Writing for the Fordham Institute, Chester E. Finn, Jr. presents an explanation of what is needed to fundamentally change schooling in America. Excerpts from the piece appear below: What distinguishes problems we tackle in a serious way from those we mostly just wring our hands and protest over? What distinguishes those we merely tackle from Read more about How Fundamental Change Happens in America[…]
Writing for The 74, Beth Rabbitt reflects on the takeaways from the Learning Accelerator’s work with more than 100 leaders across eight regions nationally in the past year. Excerpts from the article appear below: Looking at patterns across each region, our biggest finding was this: ecosystems matter. Leaders can only be as effective as the Read more about Critical Success Factors for Great School Leaders[…]
Candice McQueen and Charla Hurt recently shared the progress of a Tennessee initiative to engage effective teachers as teacher leaders for The 74. Excerpts of their piece appear below: The idea seemed like common sense: Engage the most effective teachers, ask them to come up with ideas for improving schools, and share what they know Read more about Teacher Leadership Works[…]
A functional consensus is emerging among the nation’s boldest education leaders, producing not identical policies, but a set of vital principles that drive approaches shaped to the needs of each of their communities. It’s a set of principles born of extensive work, with the needs of students at the center. It’s worthy of the attention Read more about Chiefs for Change’s Bipartisan Vision for America’s Schools[…]
Of all in-school influences on student learning, leadership is second only to teaching quality. Indeed, when it comes to whole-system improvement, some argue that improving the quality of school leadership is a higher strategic priority than improving the quality of individual teachers, due to a principal’s influence across a school. While school leadership is routinely Read more about Preparing to Lead: Lessons in Principal Development for High Performing Education Systems[…]
A new report from the National Center for Education Statistics summarizes the characteristics of public elementary and secondary school principals in the United States. The report provides descriptive statistics and basic information from the 2015–16 National Teacher and Principal Survey Public School Principal Data File. Main findings include: There were about 90,000 principals leading U.S. public Read more about Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary School Principals in the United States[…]
The Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd has produced a new CenterView, focused on teacher leaders as instructional leaders and how districts can enable successful teacher leadership to improve standards-aligned instructional practices. In the current landscape of rigorous standards implementation, teacher leadership is gaining increased attention and interest as a school Read more about Forging Partnerships — A Model for Teacher Leadership Development[…]
State policy plays a critical role in determining whether and how well local education improvement strategies can be implemented. As states rework their education policies under ESSA, state and local leaders need a way to assess their current policy environment and identify the changes needed to encourage local innovation and problem solving. To identify the Read more about How States Can Promote Local Innovation, Options, and Problem-Solving in Public Education[…]
A new suite of teacher leadership self-assessment and readiness tools have been designed for teachers exploring leadership opportunities and leaders considering teacher leadership initiatives. Developed in collaboration and consultation with the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Midwest Educator Effectiveness Research Alliance, REL Midwest, and the Center on Great Teachers and Leaders (GTL Center), the tools are Read more about Teacher Leadership Self-Assessment and Readiness Tools[…]
State education agencies have a unique opportunity through the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to access the funding and support needed to advance their approach to teacher leadership. The State Teacher Leadership Toolkit provides a playbook for states to develop a framework to guide the planning, design, implementation, and assessment of teacher leadership initiatives that Read more about State Teacher Leadership Toolkit: Created By States, For States[…]
The Carnegie Foundation has collaborated with colleagues in the University of Michigan’s School of Education and Ross School of Business to develop a massive open online course that moves aspiring and practicing educational leaders to improve learning outcomes for all students. In this course, Leading Ambitious Teaching and Learning, the aim is to develop leaders’ Read more about Leading Ambitious Teaching and Learning[…]
Recognizing that effective leadership is essential to most school improvement efforts, the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) enables states and districts to use certain major funding sources to help achieve their school improvement goals by supporting principals and other school leaders. Because those funding streams urge consideration of evidence of effectiveness, Wallace commissioned Read more about Evidence Review of School Leadership Interventions Under ESSA[…]
The Center on Great Teachers & Leaders at AIR has released a new toolkit and crosswalk, Aligning Leadership Standards to the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders. Many states are transitioning or considering a transition to the new Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL), developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Developed in Read more about New Toolkit and Crosswalk for Leadership Standards Alignment[…]