Although instruction, policy, and association pathways are intertwined, there exists a set of overarching skills that all teacher leaders must develop. An example of an overarching skill is communication. Each of these leaders must be able to create, articulate, and differentiate messages that can engage diverse groups of people and advance systemic changes. The additional ‘overarching’ competencies include: reflective practice, personal effectiveness, interpersonal effectiveness, continued learning and education, group processes, adult learning, and technological facility.
Also in this section:
- Instructional Leadership Competencies
- Association Leadership Competencies
- Policy Leadership Competencies
- Foundational Leadership Competencies
Reflective Practice
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Acknowledge themselves as a teacher leader; also acknowledge leadership areas in need of further growth. • Model strong, reflective instructional and leadership practice. • Understand the role of data and reflective analysis in practice. • Search for purposeful leadership opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom. | • Help to create conditions to encourage reflection among colleagues and administrators. • Engage in leadership opportunities both inside and outside of the classroom. • Reflect on their growth, role, and responsibilities as a teacher leader to bring about change. • Make strategic plans that are informed by data and reflective analysis. | • Encourage a broad and diverse range of stakeholders to reflect deeply on their roles and responsibilities within instruction, policy, association, and other facets of teaching and leading. • Develop and implement strategies and/or policies to promote growth, improvement, and reflection. • Support others in understanding and using data and reflection to drive instructional practice, policy, and organizational decisions. | • Help systems to function with a culture of mindful and meaningful reflection. • Lead the development and implementation of large-scale instructional, policy, and organizational ideas to incorporate growth and reflection. • Lead the collection and analysis of data to support the cultural shift that incorporates the cycle of reflection as a consistent, intentional, and regular practice. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Increase awareness of teacher leadership and growth areas by use of needs assessments, formal surveys, and/or informal surveys. • Serve as a teacher leader both inside and outside of the classroom and/or school. • Engage in targeted professional learning with other teacher leaders. • Improve practice and professional growth by using data analysis or SMART goals. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Work with colleagues to understand and engage in reflective practices. • Use data and reflection to develop strategic plans for growth. • Establish and model norms and expectations for improvement. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Employ a variety of communication methods, such as cognitive coaching cycles, communication logs, emails, and/or conversation maps. • Engage a broad and diverse group of stakeholders to assess and reflect on their role(s) in association, instruction, policy leadership, and decision-making through conversations, journaling, blogs, or other forms of communication. • Help establish policies and procedures to encourage colleagues to become reflective practitioners. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Engage in activities that establish and promote a system-wide culture of growth and reflection. • Use group reflective practice to create and/or adapt a strategic plan for growth and system-wide policy for school, district, and/or state. • Utilize data to develop and implement a systemic cycle of reflection to drive cultural shifts and decision-making about instructional practices and leadership roles. |
Personal Effectiveness
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Understand their leadership style, personal strengths, and passions. • Realize how their personal strengths and leadership style develop collegial trust and credibility. • Explore the opportunities for teacher leadership while accepting the possibility of limitations and adversity. | • Capitalize on their leadership style, personal strengths, and passions. • Engage in ethical practice by developing trust and credibility with others. • Assume teacher leadership roles and respond to adversity with resilience and humility. | • Adapt to situations and build trust and credibility to support lifelong learning in self and with others. • Balance the roles and duties of teacher and teacher leader with other professional responsibilities, including meaningful work with students. • Model resilience and humility in adverse situations. | • Help others define their leadership style, strengths, and passions. • Nurture credible and trusting communities of lifelong learners. • Create new opportunities for teacher leadership. • Engage in strategic, vision-aligned risk-taking to achieve meaningful goals. • Support and advise others on responding to adversity with humility and resilience. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Identify leadership style, strengths, and passions. • Explain how to use leadership style, strengths, and passions to develop trust and credibility with colleagues. • Investigate possible teacher leader roles for future involvement. • Identify potential challenges to development as a teacher leader. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Utilize knowledge of strengths and leadership style to further teacher leadership goals. • Connect strengths and leadership style to credibility, ethical practices, and trust with colleagues. • Overcome adversity in working in teacher leader roles. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Adjust behavior and practice to build credibility and trust. • Prioritize duties of teacher leader with other professional responsibilities. • React with humility when faced with adversity. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Use experiences to explain new learning and growth as a teacher leader to colleagues, stakeholders, and other community members. • Help others to respond appropriately when faced with adversity. • Take strategic risks in achieving higher-level goals. |
Interpersonal Effectiveness
