BC Teacher Leadership

was one of 39 districts approved in the state to participate in the state’s first teacher-leadership (TLC) program through a $50 million legislative appropriation. The vision for teacher leadership at Benton Community is to:

• Foster a culture of collaboration, shared accountability, and continuous improvement among adults.
  
• Developing a greater capacity and commitment to differentiate instruction to meet students’ needs.
  

Five Benton Community teachers are currently in full-time positions during the 2015-16 school year. Two of these positions are a hybrid of curriculum and professional development leadership as well as instructional coaching. The other three positions are full-time Instructional Coaches within the district. Seventeen classroom teachers are currently serving as model teachers. These positions remain in the classroom full-time, as well as work with beginning and career teachers to model effective teaching strategies or lend advice in extending learning of a concept in conjunction with Instructional Coaches.

The program gives teachers a new career path opportunity in which they coach their peers to improve instruction. TLC allows teachers to work in greater collaboration with colleagues and learn from each other instead of operating largely in isolation in their classrooms. The underpinning concept of the legislation is that when students engage with great teachers, their education improves.

Every 30 days, we seek formalized feedback from our teachers. Our most current feedback shows that 86% of our teachers are willing to work with our Teacher Leaders in an Instructional Coaching relationship.

#BCTLT works with administration to help teachers learn more by better meeting their individual and system collective needs. With higher expectations for students, it’s no longer realistic for one principal to provide all the instructional leadership in a school. Teacher and principal leadership teams can support the more complex work required to prepare students for a knowledge-based economy.