday, October 20, 2014
Press Release: ROADMAP FOR EFFECTIVE TEACHER LEADERSHIP RELEASED BY ASPEN INSTITUTE AND LEADING EDUCATORS
Paper Shows Districts how to Design Programs for Impact
Detroit, MI, October 20, 2014 – As school districts across the country confront the challenges of recruiting and retaining great teachers while trying to close persistent achievement gaps, two prominent nonprofit organizations today released a blueprint for building effective teacher leadership programs. The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program and Leading Educators, which partners with school districts to accelerate the impact of teachers in leadership positions, unveiled Leading from the Front of the Classroom: A Roadmap for Teacher Leadership that Works at the Education Writers Association seminar in Detroit Monday.
The paper provides school districts with concrete strategies for maximizing the potential of highly effective teachers to influence their colleagues, shift school culture and advance teaching, learning, and student achievement. The good news is that school districts across America increasingly are investing in the development of new career pathways for their best teachers as a reward and retention strategy. Unfortunately, they often do so without regard for the impact they want these teachers to have or how this can reinforce and strengthen other reforms. As a result, these initiatives have yet to stem attrition or improve achievement in any consistent or widespread fashion.
“I’ve heard from so many teachers who are tired of the heartbreaking choice between serving their students and serving their profession. Teacher leadership must be a force for changing education—not a result of it,” U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said.
Leading Educators Founder and CEO Jonas Chartock said, “What principal hasn’t wished she could harness the talent of her best teachers and spread it to every classroom in her school? We know from our own experience this is possible and with this paper, Leading Educators hopes to point districts in the direction of creating high-impact leadership programs that address their many challenges around talent retention, achievement, and administrator burnout. In the areas where Leading Educators works directly with schools on developing these types of programs, we have seen higher teacher satisfaction and more collaborative, less stressful learning environments.”
Aspen Institute Vice President Ross Wiener said, “Done right, teacher leadership elevates the profession while advancing other reforms. For example, it’s overwhelming for principals alone to give every teacher the feedback and guidance they need and deserve – and it’s not how any other profession is structured. Teacher leadership leverages talent within the teaching corps, makes the job more attractive to ambitious and accomplished teachers – and can make education reform more sustainable at the same time.”
The paper cites several examples of effective teacher leadership initiatives at the state, school district, and school levels, including programs in Tennessee, Chicago, the District of Columbia, and Denver, among others. Standalone profiles also were released today of teacher leaders as Common Core coaches in Tennessee, team leaders in Denver Public Schools, and school-culture leads in the Noble Street Network of charter schools in Chicago.
These approaches share common attributes that have the potential to improve retention and student achievement:
They are designed for impact: This means aligning teacher leadership programs with key school priorities rather than just using leadership as an opportunity to recognize successful educators.
They know their context: Successful teacher leadership is predicated on having strong and well-defined systems in place to identify effective educators. School communities must have trust and confidence in their teacher leaders and not question the process by which they achieved their elevated position within a school.
They have defined measures of success: It is critical that districts and schools build a broad understanding of the long term and leading indicators of success. Vision must be clear and well-communicated.
They are built strategically: Effective teacher leadership programs cannot be a burden on principals or other educators, but must actually redistribute some responsibility in ways that make the principal job more manageable. Schools must commit to designing roles that make sense for their communities, train teachers in the management skills they need to be successful leaders, and recognize these leaders for their impact.
"By investing in the creation of a thoughtful teacher leadership program we've seen our schools in a position to hold all students to high expectations,” said Michael Milkie, Superintendent of Noble Network of Charter Schools. “This paper captures a critical piece of our success and hope it serves as a model for other school organizations and districts looking to maximize the impact of the talent in their classrooms."
Leading Educators and the Aspen Institute officially unveiled the paper during a panel discussion at the Education Writers Association’s Detroit seminar on teaching entitled The Push to Upgrade the Teaching Profession: What Reporters Need to Know. The full report can be seen at http://www.leadingeducators.org/publications.
ABOUT LEADING EDUCATORS
Leading Educators is a national nonprofit organization based in New Orleans that seeks to improve student achievement by accelerating the positive impact of experienced teachers who take on leadership positions in their schools. We partner with states, districts, schools and individual educators to design leadership opportunities and develop the management skills of teachers so they can lead their peers to better student outcomes. For more information, visit www.leadingeducators.org.
ABOUT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE EDUCATION AND SOCIETY PROGRAM
The Education and Society Program improves public education by inspiring, informing, and influencing education leaders across policy and practice, with an emphasis on achieving equity for traditionally underserved students. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org/education
Contact: Jon Reinish
The Aspen Institute
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Leading Educators is excited to welcome Stuart Kaplan to our national Board of Directors. See below for the full press release, and see the full list of board members here: http://www.leadingeducators.org/board
Stuart Kaplan, Knightsbridge President, Joins Board of Leading Educators
Brings Expertise in Retaining and Developing High-Potential Talent; Leading Educators Boosts Classroom and Student Success with Focus on Critical Mid-Level Talent
New Orleans, LA (PRWEB) October 16, 2014
“Stuart Kaplan is one of the foremost experts in helping organizations develop high-performing and high-potential talent,” CEO Jonas S. Chartock said.
