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 Tuesday, Dec. 1, in Starkville, Mississippi. 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 85 supporter organizations.
The goal of the Leadership Lab is to share the successes and challenges experienced during the transition to Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District and the impact of consolidation on students, educators and the community. Further, 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 Starkville-Oktibbeha to promote positive school culture and climate through educator leadership. Starkville’s project seeks to develop and deepen a shared understanding of how educator leadership can provide the strongest possible educational environment for students and can result in tangible changes for the community.
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.