Finding A New Way:: Leveraging Teacher Leadership To Meet Unprecedented Demands

FINDING A NEW WAY:
Leveraging Teacher Leadership

to Meet Unprecedented Demands
By Rachel Curtis | February 2013
The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington,
DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan
venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and
on the Wye River on Marylands Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City
and has an international network of partners.
The Aspen Education & Society Program provides an informed and neutral forum for
education practitioners, researchers, and policy leaders to engage in focused dialogue
regarding their efforts to improve student achievement, and to consider how public policy
changes can affect progress. Through our meetings, analysis, commissioned work, and
structured networks of policymakers and practitioners, the program, for nearly 30 years,
has developed intellectual frameworks on critical education issues that assist federal, state,
and local policymakers working to improve American education.
Copyright 2013 by The Aspen Institute
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Published in the United States of America in 2013 by The Aspen Institute
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Printed in the United States of America
Publication Number: 13/009
FINDING A NEW WAY:
www.aspeninstitute.org/education
About the Author
Rachel Curtis is founder and principal of Human Capital Strategies for Urban Schools. She works
with school systems, higher education, and education policy and support organizations on system
improvement strategy, superintendent and principal leadership development, and efforts to make
teaching a compelling and rewarding career. In 2006, as assistant superintendent of the Boston Public
Schools, she developed the systems teaching standards and aligned new teacher support and teacher
evaluation to them. Her publications include the books Teaching Talent, Strategy in Action, Skillful Leader
II, and Means to an End: A Guide to Developing Teacher Evaluation Systems that Support Growth and
Development.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Vivien Stewart who generously shared her expertise on the Singapore education systems
human capital management strategy and to the leadership at Achievement First Public Charter Schools,
Denver Public Schools and District of Columbia Public Schools for sharing their work. This paper was
strengthened by the invaluable feedback the following people provided on an early draft: Tamara Arroyo,
Karen Baroody, Ben Boer, Sarah Coon, Jenny DeMonte, Erin Dukeshire, Candice Frontiera, Chong-Hao
Fu, Bryan Hassel, Debbie Hearty, Kyle Hunsberger, Kim Levengood, Jeanette Marrone, Laura Meili,
Karen Miles, Glenda Partee, Kate Pennington, Nancy Pelz-Paget, Cynthia Robinson, Joel Rose, Scott
Thompson, and Butch Trusty. Linda Perlstein edited the text and Katrin Thomas and Sarah McKibben
did the final close review of the text. Ross Wiener played an invaluable role as a thought partner
throughout the development of the paper and as a reader of early drafts.
We are grateful to the Joyce Foundation and to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their financial
support of our work.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the
Aspen E&S Program and do not necessarily reflect the views of these foundations.
Executive Summary
Given our newly refined ability to distinguish be- What does that mean in schools and classrooms?
tween teachers and their effectiveness, and the To increase the impact of the most effective
imperative brought on by the Common Core stan- teachers, they might be put in front of the great-
dards to deliver instruction at a more sophisticated est number of students or the students with the
level, it is no longer reasonable or tenable to keep greatest learning needs. They might be called on
treating teachers the same. Instead, school systems to conduct teacher evaluations and provide coach-
should provide their highest-performing teachers ing to colleagues, which would ease the burden on
with leadership roles that both elevate the profes- principals. A teacher leader might supervise and
sion and enable them to have the greatest impact support groups of teachers and make instructional
on colleagues and students. and staffing decisions, with ultimate responsibility
for the achievement of all the students the group of
It is not easy to implement new forms of teacher teachers collectively teach.
leadership meaningfully and effectively; doing so
involves some profound changes to the status quo. Great teachers want, and deserve, such opportuni-
Developing teacher leadership systems require us ties for growth. They also deserve to be paid for
to rethink evaluation, compensation, distributed them. Now that some school systems are tackling
leadership, and even what we see as the role of what have historically been untouchable compen-
teachers. Examples already have emerged, though, sation structures, pay can be aligned to teacher
to show that such transformation is possible. This performance and differentiated roles. But school
paper addresses what is necessary for change and systems tend to graft new teacher leadership roles
how school systems might be able to achieve it. and compensation strategies onto old systems in
ways that fall far short of meaningful transforma-
Broadly speaking, teacher leadership is defined as tion and are unsustainable in the long term. Thus
specific roles and responsibilities that recognize the they have trouble recruiting and retaining smart,
talents of the most effective teachers and deploy high-achieving young adults. The job is perceived
them in service of student learning, adult learning as low-status, excellent performance is not recog-
and collaboration, and school and system improve- nized, the working conditions are unsatisfying, and
ment. This paper explains why systems pursue opportunities for greater impact and advancement
teacher leadership strategies and why it is impor- are limited.
tant to embed that work in a specific vision of what
the system seeks to achieve more broadly. The vi- Overcoming this requires an ambitious and co-
sion for teacher leadership and what it can facilitate hesive change agenda. Systems must define the
can be quite varied across school systems and may processes that are most critical to student learning
include any of the following: and then design teacher leadership in service of
them, rather than defining teacher leadership roles
A culture of collaboration, shared accountabil- first and then figuring out how they can support the
ity, and continuous improvement among adults; most important work. School systems share the
same ultimate goal: increasing student achieve-
Greater capacity and commitment to differenti-
ment. But they aim to solve different problems,
ate instruction to meet students needs;
through different teacher leadership strategies. This
Recognition, through status and compensa- paper examines a few examples:
tion, that excellent teachers can be on par with
Denver, concerned with the insufficient capac-
school leaders;
ity of teachers to increase student success,
New ways of organizing and delivering instruc- focuses teacher leadership efforts on effective
tion that increase the number of students highly teachers leading their colleagues in improve-
effective teachers reach. ment strategies.
Finding a New Way: Leveraging Teacher Leadership to Meet Unprecedented Demands iii
Washington, D.C., concerned about being The criteria by which teachers will be identified
unable to recruit and retain the best teachers, as leaders, and what they must do to retain that
focuses teacher leadership efforts on opportu- designation
nities for advancement inside the classroom,
additional responsibilities, and increased recog- What roles will be developed for teacher lead-
nition and compensation. ers, and how that will be decided
The Achievement First Public Charter Schools How teachers will be engaged in the conversa-
network, aiming to celebrate excellence in a tion as a leadership system is developed
way that keeps great teachers in the classroom,
Ways to recruit and train leaders
where they want to stay, designed its leadership
system as a set of professional development How teachers can be provided the time they
opportunities and increased compensation. need for collaboration and leadership
Singapore, facing teacher shortages and low How teacher leaders will be compensated for
education quality, developed an entirely new their skills and efforts
approach to human capital, including a leader-
ship system that rates teachers potential as How principals will be trained to foster school
part of evaluation and provides high performers cultures amenable to leadership and held ac-
opportunities around three distinct pathways: countable for teacher leaders success
master teacher, curriculum specialist, or school
leader. Ways to measure whether teacher leadership is
improving student achievement
Reconceptualizing the roles of and incentives for
teachersmuch less leveraging teacher leadership Ways to pay for teacher leadership that are
to redesign the instructional delivery model and the financially sustainable over the long term
design of schoolsis transformative. But public
education is an inflexible, bureaucratic institution How innovative experiments will be balanced
where change tends to be incremental, piecemeal, with systemic approaches
and strongly resisted. This paper discusses how
There is not a singular, right approach to address-
this tension can be addressed strategicallyhow
ing any of these issues. What matters, in this time
systems can create space for innovation while
of unprecedented expectations, is that systems get
pursuing incremental systemic change that removes
started as soon as possible, and that they pursue
the barriers to innovation in differentiated teaching
the work intentionally and strategically, guided by
roles, instructional delivery, and aligned incentives.
an inspiring vision.
It elaborates on strategic issues that school sys-
tems creating new forms of teacher leadership will
have to address as they being the work. Among the
issues:
iv The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program

