Recommendation Five:
Teachers should have opportunities not only to advance in teaching, but also to explore and pursue the principalship.

 

Role Group Strategies

Policymakers
Understand, support, and advocate for school restructuring models such as the Teacher Advancement Program, the Denver Professional Compensation Plan, the Douglas County (CO) Outstanding Teacher Program, the New Mexico Three-Tiered Licensure Program  and the Rochester (NY) Career in Teaching Program that create opportunities for advancement within the teaching profession.

District Profile:  A Commitment to Craft, Rochester (N.Y.) City School District Career in Teaching Program
Scarpa, S. (n.d.)  District Administration Magazine.
http://www.districtadministration.com/page.cfm?p=743
The Rochester City School District established a Career in Teaching Program over 16 years ago with the support of the Rochester Teachers’ Association.  This comprehensive overview of the program explains the mentoring and peer review components of the program, as well as the levels that have been created within the teaching profession in Rochester..

Outstanding Teacher Program
Douglas County School System
http://www1.dcsdk12.org/cgi-bin/WebObjects/DCSD.woa/10/wa/staticPage?
wosid=YHatM8nNWmkq3v1tWQDrXg&pageName=hr_lic_PerfPay

The Douglas County School System, just outside of Denver, Colorado, was one of the first school systems in America to adopt a pay for performance plan in the recent wave of school reform.  This website outlines the pay for performance plan and describes the district's Outstanding Teacher Program, in which teachers create portfolios documenting their accomplishments in the classroom.  The detailed descriptions of these portfolios provide schools and communities with adaptable tools to use to improve their own teacher evaluation systems.

Competitive Teacher Pay Structures Tool
The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.  (2001).
http://www.nga.org/center/divisions/1,1188,C_ISSUE_BRIEF%5eD_2701,00.html
This site outlines the history of the pay for performance movement, highlights promising state and local models, and provides advice for policymakers interested in designing pay structures that allow teachers to advance within teaching.

Assessment Criteria Benchmarks
New Mexico Public Education Department.  (2003).
http://www.teachnm.org/pdf/NMTeacherCompetencies.pdf
Many states are working to develop plans that allow for teachers to accept additional responsibility and be rewarded with increased pay while remaining in the classroom.  New Mexico has instituted a program known as the 3-Tiered Licensure System that allows for teachers to advance to master level status.  This document outlines the competencies expected of provisional, professional and master level teachers in each of the 9 performance standards for New Mexico teachers. 

The Road to Teacher Quality
Solmon, L.C. and Firetag, K. (2002, March 20).  EdWeek
http://www.mff.org/newsroom/news.taf?page=314
This article describes the importance of the creation of master and mentor teaching positions and being creative with federal funding to provide for these positions.  Specifically focusing on the expanded funds provided by the No Child Left Behind legislation, strategies are proposed for investing in teacher quality by restructuring the teaching profession.

Teacher Advancement Program
Milken Family Foundation
http://www.mff.org/tap.taf
Recognizing that American schools were failing to attract and retain highly qualified teachers to their classrooms, the Milken Family Foundation developed a program known as the Teacher Advancement Program (TAP) to increase teaching quality in schools.  The program outlines three career positions teachers advance through while staying in the classroom: career, mentor, and master teacher.  It restructures the school day to provide teachers time for professional learning and collaboration and rewards teachers with a performance-based compensation system.  The website describes the program in detail,  lists states with TAP schools, and provides answers to frequently asked questions about the program.

Policymakers
Design programs that attract qualified candidates to the principalship based on an understanding of the reasons that teachers choose to avoid school administration.

D.C. Program Promises Principals Freedom
Archer, J.  (2003, February 12). Edweek.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=22dc.h22
One of the concerns that existing principals often voice about their positions is a lack of control over key areas of school decision-making.  This lack of control, combined with heightened accountability, has kept many teachers from pursuing a career as a principal.  This article from Education Week highlights a principal recruitment and training program initiated in 2003 in Washington, DC designed to lure highly qualified candidates into the principalship with the promise of increased control.  Teachers enrolled in the program would serve as assistant principals while undergoing training, and then go through a two-month apprenticeship, serving as a building’s principal.  If these new candidates can prove that they are able to positively impact student achievement, they will be given more direct control over their schools.

A Rural Strategy for Filling Principalships
Erickson, J.  (2001, November).  The School Administrator.
http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/2001_11/focus_erickson.htm
This article outlines the efforts of rural districts in Montana to recruit and support principal candidates from the teaching ranks.  Called the Montana Principal Internship Program, teachers with leadership potential are identified and then guided through a three-year process during which they serve as principals and earn a degree in school administration.

