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Teaching teachers to lead: some lessons.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

Programs designed to prepare educational leaders are under increasing pressure to include more authentic, field-based performances as a component of their programs. This paper deals with lessons learned through the design, implementation, and evaluation of a pilot program designed to promote teacher leadership in school improvement. In particular, faculty learned that students have a difficult time negotiating the demands of a performance-based program, and that this shift represented a significant challenge to reculturing the graduate student experience.

Introduction

There is a renewed focus on the role of educational leaders in promoting school improvement (Leithwood & Riehl, 2003; Witziers, Bosker, & Kruger, 2003). In part, this is as a result of pressure placed on schools through high-stakes accountability policies. It is also attributable to the fact that the context for educational leadership has become increasingly complex, and that the role of school principal has changed dramatically. While in the past the principalship was defined mostly in terms of administrative responsibilities, today there is a much greater emphasis on leadership, facilitation, and the ability to enlist stakeholders in student-centered reform (Fullan, 2001; Leithwood & Riehl). Recent literature stresses that school leadership needs to extend beyond the person of the principal, that leadership should be distributed among educators at the school site (Harris, 2003; Spillane, Halverson, & Diamond, 2001). The concept of teacher leadership in school improvement has thus become a hot topic (Crowther, Kaagan, Ferguson & Hann, 2002; Katzenmeyer & Moiler, 2001; Silva, Gimbert, & Nolan, 2000; York-Barr & Duke, 2004: Zepada, Mayers & Benson, 2003). In recognition of the shifting focus toward distributed school leadership, the State of Louisiana recently amended its certification structure to include a new category, Teacher Leader. The state also commissioned several pilot projects to design, implement, and evaluate a teacher leader curriculum leading to eligibility for the new certificate.

The purpose of this paper is to share some lessons learned while enacting one of these pilots, the St. Charles Teacher Leader Institute (TLI). The paper will be presented in two sections: First, the anatomy of the TLI will be described. Second, some lessons learned in the design and implementation of this pilot project will be shared. Issues that seem especially relevant to the redesign of leadership preparation programs will be highlighted, especially those involving the trend toward incorporating more authentic, performance-based learning activities in formal educational programs.

TLI Design

The TLI was a partnership program between the St. Charles Parish Public Schools, local leaders in business and industry, and the College of Education and Human Development at the University of New Orleans. The BellSouth Foundation awarded the St. Charles Parish Schools $50,000 to support this program, which was made available to teachers who were carefully selected based on a multi-stage screening process that assessed their vision of leadership, their promise as teacher leaders, and their eligibility for state certification. In total, 25 students were offered acceptance into the cohort from a pool of 35 applicants, and ultimately, 21 students enrolled.

The program itself attempted to fully integrate the study...

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