Teacher Leadership
Leadership & Equity Strand
Building Level
Charlotte, NC
Overview
This module highlights a new teacher leadership program in Charlotte, NC; the simulation asks a building-level leadership team to consider teacher leadership and teacher diversity issues together in order to address a chronic districtwide teacher shortage across the district affecting their school in dramatic ways.
Key Skills Developed:
- Models for Teacher Leadership
- Attracting Diverse Teachers
- Strategic Thinking
Related Readings
- Module 103 Teacher Leadership Overview
- Charlotte, N.C.’s Project L.I.F.T.: An Opportunity Culture Case Study (OpportunityCulture.org)
- Teacher Leader Model Standards (TeacherLeaderStandards.org)
Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (ISLLC 2015)
- 1) Mission, Vision, and Core Values
- 3) Equity and Cultural Responsiveness
- 6) Professional Capacity of School Personnel
- 8) Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community
Simulation Experience on June 11, 2016
Teacher Leadership in Charlotte, NC
During the colloquium teams will enter a simulation experience:
Your school, Bay Ridge Middle School, is in danger of being closed by the State Board of Education. Your principal has chosen to fully embrace the Project LIFT model for the upcoming school year and has called this team together to plan for the sweeping changes that adopting Project LIFT will bring to your school. Within your team, you will each take on one role for the duration of the simulation. These are fictitious roles; please bring your past experiences in education and education leadership with you into the role as well as what you have learned about the context in Charlotte, NC.
Simulation Roles
| Principal | You have been the principal of Bay Ridge Middle School for six years, and you see Project LIFT as your last chance to “save” the school before it is closed and replaced with a charter school. You are a “yes and” leader, always eager to embrace and “early adopter” stance when you encounter new ideas and resources. You see Project LIFT as an opportunity to amplify the work of excellent teachers across the school and as an opportunity to recruit more male teachers of color. |
| Assistant Principal | You are the chief implementer of all the principal’s new and old ideas. You tend to advocate for providing more support for staff and to change at a slower, more deliberate pace. |
| Teacher Leader | You are have been teaching at Bay Ridge Middle for four years. Your teaching and collaborative work as a grade team leader have earned you respect from teachers and administrators across the school. You are fully committed to Project LIFT and trust where the principal is leading the school. |
| Teacher Residency Site Director | You are the site director for the new residency program, currently finishing its first pilot year in the district. You have overseen a pilot of 6 resident teachers completing both their MAT and their student teaching at Bay Ridge Middle School through this new residency program. You have worked closely with the principal to design the new Project LIFT model to include resident teachers as a key feature of the teacher leadership model. |
| Building Union Representative & Teacher Leader | You are seen as a leader by your colleagues because you hold the Union Rep position at Bay Ridge. You have always maintained a strong professional working relationship with the school administrators, and you respect both the principal and assistant principal. You have concerns about Project LIFT, regarding how teachers will respond to another teacher acting as their supervisor and regarding your principal’s idea of using Project LIFT to attract teachers from outside of the district. You are concerned about a quota for non-White teachers being created. |
After allocating roles, proceed through the case, making critical leadership decisions to frame the Project LIFT teacher leadership initiative. At the end of your simulation experience, you will be asked to revisit your team’s decision-making process and create a short presentation to summarize your group’s process, decision-making experiences, and learnings for the case.
Registered participants will begin their collaborative multimedia case experience at Teachers College Columbia University on June 11, 2016 (8 am – 12 pm) in Zankel Building 406. [Event Map]
The simulation experience takes the real urban district context as the starting point for participants’ learning experiences. If you are interested in attending any of our colloquium and multimedia case experience sessions this spring hosted by the Urban Education Leaders Collaborative at Teachers College Columbia University, please register through our website.
Future UELC summer sessions will be held on:
- Wednesday-Friday, July 27-29, 2016 – Summer Building Leader Conference with On Point Leadership
