Teachers of the Year Speak Out: Tapping into Teacher Leadership. A SERVE Special Report.

This report presents information from a study of teachers of the year regarding their personal experiences with teacher leadership. It highlights: reasons to promote leadership (e.g., teachers have the most expertise and knowledge of how to improve education for students and can form a critical mass with their peers for positive or negative change within the school); how to recognize teacher leadership (e.g., teachers maintain a constant focus on student learning, lead change, work closely with legislators and policymakers, and provide professional development for other teachers); and what a school would look like with a critical mass of teacher leaders (the school culture would be supportive of teacher leadership within professional learning communities, curriculum and professional development would emphasize improved student learning, shared decision making would be the norm, students would become empowered in their own education, and successful strategies to promote teacher leadership would exist, including networking, leadership development, and time and resources for engaging in learning and leading with colleagues). The report discusses who is responsible for promoting teacher leadership, focusing on the role of university preservice teacher education programs, school principals, school districts, policymakers, and teachers. (Contains 11 references.) (SM)