The U.S. Department of Education, National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and ASCD will hold the Prince George's County Public Schools Teach to Lead Leadership Lab on Saturday, May 21, in Bowie, Maryland. 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 more than 120 supporter organizations.
The goal of this Leadership Lab is to further develop the innovative idea to form a Teacher Action Committee for Instruction and Student Learning and support the team as they carry out their mission to address the issues of practice in Prince George's County Public Schools. The Educator Board Partners Team—Karuna Skariah, National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT, Team Lead); Lesley Van Bokkem-Boone, NBCT; Yau-Jong Twu, NBCT; and Brandie Cole, Prince Georges County Public Schools Teacher of the Year Finalist—will give a presentation on the proposed committee.
The mission of the committee is to:
- Provide a solution-based platform for dialogue between teachers, the CEO, Central Administration and the Board of Education;
- Help teachers develop a voice regarding instruction and student learning;
- Improve investment from teachers regarding curriculum, instruction, testing, content delivery, student learning and professional development; and
- Confer about ways to strengthen existing teaching and learning to benefit all students.
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. The initiative has hosted Teacher Leadership Summits in Louisville, Denver, Boston, Washington, D.C., Washington state, Baltimore, and New Orleans 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.