Page 12 - EdViewptsSpring2019-web

sional atmosphere that encourages all ship has grown to involve the mobiliz-
educators to take strategic risks within ing and energizing of others to meet The NJDOE and various
their instruction while understanding imperative goals of continuous school statewide educational
that there is support from colleagues improvement (Brown et. al, 2018). organizations have be-
and administration. Teacher leaders, through their in- gun to further promote

Using CAR to Promote volvement with CAR, take on a new, the development and
comprehensive role to cultivate profes-
Teacher Leaders sional learning, promote meaningful utilization of teacher
As an educational leader, principals conversations about student learning, leaders over the past
are challenged with overseeing mul- and facilitate the overall CAR process
tiple facets of their school environment within their collaborative team of fellow few years. Teachers are
each of which impact student success. educators. Multiple accounts of re- able to flourish through
Michael Fullan is one of the strongest search have demonstrated the impor-
proponents of principals as a leader tance of teacher leadership along with their involvement in the
of learning. Fullen (2014) argues that a supportive school administrative cul- CAR process.
the old paradigm of the “principal as ture. This is done through the use of
the instructional leader” is a recipe professional learning communities to ment of teacher leaders. Theories of
for failure since it simply requires too facilitate teacher collaboration, which distributed leadership highlight how
much and is far too complex for any results in the increase of student out- leadership is spread across an orga-
one person. Instead, he proposes that comes (Stegall and Linton, 2012). nization, how it involves concerted
the principal be a “learning leader - The NJDOE Teacher Leader Advisory action from teachers and school
one who models learning, but also Board (2017) reinforced that teacher administrators, and how it extends be-
shapes the conditions for all to learn leadership creates opportunities yond task delegation to more profound
on a continuous basis”. Over my time for distributed, school and district- levels of collective action. The leader
involved with implementing profes- wide leadership; it allows teachers and the follower are not just associ-
sional learning communities and the a myriad of opportunities to develop ated with traditional roles, but also to
CAR process, the need to empower their own practice and the practices what the problem, task, or situation
teacher leaders within the school has of their colleagues. The NJDOE and dictates, or who has the prerequisite
never been more evident. various statewide educational orga- knowledge and skills under particular
While current educational reform nizations have begun to further pro- circumstances. The role of the prin-
promotes the concept of distributed mote the development and utilization cipal and other administrators is still
leadership among school stakehold- of teacher leaders over the past few important, but often in different ways
ers, it is even more evident that years. Teachers are able to flourish (DeMatthews, 2014).
although there are many sources of through their involvement in the CAR The role of the educational leader is
leadership within schools, principals process. Uniquely, it is not just the PLC still important, but has shifted in its
remain the central source in moving facilitators who demonstrate leadership function through the incorporation of
schools forward. Consequently, shifts among their peers, but also a suc- non-traditional leadership styles. The
in leadership design within schools cessful outcome of the CAR process principal can now be often seen as a
have expanded teacher leadership has yielded the promotion of multiple “leadership coach”, providing support
opportunities by redefining and re- teacher leaders within each PLC in including modeling and professional
fashioning the role of teacher leader- our school. As an example, a single learning opportunities for teacher
ship. Over the years, there have been PLC can incorporate teacher leaders leaders. Personally, my most profound
different waves of how teacher leaders demonstrating competence in a variety impact while present during PLC
have been utilized within the school of the model standards. The facilitator meetings is not necessarily the com-
setting. As education approaches the of the PLC would exemplify the ability munication that I have with all partici-
still undefined third wave, in which the to foster collaborative team to support pants. Rather, it is the debriefing and
role of the teacher leader is emerg- educator development and student learning experiences that I share with
ing, there is an involvement of teacher learning (Domain 1) and the promotion those teacher leaders who facilitate
leaders redeveloping their schools of professional learning for continuous our school’s PLCs. As the educational
as the primary creators and design- improvement (Domain 3), while a data leader of the school, my greatest
ers of school improvement. Teacher specialist among the collaborative team impact is the support that is provided
leaders are seen as those who can could dissect student assessment re- to the teacher leaders, who in turn,
enable their colleagues to improve sults (Domain 5), and another teacher positively impact the entire school and
professional practice by doing things leader would be actively revising the all students.
they would not ordinarily do on their curriculum and instructional methods
own; redesign schools, mentor their that were in practice (Domain 4). Sustaining the CAR Process
colleagues, engage in problem solv- As a school principal, I had to alter The most challenging aspect of institut-
ing, and provide professional growth my view and approach to leadership ing an element of change within an or-
activities. Ultimately teacher leader- resulting in the promotion and engage- ganization is determining mechanisms

Educational Viewpoints -10- Spring 2019