FINDING A NEW WAY:
Introduction and the opportunities are one and the same: raise
teaching quality, rethink the organization of instruc-
Most teachers, no matter how skilled or experi- tion and the job of teaching, and make teaching a
enced, have basically the exact same job, and are compelling career that can compete for and retain
treated the same. Exceptional work has not resulted top talent.
in meaningful rewards and for a long time was not
even identifiable. When districts compensate teach- It is very difficult for one teacher to create differenti-
ers based on years of service and credits earned, ated, rigorous learning experiences for a classroom
which have little to no connection to effectiveness, of 30 students who possess a wide range of knowl-
instead of improved student learning, they send a edge and skillsparticularly in ways that help them
confusing message about what matters most and meet the high cognitive demands of the Common
provide little opportunity for career growth or rec- Core. Specialization, which is rare now in elemen-
ognition of excellence, two things important to high tary and even some middle schools, could allow
performers.1 When districts fail to use high-perform- teachers to master and thus help students master
ing teachers to support their colleagues growth and specific curriculum areas. Technology might be
development, administrators and coaches remain used to deliver basic lessons so that teachers can
overburdened, and teachersas well as many stu- focus their efforts on complex instruction, where
dentsare left lacking individualized support. When their skills and expertise are most needed. In such a
systems dont put the best teachers in front of the system, the most effective teachers could be given
greatest number of students or the student with the the most students to teach. And teachers might be
greatest learning needs, they miss a huge opportu- given more time away from students. Teachers in
nity to increase teaching impact. the United States spend 80 percent of their work-
day directly interacting with students, compared to
In all, school systems tend to graft new teacher 60 percent in other industrialized countries.2 That
leadership roles and compensation strategies onto leaves them less time to analyze data, plan instruc-
old systems in ways that fall far short of meaning- tion, and collaborate with colleagues, all activities
ful transformation and are unsustainable in the long that research ties to improvement in instruction and
term. Thus they have trouble recruiting and retaining student outcomes.3
smart, high-achieving young adults. The job is per-
ceived as low-status, excellent performance is not
recognized, the working conditions are unsatisfying, The Opportunity
and opportunities for greater impact and advance-
ment are limited. Through new forms of teacher leadership, we may
be able to transform students learning experiences
The Common Core State Standards give us a and teachers work experiences. This requires
compelling reason and unequaled opportunity to a strategic approach that integrates evaluation
remake the teaching profession. Ensuring that every systems that differentiate teacher performance and
child in the United States meets the expectations prioritize growth and development, enhanced career
of the Common Core State Standards requires a options for top performers early in their careers,
Herculean effort, as well as fundamental changes distributed leadership in schools, compensation
to how teaching is organized and the roles teachers reform, and a reconceptualization of the roles of
play. The standards call for sophisticated thinking, teachers and how instruction is delivered.
and thus sophisticated teaching. The challenges
Finding a New Way: Leveraging Teacher Leadership to Meet Unprecedented Demands 1

The capacity to pursue these reforms, and the need munity focused on planning and improving instruc-
to do so, are both growing. Teacher evaluation sys- tion based on data), providing in-classroom coach-
tems that include multiple measures have improved ing, and evaluating the teachers on the team. In
our ability to identify highly effective teachers. Once England, content-area leads and grade-level chairs
we draw distinctions in teaching quality, we can are middle management positions with explicit lead-
create differentiated, dynamic roles for the most ership responsibilities and specific time allocations
effective teachers to maximize their impact on both and salary increments.
their students and their colleagues. And now that
some school systems and their unions are tackling Another approach might be premised on the theory
what have historically been untouchable compensa- that teachers areas of greatest expertise should
tion structures, pay can be used to greatest effect. For example, a teacher
be aligned to teacher especially effective with struggling readers might
performance and dif- be assigned to focus solely on themand could
The promise lies in ferentiated roles. reach more students in that subject by specializing,
defining the processes particularly if digital learning is part of the process.4
When considered col- Additionally, she might develop a school strategy
that are most critical lectively, these devel- for serving students in need before they reach a
to student learning and opments suggest a point of crisis and train colleagues in literacy skills.
then designing teacher readiness to leverage
teacher leadership and While imagining new roles and delivery systems for
leadership in service of differentiated roles as highly effective teachers will serve students better,
them. the catalyst of a much it will also serve the profession, by making it more
broader transformation appealing, particular to early-career teachers, who
of how instruction is demonstrate strong interest in leadership oppor-
delivered and schools tunities and dynamic career pathways.5 Just as
are organized. The promise lies in defining the important, distributing
processes that are most critical to student learning leadership more broadly
and then designing teacher leadership in service of in schools will ease the
them, rather than defining teacher leadership roles untenable burden on
Reconceptualizing the
first and then figuring out how they can support the todays principals. In
most important work. Form must follow function. the long run, all of this roles of and incentives for
work should be as- teachers, and leveraging
For example, if we believe that well-aligned instruc- sessed by its impact on
tion and differentiated support helps accelerate student achievement, teacher leadership to
learning for all students and that ongoing support which will require the redesign the instructional
and feedback to teachers is critical to their growth sector to develop ways
and development, then a highly effective teacher to measure the causal
delivery model and the
could be given responsibility for the achievement of relationship between design of schools, is
a group of 80 to 100 students. She would be able teacher leadership and transformative work.
to organize students, the model of instructional differentiated roles and
delivery, and staffing to best meet their needs. This student achievement.
might include team teaching, specialization and/or
integrating technology as a teaching tool. This lead Reconceptualizing the
teacher would be responsible for supporting and roles of and incentives for teachers, and leverag-
supervising the teachers on her team. ing teacher leadership to redesign the instructional
delivery model and the design of schools, is trans-
If we believe learning increases when teachers formative work. But public education is an inflexible,
collaborate to plan standards-based instruction, bureaucratic institution where change tends to be
improve their pedagogical strategies, and regularly incremental, piecemeal, and strongly resisted. This
assess students to inform instruction, we could tension needs to be addressed strategically. In this
design a teacher leadership role to support this. work, the challenge and the opportunity are the
A highly effective teacher could be given some same: to create space for innovation while pursuing
release time to assume responsibility for leading a incremental systemic change that removes the bar-
grade-level or content-area team (a learning com- riers to innovation in differentiated teaching roles,
2 The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program

instructional delivery, and aligned incentives. Sys- tend to pursue improvement linearly. We tackle one
tems that simultaneously pursue systemic change piece of the puzzle at a time, or we pursue several
and innovation have the best chance of dramatically individual pieces concurrently but separately, with-
improving teaching quality and instructional delivery. out fully considering how to arrange them collec-
tively to maximize their impact.
There are pockets in school systemsinnovation
zones, charter schools, turnaround schoolswhere The school systems highlighted in this paper were
flexibility is permitted, and all of the pieces of the chosen for their commonalities (prioritizing both
puzzle can be tackled using experimentation and teacher quality and teacher leadership) as well
rapid learning to inform and support true transfor- as their differences (centralized vs. decentralized
mation. But while they offer powerful research and approach to teacher leadership, large urban vs.
development opportunities and proof points, they charter vs. international, strong culture of teaming
do not necessarily act to catalyze change through- and collaboration vs. an individualistic orientation).
out a district. With the exception of Singapore, these systems are
at the very beginning of their work in designing and
The work of the system, then, is to identify the in- implementing teacher career pathways that retain
cremental steps that, if taken strategically and with top talent and address critical student learning
a clear understanding of their interconnectedness, needs. They have not done enough in this arena to
can lead to deep and broad transformation. It is have results to measure, but they still have much
hard to think in different and expansive ways when to teach us about the complexities of pursuing this
there are so many systems and structures in place work on the ground.
that impede the sense of possibility. As a result, we
Denver Public Schools