Leading Educators currently serves approximately 500 teacher-leaders, who lead roughly 4,000 teachers and impact a total of 115,000 students in about 200 schools is Houston, Kansas City, New Orleans and Washington, DC.
"Leading Educators achieves an exponential impact on student outcomes by training our country’s best teachers to lead their colleagues in the pursuit of student success. Only by investing in middle leaders can schools effectively support new teachers and build pipelines of future school leaders," said Jonas S. Chartock, CEO of Leading Educators. "Stuart brings an exceptional track record of helping companies achieve superior performance through a similar focus on developing talent, and we’re thrilled to benefit from his experience.”
“Great companies and great educational institutions prioritize retaining and augmenting strong mid-level talent,” said Stuart Kaplan, President of Knightsbridge USA and Leading Educators incoming board member. “Leading Educators is playing a unique role that is essential for driving real, sustainable improvement. Public schools educating lower-income students, in particular, need to continue adopting these talent development practices that have been proven time and again, not only by Leading Educators but also by the best managed companies. I look forward to working with Leading Educators to broaden its reach and impact – one public school district at a time."
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Leading Educators runs a two-year Fellowship for middle leaders in schools. The program encompasses targeted training experiences, the community of a peer cohort, and the personal support of a coach in order to leverage leadership and management skills. Leading Educators also provides targeted Strategic Support Initiatives on a contract basis to districts in Denver, Houston, Washington, D.C., and New York City, and in partnership with the Academy for Urban School Leadership, and Teach for America.
Ninety-six percent of teachers who participated in the Leading Educators program are retained in the field of education. Ninety-five percent continue to serve in the region where they began their Fellowship. One hundred percent continue to serve in roles and organizations specifically focused on high-needs populations.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
In June our teacher leader Fellows from across the country came together in New Orleans for our first National Intensive. With this video, we want to celebrate their work and thank the many guests and facilitators who made National Intensive such a success, including keynote speakers Pedro Noguera, the Metropolitan Center for Research on Equality and the Transformation of Schools; Secretary Arne Duncan, US Department of Education, with Emily Davis and Maddie Fennel, Teach to Lead; Katie Haycock and Brook Haycock, Ed Trust; and Andrea Berkeley, formerly of Teaching Leaders UK.
Thank you all for your dedication to ensuring great teachers for all students!
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Press Release: LEADING EDUCATORS AND D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS EXPAND PARTNERSHIP TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP OPPORTUNITIES FOR GREAT TEACHERS
Work with 21 D.C. Schools Aims to Retain Effective Educators and Drive School Wide Achievement Gains
July 9, 2014 (Washington DC)—Principals and teachers from 17 D.C. public schools are gathering this week to identify challenges they want to tackle in the coming school year and the leadership roles teachers can play in driving this positive change. The effort is being facilitated by Leading Educators, a nonprofit organization that partners with districts to identify leadership opportunities for teachers and train them in the management skills necessary to be successful. This year, Leading Educators is working with 21 DCPS schools up from seven in 2013-14.
During this week’s kick-off, principals and teachers will outline their work for the coming school year, set goals and assign responsibilities for teachers. The effort gives teachers the chance to take on larger roles within their schools while remaining in the classroom working with their students. Some of the challenges they may take on are leading intervention programs for students who are behind their grade level, creating model classrooms where teachers can observe effective instructional practices, and developing strategies for lowering suspension rates, among others.
“D.C. public schools are at the forefront of teacher leadership development and understand the power of great educators to lead their peers to better student outcomes,” said Jonas Chartock, CEO of Leading Educators. “Through our work with these 21 schools, we are helping them identify the right roles for these teachers and developing the skills all successful leaders need. Our early results in D.C. show that this work has the potential to dramatically improve the retention rates of excellent teachers and increase student achievement across the board. We’re very excited about what we’re seeing here.”
In its first year partnering with DCPS, Leading Educators worked with seven schools. By the end of the year, one school noticed a significant decrease in office referrals after creating a Special Education Department; another school that started a blending learning program has received a grant to expand the work so that each student will have access to technology throughout the day; another school improved continuity of curriculum to ensure that each grade appropriately builds on the previous one. Several schools overhauled the way they use data by utilizing data coaches and weekly review cycles to closely monitor when students are growing or struggling.
Partner schools for 2014-15 are:
McKinley Technology SHS
*Leading Educators Partner in 2013-14
For more information about Leading Educators, visit leadingeducators.org.
Leading Educators is a non-profit organization that seeks to improve student achievement by accelerating the positive impact of experienced teachers who take on leadership positions in their schools. We partner with districts, schools and individual educators to develop their management skills so they can lead their peers to better student outcomes. In doing so, we help retain our best educators, refresh the talent pipeline and improve outcomes from the classroom.