"The most powerful learning experience of our program has been talking with the cohort of awesome teacher leaders...And feeling like I am not alone...I am not the only one who has felt deflated and exhausted. I feel more motivated and ready to ride into an even brighter future!"
-- Program Participant
Why participate in a Teacher Leadership Certificate Program?
- Expert teachers & leaders are the most significant factor for improving student learning.
- Many accomplished teachers have the desire & capability to provide professional support to their colleagues & prefer to continue working in the classroom rather than becoming administrators.
- few formalized career options provide additional professional growth for teachers.
- The highest-achieving nations make substantial investments in teacher quality.
- Every aspect of school reform – the creation of a more challenging curriculum, the use of more thoughtful assessments, the invention of new model schools and programs – depends on highly-skilled educators.
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The Teacher Leader Model Standards provide the following framework for understanding the seven complimentary domains that commonly constitute the multiple facets of teacher leadership in schools and districts.
- Domain I: Fostering a Collaborative Culture to Support Educator Development and Student Learning
- Domain II: Accessing and Using Research to Improve Practice and Student Learning
- Domain III: Promoting Professional Learning for Continuous Improvement
- Domain IV: Facilitating Improvements in Instruction and Student Learning
- Domain V: Promoting the Use of Assessments and Data for School and District Improvement
- Domain VI: Improving Outreach and Collaboration with Families and Community
- Domain VII: Advocating for Student Learning and the Profession
The Sonoma County Office of Education’s Teacher Leadership Certificate Program is designed to provide teacher leaders with practical, context-specific learning experiences that will develop further competency and expertise in each of the seven domains of the Teacher Leader Model Standards.
Why might a principal or district leader encourage exemplary teachers to participate in the Teacher Leadership Certificate program?
- Teachers who currently play informal or formal leadership roles benefit from both the explicit development of additional skills required by their leadership role as well as the support network of teacher-leader peers provided by the program’s cohort model.
- Administrators may consider encouraging teacher leaders to apply as a school or district team. Colleagues who share the program’s cohort experience are well positioned to collaboratively build skills & expertise that can be amplified and sustained in the school/district context.
- The capstone project experience is developed collaboratively with the teacher leader’s site administrator(s) and grounded in a relevant and compelling problem of practice at the teacher leader’s site.
- SCOE will provide program participants ongoing consultation & personalized coaching support for the successful implementation of the site-specific capstone project in the academic year following the teacher leader’s completion of the Teacher Leader Certificate Program.