Denver Public School (DPS) introduced a voluntary teacher leadership initiative in the 2010-11 school year.
The goals of the initiative are to address system and school priorities, support teachers to lead their col-
leagues, and build a culture in which teachers own both their schools problems and the solutions.
Principals nominate teachers for these roles, which they hold alongside their full-time teaching responsibili-
ties. Teachers receive an annual $500 stipend and extra hourly pay for work done outside of the school day.
Principals can supplement this at their own discretion. Three years into the work, approximately 500 teach-
ers have assumed leadership roles in 140 schools (out of 162 schools total, including charters), with most
maintaining full-time classroom teaching responsibilities as well.
Currently, the system relies on principals judgment about the critical knowledge, skills, and dispositions
required for success in these roles, and provides the teacher leaders with training and support. Once the
districts teacher growth and development system provides evaluation ratings, starting in 2013-14, these
ratings will be considered in the identification of teacher leaders.
The district defined two required foci for teacher leadership work: supporting DPSs new teacher growth
and development system, called LEAP, and preparing for the implementation of the Common Core stan-
dards. Principals are also invited to identify additional school-specific work they want teacher leaders to
focus on based on their school improvement plans. As a result, the work of DPS teacher leaders is wide-
ranging. It includes observing teachers and giving them formative feedback using the systems teaching
framework, mentoring and coaching new teachers, leading data team discussions, becoming expert in the
new standards and helping develop standards-aligned units with colleagues, and facilitating professional
development in any of the above areas.
DPS training for teacher leaders includes a weeklong summer institute and monthly after-school sessions.
Teacher leaders can choose from five strands of study, based on their needs and the work they lead in their
school: Standards Content Language Arts, Standards Content Mathematics, Leading Teams, Instructional
Coaching and Mentoring, and Student Voice and Engagement.

There has been much discussion in recent years
about how to leverage highly effective teachers WHY TEACHER LEADERS?
to address critical issues impeding student learn-
ing and make teaching a more appealing career, Reasons districts may pursue teacher
including development of Teacher Leader Model leadership include:
Standards.6 But there is little to show for all this
conversation. Yet right now, organizations such Further developing top talent
as Education Resource Strategies7, Public Impact Helping other teachers improve
(through its Opportunity Culture initiative), Leading
Educators8, and Teach Plus9 are pursuing innovative More effectively implementing key pri-
ideas that create an opportunity to focus and accel- orities, like Common Core
erate this work. To support these efforts, this paper Building a pipeline to the principalship
builds on earlier work and lays out a way to think
Distributing leadership in schools
about teacher leadership that supports transforma-
tion both through incremental movement and more Increasing highly effective teachers
aggressive, small-scale direct pursuit. impact on student learning
Making principals span of supervision
manageable
Teacher Leadership: What Do We Want
to Accomplish?
trying recruit and retain top teaching talent. Denver
For the purposes of this paper, teacher leadership
Public Schools is trying to build teacher capacity
is defined as specific roles and responsibilities that
in priority areas, to move from pockets of excel-
recognize the talents of the most effective teach-
lence to a system of excellence. Districts might be
ers and deploy them in service of student learn-
trying to reduce some of the instructional leadership
ing, adult learning and collaboration, and school
burden placed on principals, or increase effective
and system improvement. This definition conjures
teachers reach by putting them in front of more
up images of teachers as innovators, researchers,
students, or more effectively implement the Com-
champions of student learning, leaders of col-
mon Core. These purposes may be intertwined. For
leagues, and policy advocates. The dynamism of
example, focusing teacher leadership on Common
teacher leadership serves as a lever for recruiting
Core implementation allows systems to further de-
and retaining top talent, strengthening the most
velop and tap the skills of teacher leaders in service
effective teachers, helping other teachers improve,
of other teachers learning, which can build long-
distributing leadership, and experimenting with new
term capacity.
ways of organizing instruction so that teaching roles
are differentiated and the teachers with proven abil- The problem(s) a system is trying to solve through
ity reach more students. teacher leadership will vary based on contextits
needs, capacity, culture, support for innovation and
Systems building new teacher leadership models
experimentation, and teacher and union attitudes,
must clearly identify the problems they aim to solve
among other issues.
and define a compelling vision for how this can ac-
celerate student learning and help them recruit and
retain top talent. To problem-solve without a vision Pursuing a Vision
is short-sighted; serially hopping from one problem
to the next fails to fix systemic problems at their Pursuing teacher leadership to solve short-term
roots. At the same time, pursuing a vision without problems allows for the possibility of a longer-term,
solving existing problems doesnt address the un- transformative effect, if the work is driven by a pow-
derlying impediments to true transformation. erful vision of what teacher leadership can realize
and how it can be sustained. That allows teacher
leadership to serve as a driver of systemic improve-
Solving Problems ment and transformation and be a core commit-
ment on which the district organizes rather than just
There are many reasons to develop a comprehen-
another initiative, pursued for a time before being
sive system of teacher leadership (see box). In the
set aside or slowly eroded.
District of Columbia Public Schools, the system is

The vision for teacher leadership and what it can
facilitate can be quite varied across school systems TWO THEORIES OF ACTION
and may include any of the following:
Denver and D.C. have different explanations
A culture of collaboration, shared accountability, for the theories of action underlying their
and continuous improvement among adults teacher leadership systems:
Greater capacity and commitment to differenti- If the Denver Public Schools builds the
ate instruction to meet students needs capacity of its most effective teachers
to lead their colleagues in implementing
Recognition, through status and compensa- school-specific improvement strategies
tion, that excellent teachers can be on par with (aligned to their Unified Improvement Plan),
school leaders then schools across the district will achieve
increased student academic success.
New ways of organizing and delivering instruc-
tion that increase the number of students highly If the District of Columbia Public Schools
effective teachers reach provides high-performing teachers with
opportunities for advancement inside the
Clarifying at the outset both the problems to be classroom, as well as additional responsibil-
solved and the vision to be pursued helps ensure ity and increased recognition and compen-
that teacher leadership supports both. For example, sation, then the system will build its capac-
if we think the problem is our inability to recruit and ity to recruit and retain top talent which will
retain excellent teachers, and we hold a larger vision then lead to dramatically increased student
of effective schools as achievement.
places where teach-
ers collaborate, share
Clarifying at the outset students, work in teams advancement inside the classroom, additional
both the problems and with differentiated roles, responsibilities, and increased recognition and
and hold one another compensation.
the vision helps ensure accountable for student
that teacher leadership learning and contribu- If teacher leadership is going to drive system
tions to the team, our transformation, it needs to be tightly integrated with
supports both. the systems other critical priorities and drivers. For
teacher leadership strat-
egy will address both. example, Denver is focusing teacher leadership on
We will create teacher systemic priorities like Common Core implementa-
leadership opportunities that foster collaboration tion. In addition to curricular and instructional priori-
and mutual accountability, and we will consider how ties, other systemic priorities that can be served by
collaboration can make the job more attractive. teacher leadership include reconceptualizing sup-
port for the lowest-performing schools and students
Developing a theory of action that links the prob- and implementing evaluation systems that support
lems and the vision encourages coherence among teacher growth and development.
the actions to be taken and the outcomes to be
achieved. It gives us a chance to check to see if our
reasoning is sound and to assess the audacity of Early Considerations
what we are trying to achieve. The school systems
School systems creating new forms of teacher lead-
in Denver and Washington, D.C., have the same
ership will need to set up a series of systems and
ultimate goalincreasing student achievement
structures and consider a range of strategic issues.
but their definitions of the problems they are trying
By what criteria will teachers be identified? Will
to solve lead to very different teacher leadership
teachers play a role in determining how to set up
strategies. Denver, concerned with the insufficient
leadership systems? How can teacher leadersand
capacity of teachers to increase student success,
the colleagues they coachbe given the time they
is focused on effective teachers leading their col-
need without breaking the bank? How will districts
leagues in improvement strategies. D.C., concerned
know if teacher leaders are improving student
that it is unable to recruit and retain the best and the
achievement?
brightest teachers, is focused on opportunities for

