The U.S. Department of Education, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and new third partner ASCD will hold a Teach to Lead Leadership Lab on Friday, Jan. 8, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This Leadership Lab is one in a series convened by Teach to Lead, a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of Education, National Board and ASCD along with over 100 supporting organizations.
The Leadership Lab will provide an opportunity for collaboration among high quality leaders from around the community and state, and encourage participants to make commitments to support the ongoing efforts in Albuquerque to enhance teacher practice. Participants will discuss the Teacher Led PD Using Modeling and Guided Practice (ABQ-NBCT Led Lesson Study) introduced by educators from the Albuquerque Public Schools. This study leverages the knowledge and expertise of National Board certified teachers as leaders to bridge the gap between professional learning and classroom practice. The ABQ-NBCT project seeks to develop anddeepen a shared understanding of how educator leadership provides the strongestpossible educational environment for students and promotes student learning.
The Teach to Lead initiative 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. This past year, the initiative hosted several Teacher Leadership Summits in Louisville, Denver, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Washington state 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.
Following the summits, Teach to Lead has been in contact with summit participants to hear about their progress, and we are pleased to now hold Leadership Labs in a small number of communities across the country. These labs are designed as vehicles for conversations among the team of teachers who developed an idea with community members, local and state education officials, and supporting organizations to further the idea’s implementation.