TeacherLedProfessionalLearning.org aims to catalyze changes to ensure that all teachers have the chance to learn on the job and that great teachers can lead on the job.
The website starts with a simple premise:
Schools already have their greatest professional development resource on hand: great teachers who are ready to take on leadership roles, who could lead professional development that is a natural part of everyday school work. Instead of continuing to spend great sums on low-impact professional development, schools must allow these teachers to continue teaching while helping their peers improve.
To design high-quality, teacher-led professional learning, the website offers overviews and links to resources for every step, from schools, districts, and supporting organizations across the U.S.:
- Defining teacher-leader roles: Descriptions of teacher-leadership roles that put great teachers in charge of developing their peers
- Selecting teacher-leaders: Information on skills and competencies that teacher-leaders need to help their peers improve instruction and achieve positive student impact
- Training for teacher-leaders: Descriptions and links for well-regarded national teacher-leader training programs
- Finding time for teacher-led professional learning: Multiple ways to find time during the school day for frequent, teacher-led, job-embedded, collaborative development
- Funding for teacher leadership: Funding methods for on-the-job teacher leadership
- Leading successful teams: Research and resources on successful team leadership
- Evaluating teacher-leaders: Methods for developing effective evaluation for teacher-leaders
The new website was developed by a team of the Pahara-Aspen Teacher-Leader Fellows including teacher-leaders, union leaders, nonprofit leaders and others. The fellows’ goal is to help teachers and their schools, unions, and districts implement collaborative, job-embedded professional learning that leads to better student learning by developing and using the skills of involved teacher-leaders.
The Teacher-Leader Fellows who conceived of the website believe teacher-leaders need their own training and development, time to collaborate with and help peers during the school day, and supportive administrators who ensure that professional learning is part of everyday teaching. They believe that teacher-leaders should lead the great majority of professional development in schools-and be paid and empowered to develop excellence among teaching peers.
Teachers consistently report wanting more collaboration and opportunities to develop. With high-quality professional learning led by great teacher-leaders on the job, all teachers win-and students can reap the rewards.
For more information, please visit: http://teacherledprofessionallearning.org/