District of Columbia Public Schools
The Leadership Initiative for Teachers (LIFT) in the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) grows di-
rectly out of the districts teacher evaluation system. Based on their performance on evaluations, teachers
progress through a five-step career ladder that includes recognition through compensation and access to
leadership opportunities. DCPSs goals for LIFT are to retain top performers, reward experience, broaden
recognition, and increase career stability.
Teachers progress through the stagesTeacher, Established Teacher, Advanced Teacher, Distinguished
Teacher, and Expert Teacherthrough a series of highly effective or effective ratings on evaluations. A
teacher can move from the first to the fifth stage in as little as six years, through consistent ratings of highly
effective. Two years of highly effective ratings are required to move through each of the later steps: from
Advanced to Distinguished and from Distinguished to Expert.
DCPSs compensation system is aligned to LIFT; teachers at the Advanced, Distinguished, and Expert stages
earn significantly larger base salary increases. This alignment of the compensation system to performance
and the fact that a teacher can achieve Expert status in six to eight years allows high-performing teachers
with less than a decade of experience to earn salaries previously reserved for longtime teachers with the
greatest accumulation of graduate credits.
LIFT also provides incentives for the most effective teachers in the system to work in the highest-needs
schools. Regardless of what stage of LIFT teachers are at, those with highly effective ratings can accelerate
the pace of increases to their base salaries and earn up to $25,000 in bonuses for teaching a high-stakes
testing grade in a high-poverty, low-performing school. In a low-poverty school, a highly effective teacher
earns only a $3,000 bonus. Three-quarters of DCPS teachers work in high-poverty schools. As a way to ac-
celerate the base salaries of the Advanced, Distinguished, and Expert Teachers among them, DCPS provides
service credits, meaning those teachers are paid as if they had been working in the system for more years.
Teachers at every performance level can pursue leadership opportunities. Some of the opportunities are
available to teachers at any stage of the career ladder, while others are reserved for teachers at the higher
stages. While schools have the autonomy to develop their own leadership opportunities, central office offer-
ings include:
Sitting on the chancellors Teachers Cabinet, a group that meets monthly to provide input on policy
Providing leadership related to the Common Core State Standards and other district curriculum
initiatives
Serving as the point of contact for a schools services to students who are English language learners
or struggling learners
Receiving fellowship, grants, and travel opportunities with external partners
Participating in teacher recruitment and selection
Coaching and mentoring
Organizing monthly meet-ups by content or grade level
The 37 leadership opportunities listed in the LIFT 2012-13 guidebook all require an application, a nomina-
tion by the teachers principal, and/or prerequisite training. Teachers who pursue certain opportunities are
provided additional training. Some of the opportunities pay a stipend, and a few require teachers to leave
full-time classroom teaching.

Identifying Teacher Leaders based on their evaluation ratings. A teachers ability
to move up the career ladder is informed each year
A teachers designation as a leader is a strategic by his or her annual evaluation rating: Teachers des-
matter. In most systems, the argument for teacher ignated effective and highly effective are able to
leadership is that some teachers are more effective move up, while developing or minimally effective
than others and that their talents should be recog- teachers may not.10 At each stage, there are certain
nized, nurtured, and leveraged. For this to happen, leadership opportunities teachers can choose. A
we need to clearly define what these talents are and teachers stage on the career pathway is reassessed
ensure that the teachers who assume leadership every year for teachers at the first two stages of the
roles possess them. Criteria for teacher leaders can career pathway and every other year for teachers at
include earning a strong evaluation rating, building the third, fourth, and fifth stages.
collaboration among colleagues, understanding
adult learning theory and applying it to teaching
other teachers, and possessing high credibility with Creating Capacity
colleagues.
A system can build leadership capacity among
Singapore, a country that recruits and retains a its teaching force in several different ways. The
highly effective teaching workforce and offers approach may change over time as the leadership
a dynamic career pathway, considers teachers work grows and evolves. Capacity-building strate-
current performance and their estimated potential gies include:
when considering them for leadership roles. Leader-
Identifying people who meet the leadership
ship potential is assessed based on feedback from
criteria and providing them ongoing training on
teacher leaders and administrators who work with
content and leadership skills;
teachers; teachers who are thought to have high
leadership potential are given additional train- Integrating leadership competencies into the
ing and support and encouraged to assume more teacher recruitment and screening process so
responsibilities. There that leadership capacity can be considered in
isnt a single right way hiring decisions;
Is a teacher always to approach teacher
leadership criteria, but it Moving teachers and teacher candidates who
a teacher leader is critical that a system have demonstrated leadership right into leader-
once identified, or is pursuing teacher leadership roles, while targeting teachers with high
there some level of ship seeks its own an- potential for skills development in anticipation
swer and communicate of future leadership roles.
performance that must it to teachers and the
be maintained to reaffirm broader community. These strategies are not mutually exclusive, and it
is likely that a school system will enter into teacher
the status? Systems often have to leadership work employing one or more of them
both define the founda- and integrating others over time. The differences
tional criteria any teach- in the strategies relate to the breadth and depth of
er must meet to be considered a teacher leader teacher leadership each builds and the extent to
and the particular criteria required of specific roles, which the system wants to play a significant role in
if different roles are available. The skills needed to building leadership capacity. Each approach has
mentor and coach teachers are quite different from broader implications for hiring practices, resources
those needed to deliver instruction to 100 students, allocation, and the capacity that needs to be built in
deploy and manage colleagues, or oversee digital the human resources and training and development
instruction. departments or outsourced.
Regardless of the way teachers are designated, it is
important to decide the duration of the designation. Defining Roles
Is a teacher always a teacher leader once identified,
or is there some level of performance that must be The roles teacher leaders assume are often defined
maintained to reaffirm the status? In D.C., teachers by systemic needs. To ensure the teacher leader-
are placed on one of five stages of a career pathway ship work serves a transformative vision, there must