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| •Gain familiarity with skills to support colleagues. • Demonstrate a personal vision for the profession in terms of association, instruction, and policy. | • Seek opportunities to become more effective in supporting colleagues by building trust. • Build critical relationships and create a shared vision intended to promote action based on student needs. | • Serve as support for others by effectively communicating and building empathy, humility, and trust. • Foster interpersonal skills in others. • Encourage and inspire others to take action in a shared vision to benefit students. | • Foster others’ development in their interpersonal effectiveness. • Support others in effectively communicating. • Guide others in helping broad and diverse stakeholders build trusting relationships. • Facilitate others in building and embracing a student-centered vision that expands boundaries. • Mobilize colleagues on a shared, student-centered vision. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Learn techniques for working with colleagues effectively. • Express a vision for the profession in terms of association, instruction, and/or policy. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Demonstrate growth in skills as a teacher leader in supporting colleagues. • Create a shared vision based on student needs. • Develop strong relationships with colleagues based on mutual trust and a shared vision for student learning. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Communicate effectively with colleagues to build empathy, humility, and trust—and a shared community for student benefit through emails, videos, and/or personal narratives. • Lead discussion to identify and define a shared vision. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Create a tool and/or procedure to help others assess interpersonal effectiveness. • Help others to identify areas for growth and personal development. • Facilitate a support system for effective collegial communication. • Plan, organize, and host events aimed to share a student-centered vision. • Facilitate and/or train others in activities designed to build empathy, humility, and trust. |
Communication
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Acknowledge the challenges of successful teaching and learning, and willingly address and meet those needs. • Share messages to inspire others. | • Articulate the message that meaningful student centered goals are worthwhile and identify thoughtful approaches to address systemic needs. • Craft engaging and/or inspiring messages that are composed with thought and care. | • Effectively deliver messages to advance systemic change and differentiates the message in accordance to the audience. • Use skillful messaging and consistency of focus to identify modes of communication to reach varying audiences. | • Influence other teacher leaders to build their capacity to effectively communicate and powerfully advocate with stakeholders at many levels. • Use communication to navigate and counter multiple, and sometimes, adversarial power structures. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Administer surveys to identify school’s challenges and needs that impact student growth. • Understand school’s challenges and needs that impact teaching and learning and/or system effectiveness. • Communicate to inspire others about a shared vision through various methods. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Share the importance of student-centered goals in instruction, policy, association, and through social media. • Communicate via print or visual media to a broad and diverse audience to pursue positive change in accordance to the shared vision. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Prepare and present an effective personal narrative and/or written article tailored to various audiences. • Embody a strong passion for the shared vision and consistently convey it in a variety of messaging methods. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Serve on a panel discussion as a moderator or a participant and/or offer instruction in a workshop or webinar. • Enable others to effectively communicate to multiple audiences through facilitation of a panel discussion, a seminar, or a workshop. • Navigate the system for effective change by hosting a blog or other public communication. • Enable others to advocate for the shared vision. |
Continuing Learning and Education
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Create meaningful professional learning goals and find resources to meet those goals. • Read scholarly journals and other publications and share experiences in various venues. • Identify relevant developments in, instruction, policy, and/or association issues and/or concerns. | • Participate in learning opportunities outside of familiar contexts, including higher education and/or advanced professional learning to meet professional goals. • Engage in collegial discussion about their experiences based on best practice research. • Share new ideas with colleagues based on research analysis and readings from professional resources. • Attend events to learn about the issues being advanced. | • Design learning opportunities for others and themself around shared professional learning goals, including both job-embedded professional development and outside activities such as higher education. • Participate in research projects, seek publication in scholarly journals, and/or find new media venues for teacher leaders to share their experiences and knowledge. • Lead sessions at conferences and events addressing association, instruction, and/or policy issues and/or concerns. | • Lead continuing education programs for fellow teacher leaders, including higher education courses, large-scale professional development opportunities, and leadership and advocacy for professional learning. • Present their research at major events and conferences, regularly contribute to scholarly publications, and/or design new ways for fellow teacher leaders to reach and teach a broader audience. • Organize learning events and include other teacher leaders as presenters for their association and instructional leaders, and/or for policymakers and other stakeholders. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Identify and locate resources to further professional learning goals. • Explore professional publications. • Share experiences via social media platforms and/or other venues. • Know relevant issues in instruction, policy, association, and learning. • Join professional organizations. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Pursue professional learning. • Read and share what they have learned with others. • Utilize existing research by sharing and applying its ideas to their practice. • Participate in educational convenings such as professional conventions, association conferences, and/or policy forums to improve their practice in terms of instruction, policy, and association regarding education concerns and issues. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Design learning opportunities for others aligned to professional learning goals. • Create learning for others by utilizing job-embedded professional learning strategies as well as activities outside their school. • Conduct and participate in research and share outcomes. • Seek opportunities to share teacher leader voices. • Apply to present at conventions or to lead conference sessions, workshops, and/or panels. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Design and deliver professional development for other teacher leaders. • Teach at the higher levels of education. • Share personal research through conferences, journals, and other venues. • Assist other teacher leaders to design and deliver professional learning. • Plan and implement conferences, panels, or other gatherings to provide opportunities to other teachers leaders to share their expertise. • Engage policymakers and other stakeholders in discourse about education and engage other teacher leaders in these conversations. |
Group Processes
