What is a Teacher Leader?

"Teacher leaders" are a hot topic of conversation in education right now. Over the last few years, there has been a sharp rise in the number of workshops, books and articles aimed at developing teacher leaders and deploying them to improve school outcomes.

But what exactly do we mean by a "teacher leader"? What is their role in the school, and how is it different from that of an instructional coach? Are teacher leaders just the latest school improvement fad, or are they an essential part of the fabric of a successful school? Let's take a closer look at how this important role has evolved.

The Evolution of Instructional Leadership in K-12 Schools

Teachers have always been instructional leaders in their own classrooms. But the concept of instructional leadership on a school-wide level has evolved quite a bit over recent years.

The rise of the school accountability movement via No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in the early 2000s, and the more recent passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), has put increased pressure on schools to standardize instruction across classrooms. Today's teachers must work within the framework of grade level standards and high-stakes testing programs designed to ensure that all students master the same core skills and content.

This level of standardization and accountability required more oversight of instruction at both a school and district level. Within the school, this often means asking principals to take on additional instructional leadership responsibilities at the classroom level in addition to their other leadership and management responsibilities.

Many districts have put instructional coaches in place to fulfill the instructional leadership role. Coaches fulfill an important role in analyzing ongoing classroom data and delivering professional development in response to this data. Because they are not responsible for one class of students, many instructional coaches are overloaded with various additional responsibilities coming from the district level as well. Like administrators, they are stretched too thin and are often unavailable to assist classroom teachers on a regular basis.

Three Levels of Instructional Leadership

Many schools now have three levels of instructional leadership, all addressing different needs for the learning community. These include:

• Principals who understand their role as instructional leaders and provide support for coaches, teachers and teacher leaders. These principals value the role of instructional coaches, allowing them to do what they should be doing and not just sending them to meetings so they don't have to pay for subs.

• Instructional coaches who can help teachers understand all of their data and the rigorous standards they are responsible for teaching. Since they don't have classroom responsibilities, they should be able to spend the necessary time to make sure that professional learning is related to the data, is practical in the classroom, and can be used to address the standards instead of just piling on new ideas.

• The teacher leader who knows that her responsibility is to learn new ideas at a deeper level so that when she applies them in her classroom, she uses these new ideas at a rigorous level. She can then share these productive strategies with confidence because she knows they will increase the achievement of her own students and the other students at that grade level.

Teacher Leaders vs. Instructional Coaches

Ideally, a district should have both instructional coaches at every school and teacher leaders at every grade level or content area. Instructional coaches must have the time to analyze classroom data and help teachers implement new programs, strategies and methods in the classroom. Through professional development, active coaching and model lessons, instructional coaches can make a difference at the classroom level. Without classroom responsibilities, they have time to stay on top of emerging practices, dive deeply into research, and vet new ideas to determine which ones will be most beneficial for the school or district.

Instructional coaches are almost always experienced classroom teachers. However, when they take on the coaching role they are removed from the classroom. This means that they are no longer directly applying the knowledge and initiatives they are responsible for imparting to teachers with students of their own. Without classroom application, coaches are removed from an important part of the feedback loop: they no longer have first hand understanding of how students are responding to a new method or program, where potential challenges or misunderstanding arise, or the natural adaptations teachers make to meet the unique needs of their classrooms.

Teacher leaders are, by definition, still in the classroom, providing day-to-day leadership and support for peers informed by their own classroom experience. This makes them different than coaches in important ways. Instead of coming in from the outside to share knowledge or impose district directives, they are providing direct support for their closest peers, informed by their shared classroom experience. In this way they provide the missing link between demonstrating new methods and successfully applying them—a critical part of the learning cycle.

Leading from the Classroom

Teacher leaders commit to developing new skills and applying them in the classroom and then sharing their lessons learned with a close group of peers. When a new initiative is rolled out, these teacher leaders become grade level or subject area experts, providing additional support for colleagues once trainers or coaches have departed. This can happen during regularly scheduled collaboration and planning periods or during time set aside for ongoing professional development.

"Leading from the classroom" gives teacher leaders a number of advantages over other types of instructional leaders.

• Ongoing support: Teacher leaders provide ongoing support to peers long after instructional coaches or outside trainers have moved on to other initiatives. Working within a collaborative team, they have opportunities for both formal and informal daily interaction that helps them better understand the needs of the team.

• Credibility: Teacher leaders have built-in credibility with peers, because they are actually applying the new methods in the classroom themselves. They have a vested interest in making sure new strategies and programs will work because they will be using them with their own students as well.

• Direct insight: Teacher leaders provide critical insight into what's working, what isn't, and what needs to change. They can interface with coaches and curriculum leaders, providing critical insights into classroom needs and realities that can inform decision making around future initiatives.

Building a culture of shared instructional leadership takes more than simply naming a teacher a "leader" in a specific area. Teacher leaders must be given time, support and resources to successfully fulfill their role. School leaders must also create an environment of trust and collaboration among all staff. We'll take a closer look at how school leaders can build great teacher leaders in the next blog.