also be opportunities to think boldly about what compensation for teacher leadership work to the
teacher leaders might do that would represent a existing pay schedule, at least initially. Denver, for
significant shift. Systems must consider: instance, provides teacher leaders a $500 annual
stipend and hourly pay for work done, which princi-
What is the most important work that needs to pals have the opportunity to enhance.
be done to improve student learning?
It is important that systems allocate funds in a way
How can teacher leaders address these needs? that reflects both what they value and what they
need. Systems need to decide (in consultation with
Is there a set of clearly defined roles or are
the teachers union where applicable) how much they
there broad categories of work into which roles
want to compensate teacher leaders and for what
must fit?
they want to compensate them. They might set a
Whothe system, principals, teachers straight contracted rate for hours worked, a modest
decides what the roles will be? stipend outside of strict union hourly pay guidelines,
or a fixed percentage of the teachers salary. Dis-
Do different roles focus on different skillsfor tricts vary widely in both approaches and amounts;
instance, a role that requires deep curricular pay for mentoring new teachers ranges from $750 in
expertise vs. one that emphasizes leading col- some districts to, in others, 7 percent of annual sal-
leagues vs. one entirely focused on reaching ary (which can total thousands of dollars).
more students?
The question of what systems want to compensate
Do the criteria for different roles vary, or are teacher leaders for adds another level of com-
the same criteria used but weighted in different plexity. Teacher leaders can be compensated for
ways? their performance and/or the additional roles and
responsibilities they assume. D.C. has reoriented its
One challenge confronting virtually every system is compensation system so that it is based on levels
the transition to Common Core standards. There of performance as defined by teacher evaluation,
is no reasonable chance of meeting these expec- which also serves as the gateway to leadership
tations without engaging many more teachers in opportunities. While teachers can earn stipends for
leading this work. Facilitating professional learning, assuming leadership roles, the bulk of their ad-
specializing in difficult and highly valued instruction, ditional compensation is tied to their performance
freeing up time of principals and other administra- evaluation rating and for working in high-poverty,
tors: all these could advance both teacher leader- low-performing schools. D.C. designed its perfor-
ship and Common Core implementation. mance-based pay system within the constraints of
a traditional lockstep salary scale, allowing highly
Another common challenge facing school systems effective teachers to earn annual bonuses and
is the implementation of new teacher evaluation repeat high performers to be accelerated along the
systems that emphasize multiple observations and steps-and-lanes salary scale.
frequent feedback. Evaluations with meaningful and
actionable feedback are a great asset to teachers, In Baltimore City Public Schools, teacher leaders,
especially as they aim to implement the Common called model teachers, receive a salary increase
Core, but they also represent one of the greatest that can exceed $20,000 for successfully complet-
demands on principals time. As it is, employee-to- ing a peer review process. The districts expecta-
evaluator ratios are much greater in education than tion is that once a teacher is designated a model
in the private sector.11 Engaging teacher leaders teacher, he or she takes on some responsibility in
as peer observers and coaches could ameliorate addition to normal teaching duties (though the cen-
the burden on principals and maximize the likeli- tral office does not monitor whether this happens).
hood that evaluation will realize its potential to drive At Green Dot Public Schools, a teachers ability to
teacher growth and development. realize the highest performance rating is contingent
on assuming a leadership role. These approaches
reflect different definitions of teacher leadership and
Compensating Teacher Leaders expectations of teacher leaders. They also have
Most systems with a compensation system based very different financial implications.
on years of service and credits earned simply add

The Intentional Use of Time way that supports the systems overall goals and
vision, addresses specific problems, and nurtures
It takes time for a teacher to do leadership work:
a healthy culture among colleagues. Perhaps the
leading a team, coaching and evaluating staff, build-
greatest tension that exists in differentiating teacher
ing colleagues knowledge and skills around the
roles relates to simultaneously providing leadership
Common Core. Additionally, it takes time to train
opportunities for the highest-performing teachers
and support teacher leaders. In much of the teacher
that tap and further develop their expertise while
leadership work to date, we have not tackled this
also nurturing leadership in all teachers to ensure
issue head-on. Instead, weve layered leadership re-
a culture of efficacy,
sponsibilities on top of full-time teaching loads. That
responsibility, risk-
simultaneously burdens teacher leaders and limits
taking, and continuous
how much they can do and how effective they can Now that teacher
improvement.
bea combination that can ultimately lead to burn-
out. Professional development for teacher leaders Differentiation relates,
evaluation systems bring
is often nonexistent or piecemeal, a few days in the in part, to the extent to to light the fact that
summer followed by monthly afterschool meetings, which a system creates
yet systems expect their work to be transformative. some teachers get better
career pathways. Path-
ways offer a leadership results than others, it is
The teachers who are the focus of teacher lead-
ers efforts also need time. Teachers working with
roadmap, which out- natural to ask whether
lines how teachers can
peer evaluators need time to meet before and after
develop and advance
every teacher, regardless
observations and to visit colleagues to learn from
through the system and of performance, should do
them. Teamwork based on co-planning, co-teach-
may include several the same job.
ing, and close review of student work and data
stops along the way.
takes time, too. The time required of teacher leaders
The education sectors
and the teachers they work with might be afforded
work on developing
through release time during the day, a longer school
career pathways is nascent and is a long way from
day with more time devoted to collaboration, and
providing the opportunities for continuous learning
extending the school year.12 Or it is plausible that
and dynamic work of, say, the medical profession.
net costs would not have to increase at all, given
In medicine, doctors progress through internships
the potential for creative thinking about staffing and
and residencies in which they assume more and
school organization made possible by innovations
more responsibility, working as part of a team under
in instructional technology, school staffing models,
the watchful eye of a more experienced doctor.
and financial modeling. However districts manage
They then often pursue fellowships for deeper study
it, providing the time needed for teacher leader-
and practice. Training is ongoing and embedded in
ship roles would not just help student outcomes
doctors work, and they can pursue one or more of
but would also have valuable implications for the
several pathways, including clinical work, research,
profession, as teachers surveyed often say working
and teaching. (While the medical profession offers
conditions and job satisfaction are just as important
an instructive example, a notable difference is that
as pay.13
the field of medicine is not bound by union negotia-
tions the way the education sector often is.)
Differentiating Among Teachers
As teachers progress along the five stages of D.C.s
Teaching is a profoundly flat profession. The little performance framework, they can pursue additional
differentiation that exists among teachers has his- leadership roles facilitated by the central office,
torically been defined based on what they dothe schools, or external partners; teachers decide
students they teach, the subjects they teachand what roles they are interested in. Achievement First
how long theyve done it. New teacher evaluation Public Charter Schools in the Northeast operate
systems allow differentiation among teachers based on the idea that excellent teaching is leadership;
on how well they do. Teacher leadership efforts their career pathway does not require leaving the
invite us to think expansively about the variety of classroom. Denver initiated its teacher leadership
ways we can differentiate among teachers, poten- work differently. It introduced specific leadership
tially helping schools serve students and support opportunities and invited principals to suggest oth-
adults better. The artistry lies in differentiating in a ers. Then principals nominated teachers for those

roles. This approach is more binary and driven by Now that teacher evaluation systems bring to light
the system and principals: A teacher is either asked the fact that some teachers get better results than
to formally assume leadership or she is not. This others, it is natural to ask whether every teacher,
makes it hard for a teacher to know how she could regardless of performance, should do the same
assume a teacher leadership role if not selected. job. Or should their duties be differentiated, as they
Achievement First Charter Management Organization

Achievement First explains its theory of action regarding human capital as follows:
If we lay out a five-stage career pathway that recognizes excellent teachers and provides them professional
growth opportunities, increased compensation, and recognition then we will provide a meaningful trajec-
tory for teachers who decide to make their long-term career impact from within the classroom, and we will
develop, reward and retain effective educators.
Achievement Firsts teacher career pathway grew out of a desire to recognize the critical role of highly ef-
fective classroom teachers and to provide teachers a trajectory toward exceptional practice that they could
grow through with the support of their supervisors. As the organization describes it, the goals of its path-
way are to increase student achievement, and to develop and retain excellent teachers by:
Celebrating excellence in the teaching profession through recognition and reward

Investing in the ongoing support and development of teachers at all stages of their careers
Setting clear standards for instructional excellence and providing frequent training and feedback to help
teachers learn and grow
Developing schools with strong teams of teachers working together for student success
The focus of the career pathway is on growth and has five stages: Intern, Stage 2 Teacher, Stage 3 Teacher,
Distinguished Teacher, and Master Teacher. Progression from one stage to the next comes with increased
compensation, recognition, and differentiated growth opportunities. The emphasis on growth is evident in
the list of benefits afforded to the Stage 4 and 5 teachers:
Self-directed professional development budget