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Contribute and participate in group meetings, and learning opportunities and/or events. • Understand the roles of learning opportunities for teacher leadership. • Engage in work with others with an open, unbiased mind-set, and a respect for diversity. | • Understand the fundamentals of leading group dynamics. • Navigate difficult situations while respecting diversity of opinion and styles. | • Manage group dynamics with proficiency and effectiveness. • Guide groups through challenges, conflicts, controversy, and adversity. • Apply an understanding of the contribution of diversity to group work. | • Mentor group leaders to skillfully manage group dynamics. • Create new groups or use existing groups and facilitate those groups to overcome challenges and to engage diverse opinions and experiences in order to meet objectives, solve problems, and achieve desired outcomes. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Actively engage in learning groups. • Understand how group processing contributes to teacher leadership. • Value and respect the contributions of all group members. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Examine the role of the leader in group dynamics. • Learn about managing difficult situations and respecting various styles and opinions. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Manage group dynamics. • Mediate group conflict. • Model respect for diversity, and value diversity itself. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Mentor new groups and/or group leaders. • Offer solutions to challenges by actively engaging a group of stakeholders with diverse opinions and experiences in solving problems. • Empower others to lead groups. |
Adult Learning
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Understand the differences in the ways in which adult learners grow professionally. • Respect adult learners’ expertise and value the direct impact they have on student success. | • Build their awareness of adult learning to better understand how to impact colleagues. • Address adult learners’ diverse needs while utilizing their areas of expertise. | • Lead learning activities to enhance the practice of others at various levels of leadership. • Implement adult-learning strategies while utilizing colleagues’ diverse areas of expertise. | • Design and implement new learning opportunities for colleagues, respecting where they are in their practice, while focusing on extending not only their personal and professional growth but also their collective growth. • Develop learning experiences that can be extended and replicated across diverse contexts and communities. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Investigate ways in which adults learn and grow. • Research ways in which adult learning impacts student success. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Apply knowledge of adult learning to interactions with colleagues. • Learn to meet the needs of adult learners to enhance their professional growth. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Lead professional learning activities to enhance the practice of others. • Identify and involve specific colleagues to utilize their unique areas of expertise to positively impact adult learning. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Develop professional learning opportunities for colleagues, targeted to their specific needs and designed to encourage growth. • Design and deliver learning experiences across various contexts and communities that others can replicate for other groups of adult learners. • Empower and enable colleagues to present learning experiences to others. |
Technological Facility
| Emerging | Developing | Performing | Transforming |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Use technology as a tool beyond instruction and for leadership. • Utilize technology to manage professional responsibilities and expand their capacity as a teacher leader. • Use technology for both synchronous and/or asynchronous collaboration. | • Use and explain appropriate technology methods when building networks with stakeholders. • Explore technology innovations to build capacity. • Use technology to collaborate for a shared vision and/or meaningful purpose. • Use technology for both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. | • Demonstrate appropriate use of existing technology to offer learning opportunities for stakeholders to who it would be otherwise inaccessible. • Communicate with a broad and diverse audience through various technological methods. • Incorporate technology innovation into daily practice and share innovations with colleagues. • Use technology to collaborate and facilitate a shared vision and/or a meaningful purpose. • Use technology to engage colleagues in synchronous and asynchronous communication and collaboration. | • Lead technological innovation and transformation to create new forms of and uses for technology as a tool for communicating, advocating, managing, networking, as well as for learning and teaching. • Use innovative virtual environment and show inventiveness in connecting other teacher leaders for change. • Use technology to lead colleagues and support them in development of a shared vision and/or a meaningful purpose. • Use technology to create synchronous and asynchronous communication and collaboration. |
| Evidence Indicators of growth at the emerging stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Utilize technology for both instructional and leadership opportunities. • Use technology tools to manage work and to expand teacher leader capacity. • Collaborate through the use of technology. • Create electronic documents such as e-newsletters, lesson plans, and/or emails. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the developing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Engage in professional collaboration through technology. • Establish networks with stakeholders through the use of technological tools. • Increase knowledge of new technological advancements through online workshops and/or professional conferences. • Collaborate synchronously and asynchronously with colleagues in order to establish a shared vision. • Establish an online professional social media presence. • Create a professional website with narrative contributions, photos, and/or hyperlinks. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the performing stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Model use of current technology to further student learning. • Model use of existing and emerging technology to further student and/or adult learning. • Utilize current technology to reach a broad and diverse audience where a digital divide might exist. • Facilitate collaboration with a broad and diverse audience using existing and emerging technologies in order to further a shared vision. • Expand professional social media to include videos, podcasts, and/or video blogs. | Evidence Indicators of growth at the transforming stage include, but are not limited to, the following evidence: • Create new forms of technology and/or innovate existing technology in order to further teaching and learning. • Connect teacher leaders to affect change by utilizing virtual environments and using other forms of technology. • Research and share information about innovative technology. • Share narratives about technology’s ability to impact change. |