What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? We here at Scale Strategic Solutions are thankful for the amazing teachers in Ohio’s school districts. Earlier this year Scale partnered with Westat, Inc. to study teacher leadership in Ohio. 

With a goal to expand teacher leadership, the Ohio Department of Education produced resources to help support local school districts, administrators, and teachers in implementing teacher leadership to fit their local context. Scale developed some of the resources based on insights gathered from case studies of Aurora City Schools, Batavia Local Schools, Berea City School District, Mechanicsburg Exempted Village School District, and Wayne Local School District.  

 When Scale visited these districts, we interviewed teachers, administrators and other stakeholders. Our research team reviewed documents and processes related to teacher leadership, allowing us to develop a report on common themes, policies and practices. The key lessons learned about culture and structure for teacher leadership included:

• Leadership is not based on a position or title but rather rooted in attitude and approach.
• Teacher leadership is a complement to administrative leadership.
• A diverse group of teacher leaders should be included in the organization’s leadership.
• Administrator must appropriately design formal teacher leadership roles.
• Districts and schools must structure time for teachers to work and learn together.
• Teachers need a range of modes to showcase their expertise and demonstrate leadership, including formal and informal teacher leadership roles.
• Teacher leaders desire professional development to be stronger organizational leaders.