Participation in a network-wide distinguished/master teacher cohort
Opportunities to observe high-performing schools and teachers regionally or nationally
Preferred access to special professional development experiences
Opportunity to formally partner with Team Teaching and Learning on curriculum and professional
development
Opportunity to serve as a coach and receive coach training
Almost all of the benefits focus on additional professional development and learning opportunities. There
is no emphasis on teachers assuming leadership roles beyond their teaching as they progress through the
career pathway. This reflects Achievement Firsts belief that the greatest leadership a teacher can exercise
rests in the quality of her classroom instruction. It also reflects that AF already has a clear leadership pipe-
line towards school administration. Teachers can assume responsibilities as teacher coaches and grade-level
chairs, academic deans, principals-in-residence, and ultimately principals. People in each of these roles par-
ticipate in role-specific professional development, are part of a cohort group, and receive regular feedback
from their supervisor to support growth and development.

often are in other professions? Can teachers who When the work moves from talk to action, here
are especially effective in the classroom be given again teachers have a critical role to play. They are
responsibility for instructing more students or other the people who have to bridge the reality gap be-
teachers? Does this mean other teachers are given tween central offices good ideas and intentions and
less responsibility? Could teachers in their early the daily realities of classrooms and schools. When
years be given less teaching responsibility, as a teachers partner in this work, they help shape real-
form of apprenticeship? Would this improve and istic, responsive strategies and anticipate the barri-
speed up their chances for meeting the criteria for ers to successful implementation. High-performing
teacher leadership? Likewise, could weaker teach- teachers of different backgrounds and school types
ers be given less classroom time, and build it back should be engaged, so that the response developed
up as they get the necessary support? Delineating addresses a wide range of interests and needs.
teacher leadership allows every school system to
ask these questionswhich will likely raise interest- Effective rollout of a teacher career pathway and
ing dilemmas related to a seeming widespread in- differentiated roles requires careful communication
terest (both in school systems with strong organized to engage all of the teachers who werent involved
labor presence and those without this presence) to in the design. This can be a powerful opportunity for
treat all people in the same employee group simi- learning or a missed opportunity that undercuts the
larly. These questions also highlight the importance entire endeavor. Communication needs to be clear
of developing a teacher leadership system that is and frequent, laying out the vision the system has
flexible and responsive. for teachers and their growth and addressing the
concerns teachers have in the face of changes that
can impact their standing and compensation. Most
Communicating With and Engaging Teachers importantly, it must continually articulate that sup-
porting students and their learning is the core value
Teachers have a critical role to play in developing
undergirding the design.
teacher leadership and career pathways to ensure
we create systemic, sustainable, and scalable
models. Engaging teachers in this conversation and Considerations to Ensure Impact
in shaping the elements of career pathways pro-
vides different perspectives that will undoubtedly
and Sustainability
strengthen the work and ensure it responds to the
School Leadership and School Culture
real needs of students, teachers, and schools. Do-
ing so shows teachers they are valued, invites them Principals, as the keepers of school culture, hold
to dream, and builds engagement and ownership, the key to whether teacher leadership can flour-
which are essential to effective implementation. ish in their buildings. They can support teachers to
develop the leadership
Given how little flexibility teachers have in their skills that can make
current roles, and how much high-potential, high- them unstoppable, or
performing teachers desire more flexibility and they can let potential
autonomy, they would welcome an invitation to Principals, as the keepers
lie fallow. They can
think expansively. They can imagine how they could see teacher leaders as of school culture, hold the
best help their students and contribute to school partners who can relieve
and systemic improvement. Engaging teachers in
key to whether teacher
them from some of their
this conversation can be tricky, of course, if teacher overwhelming responsi- leadership can flourish in
quality is poor to begin with. Dont ask the weak- bilities, or they can see their buildings.
est teachers what would make them stay; ask them as a challenge to
the top talent who you seek to retain, orif there their authority. For this
is not enough top talent to asktalk to teachers reason, systems need
who choose not to work in the system about why to think explicitly about the knowledge, skills, and
they dont. When the system seeks and hears the habits of mind principals need to support teacher
voices of the teachers it most values, those teach- leadership.
ers are more likely to feel valued and inspired, and
it is more likely the leadership work will reflect what To the extent that systems want principals develop-
great teachers want and need. ing and leveraging teacher leadership at the school

level, principals need to deeply understand what Teacher leadership can be made more financially
drives student learning, have a clear-eyed assess- feasible by tying compensation to additional roles
ment of where their schools stand, and be able to and responsibilities that are attached to existing
think creatively about ways to recruit or develop top resource streams, such as federal Title I or Title II
talent to lead this work. They need to understand professional development funds. If a district wants
what motivates high performers and create those enduring sustainability, though, it might need
conditions in their schools. They need to build sys- to make more profound changesfor instance,
tems to support and develop the leadership skills of paying teachers based on leadership roles rather
high performers, hold teachers accountable as they than years of service and credits earned, or using
assume more leadership responsibilities, and think technology-based instructional delivery models
creatively about staffing and the delivery of instruc- that reduce the overall number of teachers, leaving
tion. They need to know how to create and support funds to pay teacher leaders more without expand-
high-functioning teams and develop a schedule that ing overall costs.14
allows for meaningful collaboration. They need to
know how to delineate roles, set clear expectations,
and track progress. And they must be willing to Balancing Innovation and a Systemic Approach
share leadership and management responsibilities Innovation tends to sprout from small-scale experi-
that have historically been their sole purview. ments, many of which happen far from the center of
public school bureaucracies. Systemic improvement
Principals daily behaviors can either support or
happens when the central office creates the struc-
undercut a culture of teacher leadership and col-
tures and systems that support the improvement.
laboration. Do teacher leaders facilitate meetings,
To make meaningful progress in teacher leadership,
or is the principals always the facilitator? Does the
systems must pursue both innovation and systemic
principal hold all teachers accountable for engaging
reform and think strategically about what they hold
with teacher leaders as they are expected to, or is
loose with limited regulation to support innovation
the message communicated that this is optional?
and what they hold tight with clear expectations to
Does the principal measure her own success in part
ensure integrity.
on the success of the teacher leaders in the school,
or does she perceive their efforts to be unrelated to Innovation and experimentation provide the oppor-
her own? tunity to try out ideas, learn from and refine those
efforts, and expand the most promising of them.
As systems embark on teacher leadership work, it
This work creates proof points about how teacher
is essential that they develop strategiesthrough
leadership can be leveraged to provide new ways
professional development, supervision, and evalua-
of organizing instruction to meet all students needs
tionto address the capacity of principals and hold
and to make teaching a dynamic and rewarding ca-
them accountable for supporting this work.
reer. Embedded in the experimentation and innova-
tion are lessons that can inform the more incremen-
Financial Sustainability tal system-wide teacher leadership work. Start-up
and turnaround schools, as well as schools with an
How to afford teacher leadership systems is one extended day, are fertile ground for innovation in
of the thorniest issues in this conversation, but rethinking teaching roles and teacher leadership. As
also one of the most important to address. Build- systems look for opportunities to seed innovation,
ing compensation for teacher leadership on top of the critical criterion is confidence in those leading
existing compensation structures is often the most the effort: school principals, teacher leaders, central
politically feasible way to tackle the issue, but it is office administrators, and others.
not financially sustainable. In a time of constrained
resources, teacher leader compensation should The Boston Public Schools Turnaround Teacher
be organized so that it does not demand any net Teams (T3) provides an example of a small-scale
increase in overall expenditures. Many school experiment that could inform teacher leadership
districts leading the work in teacher leadership are work more broadly. Partnering with Teach Plus,
underwriting their efforts with grant funds. This a nonprofit organization that provides policy
approach either buys districts time to figure out a fellowships for teachers, the district supported
financial model that is sustainable or sets them up highly effective teachers to become turnaround
to hit a dead end when the grant money runs out. leaders and placed them in teams in persistently

