Blog Post

What if in order to lead teachers and students, you had to become a student again?

John F. Kennedy once said that "leadership and learning are indispensable to each other." These simple words reveal a simple truth: every good school leader must dedicate themselves to a lifetime of learning. By being open to new ideas and innovation, you can provide teachers, students, and principals with the leadership they deserve.

Ready to take your own teacher leadership skills to the next level? Keep reading to discover the best ways to foster leadership!

Active Role in the Hiring Process

One of the most important aspects of teacher leadership is that a good school system needs leadership at multiple levels. This includes the staff and teaching levels.

To make sure that happens, it's important for a good school leader to play an active role in the hiring process.

This means personally reviewing the candidate pool to make sure schools are considering the most outstanding applicants.

Furthermore, you make sure that the hiring committee has the information and other resources they need to make the best decision.

Finally, take new hires under your wing when they first start. They'll appreciate that you invested your time in their career. And they will be more likely to invest themselves in their new role.

Building Community Networks

Some of the best things that school leaders can do for their institutions happen outside the school walls. And that is because the best leaders are heavily involved in community networking.

For example, school leaders should attend major community events like Christmas parades. And they should have membership in local organizations like the Rotary Club. Just keep in mind that wherever you go and whatever you do, you are serving as a representative of the school.

Doing this helps the community trust that you care about them. At the same time, it gives you a better idea of who your diverse community is and what they care about. And you can make sure such diversity is properly embraced and celebrated within the classroom.

Balance Innovation and Proven Practices

Most school leaders understand the importance of innovation. It's why those in educational leadership must stay up-to-date on the latest theories and studies about teaching.

However, to really make innovation work, you must balance what you want the school to try with what the teachers want to try.

Some teachers are understandably burnt out because they have spent years perfecting certain teaching methods. They then have a principal force them to try something new.

And to add insult to injury, some principals want teachers to try dramatically different tactics each year!

Therefore, it's important to get honest feedback from teachers about evolving teaching strategies, policies, and procedures. This improves the likelihood of effective innovation. You can balance new ideas with proven teaching practices, all while securing more "buy-in" from the teachers themselves.

A Better Evaluation System

Speaking of teachers, many of them dread annual evaluations. After all, it's easy for an evaluation to feel like a list of things the teacher has done wrong throughout the year. And nationwide stories of teacher pay being tied to things like test scores and evaluations have left a bad taste in many teachers' mouths.

What strong leaders need to do, then, is to develop an evaluation system that ties clear expectations to the school's mission and values. Such a system should also provide actionable feedback. This lets teachers take steps to remedy any deficits in their performance.

Above all, though, evaluations should also serve as an opportunity to celebrate what the teacher has done right. This positive reinforcement helps shape teachers into more effective school leaders. And it helps administrators keep track of which teachers they would like to spearhead major projects in the future.

Professional Development Opportunities for Teachers

Most schools offer some form of professional development for teachers. Unfortunately, "professional development" is mostly having a speaker talk to the faculty during a teacher workday.

Even if the speaker is very effective, it is hard to get teachers passionate and excited about this kind of "sit and get" professional development.

As long as resources are available,  provide teachers with opportunities to pursue their own professional development. This lets them to seek out the conferences, events, and ideas they are interested in.

Allowing teachers to pursue PD on their terms helps to build trust between the faculty and the administration. It also allows teachers to stay on the cutting-edge of educational strategies as they bring new innovations into the classroom.

More Autonomy at Different Levels

The first rule of effective leadership is that you must learn to delegate. Effective leaders must find ways to provide autonomy to school leaders.

Foster leadership qualities by providing professional development activities. And clearly define the decisions these leaders are responsible for. You must also make sure they understand that you trust the decisions they make.

Doing so will free up some of your own time that you can then dedicate to crafting the "big picture" for your schools. And such delegation will also ensure effective teaching by empowering trusted leaders. Such leaders can make important decisions whenever either problems or opportunities present themselves.

Be Driven By Data

What does effective teaching look like? If you set out to improve school performance, how can you tell if you have succeeded? In order to both define and measure your goals, it's important to rely on data.

Some of this will be data that you are already collecting, including things like test scores. By comparing existing scores against national data, you can develop Key Performance Indicators. For example, improving average test scores by at least 10% in the next academic year.

Such data is also invaluable for determining issues with equity. For example, studying the data may reveal if there are performance gaps in certain student groups.

