The challenge and potential of teacher leadership: an analysis of Teach Plus' Teacher Turnaround Team (T3) Initiative

Abstract

Despite efforts over the past twenty-five years at the federal, state and local level to create formal teacher leadership roles, the responsibilities of teachers in the public school system have remained stubbornly persistent. With few aberrations, the role of a teacher on his/her first day is likely to be very similar to her/his last (Donaldson et al., 2008). Recently, there are signs that this stability may be disrupted; new and diverse teacher leadership roles and career opportunities may be emerging in the sector. One prominent example of teachers taking significant leadership roles is Teach Plus’ Teacher Turnaround Team Initiative (T3). This program recruits, trains, and supports a cohort of effective and experienced teachers to play formal leadership roles within a turnaround school. T3 has a track record of results and is rapidly expanding to cities across the country. Designed as a three-year program, the initial cohort of schools in the first partner district is now ending the formal initiative and Teach Plus is faced with the important question of what type of support, if any, the organization should provide these schools post T3. My strategic project focused on creating a menu of options, in a fee for service model, in which the principals of schools exiting T3 could purchase is they desired to continue a level of partnership after the three year formal initiative ended. This Capstone Paper reviews the knowledge base surrounding teacher leadership with a particular focus on second stage teachers (70% of T3 Teacher Leaders have between 3-10 years experience). I then explain the strategic project in detail and offer an analysis with special attention to three different dimensions: 1) The impact on the specific project to the organization and the reasons for it’s success or failure. 2) The challenge of sustainability to the overall initiative. 3) The technical and adaptive challenges of expanding teacher leadership at scale in the education sector. Reviewing the lessons learned in research and through the project, I suggest that three main components would help shift T3 from a successful entrepreneurial start up to a sustainable approach to reform: 1) Identifying a permanent source of funding. 2) Incorporating principal leadership development into the program design. 3) Developing capacity at the district level to build an on-going system of support. I will also suggest that the T3 initiative has implications on the education sector at large. I argue that the T3 Initiative proves that with the proper support, teacher leadership has the potential to build the collective capacity for school turnarounds; that principal leadership matters and must be intentionally developed; and that scaling T3 requires districts to integrate innovative approaches to developing teacher leadership into the overall strategic human capital management of the district. Finally, I reflect on personal lessons learned and explain how the T3 Initiative reaffirmed my belief that ambitious reform initiatives require comprehensive support, collective ownership, and a plan for sustainability.