Singapore
By Vivien Stewart, Senior Advisor for Education, Asia Society
In less than half a century since its independence in 1965, Singapore has transformed itself from a poor
developing country with no natural resources to a vibrant modern economy and global business leader.
Educationin particular a high-quality teaching and school leadership professionhas been key to its
impressive performance. Since 2000, Singapores students have been consistently high performers on inter-
national assessments.
It wasnt always so. In earlier times, Singapore had significant teacher shortages and low educational qual-
ity, but in the 1990s the Ministry of Education developed a comprehensive plan to attract high-quality
people into education and support them in their work. Over time a series of steps were taken, including
recruiting teachers from the top one-third of academic performers, benchmarking salaries to those of other
college graduates, strengthening teacher training, providing universal induction programs, giving each
teacher 100 hours of professional development a year, publicly recognizing teachers as nation-builders,
and, very importantly, systematically developing career paths that enable teachers to build their skills
and responsibilities over time and that create the capacity for high-quality teaching and learning in every
school.
Talented teachers cannot be expected to stay in the same role for 30 years. To support a dynamic career
path, teachers annual evaluations rate both current performance and current estimated potential. Senior
teachers and administrators who have worked with the teacher contribute to the potential rating, which is
used to identify teachers who should be developed and tapped for additional opportunities and responsi-
bilities. As part of the career pathway strategy, after three years of teaching in Singapore, teachers express
interest in and are assessed for their potential for one of three different career paths: master teacher,
curriculum specialist, or school leader. Progress along each of these paths is supported by a wide range of
professional development and training opportunities and is based on performance. Each step comes with
salary increases; in fact, a master teacher or senior specialist can earn as much as a principal.
Senior teachers play major leadership roles in their schools. They mentor new teachers, observe classrooms,
create model lessons, run professional learning communities, and help teachers develop their annual goals
and professional development plans in the context of the schools strategic plan and their own performance
evaluation. Teacher evaluations, which were developed with input from teachers and are conducted by
senior teachers and principals, are based on a broad range of outcomes, including student development,
teachers professional contribution to the school, and their relationships to communities and parents.
To keep up with the rapidly changing knowledge economy, Singapore has recently been expanding beyond
its traditional strengths in knowledge transmission to incorporate 21st century skills and a wider range
of pedagogies and uses of technology. Senior teachers lead these efforts in their own schools and help to
spread best practices across the system through the Singapore Academy of Teachers. Principals and senior
teachers also scan the globe for best practices and bring them back to Singapore. The trade-off for this in-
tensive focus on professional development is larger class sizes, but Singapore has very low attrition rates of
teachers: 3 percent, compared to almost 50 percent in some parts of the United States at the end of the first
five years. Surveys of Singapore teachers show that they stay in the profession because of decent compen-
sation, positive school cultures with a strong sense of mission, and the wide range of opportunities for pro-
fessional growth and leadership. Teacher leaders play a key role in schools capacity to deliver high-quality
teaching and learning and in the continuous improvement and purposeful innovation ethic that underlies
Singapores high educational performance.

underperforming schools. T3 teachers receive that limit the possibilities of what the system can
ongoing professional development and then do over the longer term. The artistry lies in thinking
train teachers in data and lead them in inquiry- outside of the existing boxes without inadvertently
based discussions about improving instruction creating new boxes that are just as constraining as
and student outcomes. They are paid a $6,000 what they replace.
stipend for this work. So far, schools using T3
teachers as part of a comprehensive turnaround In getting the balance right between innovation and
strategy realized greater student growth than systemic improvement, there is a tension about who
other Massachusetts schools.15 Should the district sets the agenda for the work of teacher leaders.
want to expand or institutionalize this initiative in a Is teacher leadership serving system initiatives,
financially sustainable way, it would likely have to such as implementation of the Common Core? Can
reconceptualize how school resources are spent individual schools create their own forms of teacher
and how teachers are compensated. leadership? Are teachers invited to propose the
types of leadership they want to pursue? Regard-
The systemic work, when done well, creates the less of how a system answers these questions, it
bedrock for system-wide implementation as new is paramount that a shared understanding of the
roles are defined and codified, a career pathway purpose and goals of teacher leadership guides the
is laid out, and compensation is aligned. In D.C., efforts and that they are pursued within a defined
the system has held tight and defined centrally framework to ensure integrity. It is similarly impor-
the stages of the career pathway, the performance tant that the system gathers knowledge about what
levels required to move from one stage to the next, works and what does not.
and the compensation system aligned to these
stages. Conversely, the system has very loose
expectations of what specific work is expected Relating Teacher Leadership Efforts
of teachers whose performance puts them at the to System Culture
higher stages of the career pathway. The system
Teacher leadership has the potential to be a pow-
has identified a series of roles teachers can pursue
erful shaper of culture. A critical decision school
at each stage of the career pathway, but teach-
systems need to make is whether they want the
ers are not required to pursue these roles. The one
teacher leadership work to strengthen an existing
exception to this looseness is the bonuses of up to
culture or to be a dynamic force in changing it. By
$25,000 that teachers at the highest stages of the
thinking explicitly about how to design teacher lead-
career ladder can earn for working in high-needs
ership work to support the desired culture, systems
schools and grades and subjects with high-stakes
position themselves to get the most out of their
tests; the system uses these bonuses to address a
leadership efforts.
critical need.
At Achievement First, the teacher career pathway
In balancing innovation and a systemic approach,
was very carefully designed to reinforce a culture of
the trick is to create maximum flexibility for teach-
tremendous regard for teaching excellence. Before
ers, schools, and the system to support innovation
the pathway was introduced, AF was concerned
in teacher leadership and learn from it before mak-
that the only leadership opportunities available to
ing consequential decisions with long-term implica-
teachers pulled them away from the classroom,
tions. This means not codifying roles, compensa-
where many strong teachers wanted to stay. The
tion, and so on in ways that may restrict the work
career pathway was designed so leaders could
as it evolves towards the systems transformative
stay in the classroom yet be recognized for their
vision. Denver faces this dilemma as it thinks about
excellence and earn salaries comparable to those
integrating its nascent teacher leadership work
of school administrators. In Denver, the early work
with ProComp, the systems collectively bargained
in teacher leadership focuses on creating a culture
compensation system. The district wants schools
of leadership among all teachers, by encouraging
and the system as a whole to have the time and
them to assume leadership and think of themselves
space they need to try different approaches related
as leaders. To do this, the system needed to make
to teacher leadership, learn from them, and then
some leadership opportunities accessible broadly
synthesize the learning to shape future efforts.
and to clearly define what teachers do daily that are
It is concerned about making agreements about
acts of leadership.
specific teacher leadership roles and compensation

