How Can Teachers Lead Change from the Classroom?

Learn how to effect change as a teacher. School-wide initiatives can be effective with the support and leadership of teachers.

What are School-wide Initiatives?

Today, the world of education is undergoing significant changes. Old ideas, teaching methods, curriculum, disciplinary actions, expectations, and even evaluations are changing. The goal of all this change is “improvement”.

Such is the setting for many reform strategies in schools called school-wide initiatives. Simply put, these are conscious efforts by a school to ensure that all its students are receiving a certain instruction or opportunity and are able to make the most of it. These programs are comprehensive reform strategies designed to upgrade the entire educational system. Their primary goal is to ensure that all students, particularly those who are low-achieving, demonstrate proficient and advanced levels of achievement on State academic achievement standards.

Role of Teacher Leadership

The role of the teacher is crucial if an initiative is to be implemented effectively and successfully. To start with, teachers must have a consensus about the needs of the school as a whole and must share a vision of what the school wants to achieve. Most importantly, with a shared vision comes commitment towards the initiative and the willingness to go the extra mile that may often be required. Teachers can effect change by their participation in these initiatives.

Here is a look at some specific roles that teachers can play as leaders of school-wide initiatives:

1. Provide Foundational Insight

Teachers have several opportunities every day to understand his/her students’ capacity, motivational level, specific issues, areas that need improvement, etc. Thus, a teacher can provide foundational insight into the needs of the school and areas of instruction or correction that are essential for the students.In order to effectively help steer school-wide initiatives, teachers across grades and subjects can start by sharing their observations with their colleagues.

2. Give Strong Leadership

Teachers can provide strong leadership with clear direction, support and encouragement both in the classroom and at the school level. This entails setting clear priorities, documenting progress and celebrating success, apart from identifying areas of need. You can start by collecting and analyzing multiple forms of data, developing and prioritizing needs and encouraging colleagues to implement effective methods.

3. Work Collaboratively

When creating school-wide initiatives, teachers must make the effort to ensure that colleagues support their vision. There needs to be a consensus among diverse groups of faculty. Fellow instructors should be convinced of the importance of a school-wide initiative and the feasibility of their plan for improvement. Thus, for the sake of effective implementation of school-wide initiatives, it is the role of the teacher to encourage collaborative practices such as co-teaching, peer coaching, and etc.

4. Share the Vision

Teachers need to stay motivated as well as move together in the same direction for the effective implementation of school-wide initiatives. To ensure that this is achieved, each teacher should know and understand the overarching vision so that they can share that vision. A shared vision among teachers contributes immensely to the success of school-wide initiatives.

Like this article for teachers?

Browse the Professional Learning Board COURSE CATALOG to find related online courses for teachers in your state. Professional Learning Board is a leading provider of online professional development classes that teachers use to renew a teaching license or renew a teaching certificate.