Beyond the Pipeline:  Getting the Principals We Need, Where They Are Needed Most
Mitgang, L. (2003, June). The Wallace Foundation.
http://www.wallacefoundation.org/WF/KnowledgeCenter/
KnowledgeTopics/EducationLeadership/BeyondThePipeline.htm

While many districts are struggling to find qualified candidates to fill their principal vacancies, there is no shortage of professionals holding administrator certifications.  The problem lies in the fact that many potential candidates are either not interested in the vacancies where they are most needed or have decided not to pursue school leadership positions at all.  This brief explores the need for establishing a balanced set of policies for attracting leadership candidates and ensuring quality leadership for all schools.

Good Principals are the Key to Successful Schools: Six Strategies to Prepare more Good Principals
Bottoms, G., O’Neill, K., Fry, B., and Hill, D.  (2003).  Southern Regional Education Board
http://www.sreb.org/programs/hstw/publications/pubs/03V03_GoodPrincipals.pdf
Based on the belief that good principals are the key to school success, SREB examined the administrator preparation process and identified six practices that increase the quality of principal candidates.  One of the strategies highlighted is moving accomplished teachers into school leadership positions.

NAESP Fact Sheet on the Principal Shortage
National Association of Elementary School Principals (2003). 
http://www.naesp.org/ContentLoad.do?contentId=1097&pageNum=1

This fact sheet from NAESP outlines the nature of the principal shortage.  The document addresses the following questions:  Is there a principal shortage, how long has there been a shortage, why aren’t there enough candidates for these vacancies, and what is being done to ensure that America’s schools will have strong leaders.

The Leadership Mismatch:  An Alternative View
Tallerico, M. and Tingley, S.  (2001, November). The School Administrator
http://www.aasa.org/publications/sa/2001_11/tallerico.htm
While the vast majority of teachers in American schools are women, there are proportionally few in the ranks of the school administrator.  This article details five specific steps that can be taken to remove the barriers that often keep women from moving into school leadership positions.

Policymakers
Continue to support the North Carolina Teachers’ Academy and the Principal Fellows Program, which encourage teacher leadership and fund scholarships for educators interested in pursuing a career in administration.

The North Carolina Principal Fellows Program
http://www.ga.unc.edu/Principal_Fellows/
The North Carolina General Assembly funds two year scholarships for accomplished teachers interested in earning a degree in school administration.  This website describes the Principal Fellows Program; it includes a general overview, information about applying for the program, and answers to frequently asked questions.

The North Carolina Teacher Academy
http://www.ga.unc.edu/NCTA/NCTA/index.htm
Funded by the North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Teacher Academy offers week-long professional development sessions throughout the summer months.  Several of these sessions focus on school leadership.  Teachers are provided with room and board, continuing education credits, and an honorarium of $100 per day for participating.

Policymakers
Continue to support National Board Certification as a method of stratifying the teaching profession.

Virginia School Sees Board-Certified Teachers As Key to Turnaround
Archer, J.  (2001, May 30).Education Week.
http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=38leadboard.h20&keywords=Fairfax
This article describes how National Board Certified Teachers in one Virginia school are taking on leadership roles by providing professional training for their colleagues. The school aims to become a model of how National Board Certified Teachers can help an entire school improve student learning.

Beginning the Journey toward National Board Certification
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. (2003, August 26).
http://www.nbpts.org/candidates/guide/
This guide from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards describes the certificates, standards, and steps involved in the process of National Board Certification.

NBPTS:  Building better teachers
Starr, L.  (2004, April). Education World.
http://www.educationworld.com/a_issues/chat/chat100.shtml
This Education World interview with Joseph A. Aguerrebere Jr., President of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, outlines the process of board certification, as well as the benefits for teachers and students.  It is a brief and informative look at the potential that board certification has for changing teaching and learning in America.

Supporting National Board Certification:  School Board Members
National Board for Professional Teaching Standards
http://www.nbpts.org/iam/board.cfm
This article from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards introduces Board Certification to school board members, detailing the advantages of the program and ways that it can be supported from the policymaker’s position.  It includes a list of incentives being offered to teachers pursuing Board Certification at the state and local level nationwide and a downloadable brochure entitled, “A Distinction that Matters:  What School Board Members Should Know about National Board Certification.”

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