Leveraging Teacher Leadership for Change
The creed Joellen lives by is: Excellence can be achieved if you . . . Care more than others think is wise . . . Risk more than others think is safe . . . Dream more than others think is practical . . . Expect more than others think is possible . . .
Facilitator: Joellen Killion
Joellen Killion champions educator learning as the primary pathway to student success. She serves school systems, schools, regional, state, and national agencies within the U.S. and abroad as a consultant and learning facilitator. She is senior advisor to Learning Forward and formerly was its deputy executive director. Her particular interests are collaborative learning teams, coaching educator success, evaluation and program audits, standards for professional learning, policy to support professional learning, and comprehensive planning and implementation of high-quality, standards-based, results-focused professional learning.
She works with school systems in the US and abroad to design and implement coaching programs that are focused on increasing student success and educator effectiveness, prepares and supports coach development, and coaches school district leaders. She launched Learning Forward’s Coaches Academy in 2005 and continues to teach the Academy and contribute to its revisions. She is the lead author of Taking the Lead: New Roles for Teachers and School-based Coaches, 2nd edition, a seminal text for many coaches and coaching programs and Coaching Matters, 2nd edition, the text that delineates the components of a coaching program for leaders: and Elevate School-based Professional Learning, the link between professional learning and coaching within schools. She is also the author of The Feedback Process: Transforming Feedback for Professional Learning. 2nd edition, which describes how to engage people in a process that allows them to assume ownership and responsibility for achieving their goals. In addition, she serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education.
To learn more about how Joellen supports schools: www.learningforward.org www.visiontoactioncollaborative.com
Session Overview
Teacher leaders, as do leaders within and outside education, share a heightened responsibility for equitable opportunities for the success of their school, students, peers, and communities. When they work in concert with other leaders and the school system’s goals and strategic plans, teacher leaders are a vital and unique part of a school’s leadership team. They have the capacity to transform schools from within and outside their classrooms. They are most influential when they have opportunities to develop crucial leadership skills of collaboration, communication, influence, advocacy, change management,and project management. These areas are rarely included in traditional teacher preparation programs, yet become essential as teachers advance in their careers into leadership roles. Unleashing the potential of teacher leadership requires commitment to design, implement, support, monitor, and evaluate teacher leaders so they are able to contribute productively and continue to grow as leaders. This session focuses on developing a systemic approach to developing or revitalizing teacher leadership within a school.
Session Outcomes
Examine the purpose, benefits, and desired outcomes when advancing teacher leadership in schools and school systems
Define the responsibilities and roles of teacher leaders
Examine the four components of successful teacher leadership programs
Explore ways to support, monitor, and evaluate teacher leadership
Research Connections
American Institutes for Research. (2017). Teacher leadership: Teacher self-assessment tool. file:///Users/amycolton/Downloads/TeacherLeadership_TeacherSelf-Assessment%20(2).pdf
AIR Center on Great Teachers and Leaders. Are you ready for teacher leadership? Tools and strategies for putting your ideas into action. https://gtlcenter.org/products-resources/are-you-ready-teacher-leadership-tools-and-strategies-putting-your-ideas-action
Barth, R. et al. (2013). The time is ripe (again). Educational Leadership, 71(2). http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/oct13/vol71/num02/The-Time-Is-Ripe-(Again).aspx
Boyd-Dimock, V. & McGree, K.M. (2015). Leading change from the classroom: Teachers as leaders. American Institutes for Research. http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues44.html
Gordon, S., Jacobs, J., Solis, R. (2014). Top 10 learning needs for teacher leaders. JSD, 35(6). https://www.ndcel.org/cms/lib2/ND07001211/Centricity/Domain/173/top-10-learning-needs-for-teacher-leaders.pdf
Harrison, C. & Killion, J. (2007) Ten roles for teacher leaders. Educational Leadership, 65(1). http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/Ten-Roles-for-Teacher-Leaders.aspx
Killion, J., Harrison, C., Colton, A., Delehant, A., & Cooke, D. (2016). A systemic approach to elevating teacher leadership. Oxford, OH: Learning Forward.
Killion, J., Sommers, W., & Delehant, A. (2023). Elevate school-based professional learning. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.
Lotan, R. & Burns, D. (2019). The instructional leadership corps: Teachers leading sustainable professional learning in their communities. https://learningpolicyinstitute.org/product/instructional-leadership-corps-teachers-leading-report
New Teacher Center and The Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. (2017). School leadership counts: School and teacher leaders increase student achievement. http://info.newteachercenter.org/school-leadership-report
Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium. Teacher leadership model standards. https://www.ets.org/s/education_topics/teaching_quality/pdf/teacher_leader_model_standards.pdf
Wenner, J. & Campbell, T. (2017). The theoretical and empirical basis of teacher leadership: A review of the literature. Review of Educational Research, 87(1), 134-171.
Who Should Attend
Leaders interested in exploring or initiating a formal or informal teacher leadership program; leaders who supervise teacher leaders and/or the teacher leadership program; leaders who want to update the existing teacher leadership program to increase its impact on school culture, teacher collaboration, teaching practice, and student learning.