Systems that are committed to a culture of continu- focused on rigor, did teacher-assigned tasks and
ous adult learning and collaboration may screen students responses improve discernably?
potential teacher leaders for demonstrated growth
and improvement, curiosity, and interpersonal The use of inquiry and short-cycle improvement
leadership skills to ensure they are able to support efforts allows us to ask (and answer) in real time if
this culture. When systems are trying to establish or were doing a good job and what we can learn to
maintain a culture of experimentation and risk-tak- strengthen our overall approach. When some peer
ing, they will want to provide teachers and principal evaluators charges are realizing significant growth
the opportunity to design leadership roles and a and others are not, what is different about the
way to track learning. coaches practice? The learnings from this inquiry
can then inform peer observers selection criteria
and professional development in an effort to ensure
Evaluation of Teacher Leadership Efforts that they are all able to implement the highest-
impact strategies.
The depth of commitment to teacher leadership
proposed in this paper requires a strong strategy
for evaluating these efforts to ensure that they are Policy Implications
making a clear, positive impact on student learning
and to support mid-course corrections to maxi- The more expansively systems think about teacher
mize impact. This endeavor is complicated by the leadership, the more likely they are to bump up
challenges of drawing a direct correlation between against policy barriers. Most obviously, it is ex-
teacher leadership efforts and student achievement. tremely difficult to innovate in how teachers are
Because so many factors contribute to improved allocated and paid given established salary sched-
results, it is hard to tease out the effects of just one, ules and categorical funding that fixes the number
such as teacher leadership. Furthermore, student of teaching positions. Class-size restrictions make it
results will be measured long after the teacher lead- difficult to use highly effective teachers and technol-
ership work is initiated. For these reasons, evalua- ogy to teach students in larger groups. An admin-
tion of teacher leadership efforts needs to include istrator, not other teachers, is often required to be
formative measures, benchmarks, and the use of the the evaluator of record for teachers. And until state
disciplines of inquiry and improvement science.16 licensure requirements for principals encompass the
knowledge and skills necessary to foster teacher
For example, a district might assess interim prog- leadership, their training programs are unlikely to
ress of a team led by a teacher leader by looking explicitly address them.
at whether structures for collaboration are in place,
whether there are clear expectations for what teach- The first step in confronting policy barriers is to dis-
ers are expected to do together and how their work cern between those that are actually codified poli-
will be assessed, and whether, how, and how often cies and those that just reflect past practices and a
they are reviewing instruction and student work. In timidity to confront them. Overcoming the latter is
developing interim measures, it is essential to ad- mostly a matter of tenacity and courage. For policy
dress both outputs and outcomes. Output mea- barriers that are real, though, the challenge is more
sures are process measures, assessing if things get complicated. School district officials must start a
done. Did the peer evaluator observe a specified conversation with the people who set the constrain-
number of teachers in November and have coaching policies and figure out how to partner with them
ing sessions with each teacher? Is the teacher to address the most serious impediments. Antici-
team meeting twice a week guided by a curriculum, pating and proactively addressing policy issues on
with each meeting following an agenda? Outcome the horizon is similarly important. For example, as
measures examine the impact of the outputs. For teacher leadership degree programs sprout up in
example, when the teacher leader identified an universities, school systems, states, and the federal
area of focus for a colleague during their November government need to discuss the purpose of these
meeting, did that teacher demonstrate improvement programs and the role they want to have relative
in that skill at the next observation? When a team to them, and identify the common knowledge and
skills teacher leaders should possess.

Conclusion of teaching roles), creating time for teachers to lead
(and be led by others), and designing a financial
High-performing organizations are dogged about model that is viable long term. It also lies in creating
nurturing talent and leveraging it to drive organi- the structures, systems, and culture needed at the
zational improvement. The organizations that are school and system level to support teacher leader-
particularly good at this carefully track both high- ship, and building a strategy that both encourages
potential employees and high-performing ones. innovation in teacher leadership and builds incre-
They think intentionally about the career progres- mental systemic change needed to sustain teacher
sion of these employees and incentivize them to leadership in the long term. There is not a single,
both grow their skills and apply them in response right approach. What matters is that systems get
to organizational needs. Managers are assessed started and that they pursue the work intentionally
based on their ability to develop and retain talent, and strategically, learning from their early work (and
and employees know that if they perform well, they that of others), guided by an inspiring vision that
will have opportunities to advance their careers. reaches beyond current roles and responsibilities
for teachers.
The American public education system does
almost none of these things, at its peril. To meet In this time of unprecedented expectations, public
the unprecedented demands facing public educa- education needs a talent development and man-
tion, school systems must strategically pursue agement strategy that enables it to recruit, develop,
teacher leadership as a critical lever. This requires mobilize, and retain the best possible educators.
first establishing a vision for what teacher leader- The need is dire, but it is also exciting, because it
ship can make possible in the system and how it increases the chances that in search of a solution,
can address identified needs. Having established we will rethink roles and responsibilities in ways that
clarity of purpose, the work then lies in establishing transform schooling and educate students more
criteria for teacher leaders, defining the roles avail- effectively.
able (and how they relate to further differentiation

1 Several researchers have found that teacher experience correlates to student achievement only in the first few years of a career. See
Steven G. Rivkin, Eric A. Hanushek, and John F. Kain, Teachers, Schools, and Academic Achievement, Econometrica 73 no. 2,
March 2005.
2 Linda Darling-Hammond, Ruth Chung Wei, and Aletha Andre, How High-Achieving Countries Develop Great Teachers, Stanford
Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, August 2010.
3 Douglas Reeves, High Performance in High Poverty Schoools: 90-90-90 and Beyond, Center for Performance Assessment 20,
2003.
4 See Public Impacts Opportunity Culture work at http://opportunityculture.org/reach for more information on ways of organizing
instruction and teacher leadership roles.
5 Andy Jacob, Elizabeth Vidyarthi, and Kathleen Carroll. The Irreplaceables: Understanding the Real Retention Crisis in Americas
Urban Schools. The New Teacher Project, July 2012.
6 See http://www.teacherleaderstandards.org for more information on the teacher leadership standards and the process of their
development.
7 See http://erstrategies.org for more information on Education Resource Strategies work on building financially sustainable teacher
career pathways.
8 See http://www.leadingeducators.org for more information on Leading Educators work on building the leadership skills of teacher
leaders.
9 See http://www.teachplus.org for more information on Teach Plus work on building teacher leadership and engagement in educa-
tional policy.
10 In order to advance from one stage of the career ladder to the next, teachers must earn a certain number of effective or highly effec-
tive ratings. For example, teachers move from the second stage to the third after earning one highly effective rating or two consecu-
tive effective ratings. Similarly, teachers move from the third stage to the fourth after earning two consecutive highly effective ratings.
11 In the private sector spans of control for managers tends to be 8-10 employees. In public education, principals are often responsible
for the supervision and evaluation of anywhere from 20-40 teachers. See Less is Sometimes Best by Mark Rowh, at http://www.
hreonline.com/HRE/view/story.jhtml?id=150240243 for an explication of managerial spans of control.
12 Extended learning time can either support or exacerbate this problem. It can be a vehicle for rethinking teachers days and sched-
ules and instructional delivery to ensure 60 to 90 minutes of planning time daily, or it can simply increase the time teachers are
expected to teach, making the job harder still.
13 Susan Moore Johnson, Jill Harrison Berg, and Morgaen L. Donaldson. Who Stays in Teaching and Why?: A Review of the Literature
on Teacher Retention. Project on the Next Generation of Teachers, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2005.
14 See Public Impacts Opportunity Culture work at http://opportunityculture.org/reach/pay-teachers-more/ for more information on
these models.
15 In grades 3 to 8, the percent of students in the first cohort of T3 schools earning advanced or proficient status on the MCAS has
increased by 12.8 points in ELA and 16.5 percentage points in math over two years. The improvement of Cohort 2 schools in their
first year is even more impressive, as they have made nearly as much growth in just one year. The percentage of students in the
second cohort of T3 schools achieving advanced or proficient status increased by 11.3 points in ELA and 16.3 points in math.
excerpted from, Closing the Gap: Progress Over Two Years in T3 Schools, TeachPlus, 2013.
16 For a discussion of how improvement science can be applied to initiatives in education, see http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/
improvement-research/approach.
www.aspeninstitute.org/education
EducationInfo@aspeninstitute.org
One Dupont Circle Suite 700 Washington, D.C. 20036
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FINDING A NEW WAY:

Leveraging Teacher Leadership

Copyright 2013 by The Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute

Published in the United States of America in 2013 by The Aspen Institute

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iv The Aspen Institute Education & Society Program

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Denver Public Schools

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Achievement First Charter Management Organization

Celebrating excellence in the teaching profession through recognition and reward

Self-directed professional development budget

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