Teacher Leadership Initiative

Expectations continue to increase for students and teachers alike, and resources are more readily available than any other time in the history of education. In many ways, teachers are overwhelmed with the enormous amount of responsibilities and tasks placed on their plates. The Teacher Leadership Initiative (TLI) is designed to provide teachers with necessary classroom supports in order to improve student achievement through the empowerment of teachers. Teacher leaders weave together the expectations, resources, and professional development to allow teachers more time and attention to place on where it matters: classroom instruction.

Competencies and Beliefs

Union County teacher leaders believe:

• all students can learn.
• all teachers can learn.
• one-size-fits-all approaches do not work for children or adults.
• high expectations can result in high achievement.

Union County teacher leaders have the capacity to:

• promote instructional best practices.
• acquire, deconstruct, and deliver curriculum expectations to peers.
• be well versed in data to improve instruction.
• facilitate meaningful and actionable professional development.

Roles and Responsibilities

Academic Tutor

• Coordinates with classroom supports coaches to select students for standards-based remediation. Each school has one tutor per grade level.
• Measures student progress and reports to classroom support coaches on a 4.5 week basis.

Curriculum & Instructional Support Coach

A curriculum leader is an exemplary educator who demonstrates a working knowledge of skills and standards, has a positive rapport with colleagues, and is a lifelong learner.

• Creates common assessments
• Plays active role in data
• Facilitates collaboration with peers
• Provides professional learning opportunities

Classroom Support Coach

A teacher leader is an exemplary educator with at least three years of teaching experience who demonstrates best practices within their classroom and knowledge in using data to promote student learning.

• Conducts monthly professional learning communities (PLC) meetings
• Mentors new teachers
• Plays active role in data
• Monitors academic tutors

Digital Learning Support Coach

A technology leader is an exemplary educator with knowledge of assessment and various technology-related programs. These leaders have a good rapport with colleagues and demonstrate effective use of technology within the classroom.

• Conducts technology-specific professional learning
• Facilitates building-level assessment practice
• Meets monthly to build technology professional learning curriculum

Cost & Sustainability

In order to provide the necessary support for increased rigor in regards to standards and assessments, Union County Schools has dedicated the majority of its allotment of state differentiated pay plan funds toward building a strong teacher leader program. The program, in its second year in 2015-16, has provided school- and district-level successes. Union County currently funds a total of 75 positions for a total of $127,080. The district continues to use state allotted differentiated pay funds to continue this program. The number of positions and terms of positions may vary depending on state allotments.