U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. will deliver remarks at the Teach to Lead Teacher Preparation Summit at 4:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 3, in Washington, D.C.
The Summit, hosted by the U.S. Department of Education, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and ASCD will be held on Thursday and Friday, Nov. 3-4, inside the Department's Barnard Auditorium.
King will speak to approximately 150 teachers, principals, and faculty members from teacher preparation programs about their teacher leadership and the importance of teacher preparation programs. Today, King will visit Elkhardt-Thompson Middle School in Richmond, Virginia, to highlight the Richmond Teacher Residency program and the Administration's commitment to strengthening teacher preparation.
This will be the first topical summit of its kind at the Department. Teach to Lead, working in partnership with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the American Association for Colleges of Teacher Education, will focus this unique Summit on leveraging teacher leadership to strengthen teacher preparation programs. Educators from around the country were invited to submit their own teacher leadership ideas and work to collaborate, problem solve, and develop action plans to drive innovation in the teacher preparation space.
Teachers and institutions of higher education (IHEs) will work together to develop an idea, which addresses a current area of growth or problem of practice within their teacher preparation program. The IHE and teachers have partnered to identify a team comprised of 4-5 individuals including: at least one in-service classroom teacher, at least one teacher candidate currently enrolled in the teacher preparation program, and at least one teacher preparation program faculty member. Many teams will also consist of local school district representatives.
Teach to Lead focuses on expanding opportunities for teacher leadership in ways that enhance student learning and make it possible for teachers to stay in the classroom while leading in the profession. The summits are designed to reflect and support collaboration between over 140 supporting organizations, local school districts, teachers' associations and other key leaders on the ground to advance teacher leadership. This past year, the initiative hosted several Teacher Leadership Summits in Baltimore, New Orleans, Minneapolis and Long Beach, California, inviting teachers to bring their ideas to advance teacher leadership, ideally without their need to give up teaching responsibilities, at the school, district, state and national levels.
President Obama's 2017 budget proposal includes $10 million in Teach to Lead Grants, which would build on the success of Teach to Lead by providing direct support for teacher-designed, teacher-led projects implementing innovative strategies with the potential for wider impact on improving student outcomes.
Visit teachtolead.org for information on upcoming summits.