You can then spearhead particular initiatives in improving test scores among these groups. Remember, though, that the average teacher may not be used to reading and understanding this complex data!

Transform this data into compelling narratives about student performance. This helps teachers see how they can play a role in improving performance.

Be Open to Change

There is often tension between faculty and educational administration.

One of the reasons for this tension is that long-term faculty become accustomed to doing the same things in the same way.

This includes everything from using a preferred LMS to teaching in a specific way.

Administrators, however, understand that change is both necessary and inevitable. Students are growing up in a brand new world full of very unique challenges. School leaders must be open to the kinds of changes that help better prepare students for these challenges.

You may be open to such change, but how can you make teachers open to change? Involve faculty in major decision-making about changes to policy and procedure. This will increase their sense of buy-in and commitment.

And highlight the specific positive impacts of changes these teachers are making to their curriculum in your faculty meetings.

This helps teachers feel seen and appreciated.

Craft a Personal Vision

What separates the strong leaders from the weaker ones? Ultimately, the best school leaders are those who craft their own personal vision for their schools.

Such a vision can and should be informed by researched data, teacher input, student feedback, and more. But at the end of the day, a personal vision should be just that: personal. The best leaders develop compelling visions for how their schools can achieve their full potential.

And when the vision is your own, it's easier for you to both develop and maintain a serious passion for bringing that vision to life. And when others see your passion, they will be that much more committed to helping the school succeed like never before.

Encourage Collaborative Learning

Some students and even teachers may think of "collaborative learning" as more of a buzzword than anything else. But if you truly want to foster amazing teacher leadership, then you must encourage collaborative learning whenever possible.

At the educational level, such collaboration may take many forms. For example, you can create pilot programs that experiment with the effectiveness of co-teaching in the classroom.

And you can also experiment with collaborative programs. This lets students learn about specific aspects of things like British history in one class before reading relevant works of British literature in another class.

At the student level, you should encourage technology that makes collaboration easier. For example, Discord lets students organize themselves into different classes, cohorts, and clubs. And tools like Google Classroom provide a way for students to collaborate on various group projects.

Celebrate Community Diversity

Diversity is another concept that is much more than another buzzword. Every day, our communities become more and more diverse. In order to effectively educate these communities, our schools and classrooms should celebrate that diversity.

This may include lessons regarding different cultures, ethnicities, and religious backgrounds. But it should also include important cultural celebrations, including Black History Month and Pride Month.

Such celebrations are important because they show your students that you value them. And great educational leadership starts by respecting those we are educating.

Lead by Example

Sometimes, the best advice for school leaders is also the simplest. For example, perhaps the single best thing you can do to effect change in your school system is to lead by example.

Leading by example may take many forms. For example, consider teaching lessons each month to different classes. This allows teachers to get important one-on-one time with you while showing students that you're not afraid to come out of your office.

But it's equally important for you to show up to sporting events, awards ceremonies, pep rallies, and other major school events. This sends a simple message to faculty, staff, and students alike: you aren't asking anything of them that you aren't afraid to do yourself!

The Value of Risks

The best teachers eventually tell students something that can seem shocking at the moment. Specifically, that failure is our greatest teacher. While everyone would prefer to be successful all of the time, there is nothing like failure to show us what we did wrong and how we can improve in the future.

And this is a lesson that effective school leaders must embrace. Specifically, good leaders encourage faculty and staff to take risks. This helps give your best employees the encouragement they need to try big ideas they have been afraid to try before now.

Some of these ideas may fail, but you'll be surprised by how many end up succeeding. And regardless of success, encouraging risks brings out the most innovative ideas.

Sticking With It

Our last recommendation for effective teacher leadership is quite simple. Even if you get discouraged, it's important to stick with it. Specifically, you should stay at your post for five or more years.

According to the Learning Policy Institute, it actually takes an average of five years for a new principal to get a school to the performance level they were at before the old principal left. In other words, leaving too soon is the quickest way to disrupt your plans for student success.

On top of that, it will take at least five years for a principal to see the effects of their own institutional changes. So if you still want to make your vision into a reality, you need to stick around to make it happen!

Effective Teacher Leadership Made Easy

Obviously, fostering great teacher leadership is both complex and difficult. But what if it didn't have to be?

Here at CS Partners, we specialize in helping charter schools manage their different areas of operation. And we're here to create a better and more effective educational environment for both students and teachers.

Ready to see what we can do for your own institution? All you have to do is book a discovery call today!