Teaching As Leadership framework

For nearly two decades we have studied what distinguishes our most effective teachers and have learned that great teachers exhibit many of the characteristics of great leaders in any context. This knowledge forms the basis of the Teaching As Leadership framework, the foundation for how we train and support corps members.

Teach For America has published these findings in the book Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher’s Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap. The book and its accompanying website, www.teachingasleadership.org, serve as a how-to guide for new teachers in low-income communities. They are also a call to action, providing an inspiring affirmation that we can end educational inequity.

The Teaching As Leadership framework includes six leadership principles used by highly-effective teachers:

• Set ambitious goals for student achievement

  Teachers who succeed in leading students in low-income areas to two to four years’ worth of academic progress in a single year set ambitious, measurable goals for where they want their students to be academically at the end of the year. These big goals, when aligned with established learning standards and coupled with effective investment strategies, energize both teachers and students with the motivation and focus they will need to overcome the inevitable obstacles on the path to academic achievement.

• Invest students and their families in working hard to achieve the goals

  The most successful classroom leaders break the cycle of self-fulfilling low expectations that often characterizes their students’ sense of self-worth and perspective on school. These teachers change students’ belief that intelligence is a fixed characteristic and show them that if they work hard enough, they will “get smart.” They maintain high expectations for their students at all times, while still meeting them where they are academically to ensure their students can succeed.

• Plan purposefully to achieve the vision of student success

  To succeed in the challenging environments where the achievement gap is most prevalent, teachers must be strong at backwards planning. They must begin every endeavor, from individual lessons to year-long calendars, with the key questions, “Where are my students now versus where I want them to be?” and “What is the best possible use of time to move them forward?” Highly successful teachers infuse their goal-driven efficiency into every aspect of instruction and classroom management.

• Execute plans with judgment and adjustments to ensure student learning

  Strong classroom leaders are effective executors, making good judgments about when to follow through on their plans and when to adjust them in light of incoming data. They offer their students consistent, caring, demanding leadership, and constantly seek to maximize the time students have to work hard toward their goals.

• Continuously increase effectiveness to accelerate student learning

  Strong leaders are their own toughest critics, constantly seeking ways to improve their skills. Our most successful corps members use data to reflect and improve on their teaching and to ensure that they maximize their impact.

• Work relentlessly to navigate challenges to ensure student achievement

  In many low-income communities, schools with the least capacity serve children with the greatest need. To make significant academic progress with students, highly effective teachers go above and beyond the traditional role of “teacher” and do whatever it takes to lead their students to academic success. Our successful corps members refuse to allow the inevitable challenges that they face to become roadblocks. Instead, they see these as obstacles to be overcome on their path to achieving ambitious goals.

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