Teacher-Led Professional Learning Principles in an Opportunity Culture

Role Design

Teacher-leader roles adhere to the Opportunity Culture Principles, applied specifically to teacher-leaders responsible for helping other teachers succeed:*

Implementation

• Teacher-leaders receive training in how to lead adults to achieve excellent student outcomes.
• Teacher-leaders work with school leaders to schedule adequate time and assign workspace during the school day to plan and lead professional learning with their teams.
• Teacher-leaders work collaboratively with other teachers, teacher-leaders, and school leaders, seeking input and sharing information openly.
• School leaders collaborate with teacher-leaders to help all teachers learn and succeed at work.
• District leaders ensure that evaluation of teacher-leaders matches each role.

Communication

• District and school leadership communicate directly with the school community about:
  • how teacher-led professional learning is expected to affect student outcomes;
  • the specific job responsibilities of teacher-leaders who assume new roles;
  • how teacher-leaders will be selected, including the job criteria and selection process; and
  • how each teacher-leader’s performance will be evaluated.

*In an Opportunity Culture, some teacher-leader roles are not responsible for development of other teachers, such as teachers who split their time between teaching and designing curricula and assessments, producing video instruction for use by many teachers, advocating for policies that benefit students and teachers, or other “hybrid” roles. These roles are fewer in number than the multi-classroom leader role, which is integral to teacher-led professional learning.