The New Teacher Center, partnered with the Carnegie Corporation of New York recently published the first study of its kind, aimed at evaluating the impact and value of school-based leadership roles on educational outcomes for students and schools. The “School Leadership Counts” report examined the survey results of over 1,000,000 educators in over 25,000 schools throughout the United States and found a clear trend – schools with teacher leadership roles serve their students better. It sounds simple, but sadly, most schools currently are not adhering to these now research-proven techniques that empower teachers as leaders.
Future Leaders Incubator is working to support schools and new educators to ensure that there is a plan in place, at every urban school, to allow long-term career trajectories for teacher leadership. We know that teachers are the most important factor to student success, and a great teacher has the ability to make an even bigger impact through leadership opportunities. No, we are not encouraging our new teachers to leave the classroom, rather, as researched by the New Teacher Center (NTC), we are encouraging new teachers to begin thinking about how their role as an excellent teacher can have a bigger impact 3 years from now. Long-term planning, goal-setting, and pathways that allow effective teachers to remain in the classroom while also making a measurable school-wide impact will support achievement for students, and satisfaction and empowerment for their teachers.
The study found:
- Students perform better in schools with the highest levels of instructional and teacher leadership.
- Holding teachers to high instructional standards, providing an effective school improvement team, and fostering a shared vision for the school are all positively correlated with higher student achievement.
- Students learn more when teachers are involved in decision-making and school improvement planning.
- Student potential is limited more in high-poverty schools where there are fewer teacher-leadership opportunities.
Future Leaders Incubator’s Educator Project is working with new educators, helping them to identify their own passions, goals, and how to best maximize their impact before they are even hired as an educator in a new school. We know that “teachers taking on leadership roles is strongly associated with improvements in student achievement.” We also want to work to keep effective teachers in the classroom, while providing a pathway to leadership and a greater impact outside of just the classroom. Aligned to the study by NTC, we think of teacher-leaders as a broad category, as outlined in the report (page 10).
We also know that school-leaders need to think more broadly about how urban schools currently define leadership, the frequency and means by which teachers can take-on leader roles, and how we are selecting teachers that will become the next generation of leaders. This is why we also partner with current school leaders through our Preparatory Leadership Collaborative.
Future Leaders Incubator works with schools, school leaders, and new educators to ensure that all schools will have talented and diverse staffs that will allow students to achieve at their highest potential. FLI is seeking schools, future teachers, and leadership who want to make an impact through a diverse and inclusive model. FLI also provides consultancy services aligned to their programming, and tailored for schools, through a mission-aligned program that ensures that your students are getting teacher leaders, beginning when a new teacher starts working with kids.