Thoughts on Transforming Education in Kentucky

Ways for KY Teachers to stay Connected!

By: Karen Handlos

The principal characteristic of teacher leadership is that it is completely informal. Teacher leaders don't gain their authority through an assigned role or position; rather, they earn it through their work with both their students and their colleagues. Teacher leaders play a highly significant role in the work of the school and in school improvement efforts. Precisely because of its informal and voluntary nature, teacher leadership represents the highest level of professionalism. Teacher leaders are not being paid to do their work; they go the extra mile out of a commitment to the students they serve (Danielson 2006).

The Fund presents great opportunities for teachers to become those leaders within their schools and/or districts. We have partnered with The Center for Teaching Quality and Hope Street Group in an effort to build online forums for teachers to share their resources, ideas and expertise across the state.

The Center for Teaching Quality will be working with teacher leaders throughout the state who are interested in sharing and improving their knowledge of the Common Core standards and who would like to engage with other teachers in a virtual community.  This project will focus on Common Core policies and practice, with the end goal of creating a strong network of Kentucky teachers who will be ready to inform district- and state-level planning for effective, integrated implementation of Common Core.  Teachers involved in this project will have the opportunity to engage virtually both in the Collaboratory (www.teachingquality.org) and also through interactive webinars.  Also, teachers will have access to an online "lesson library" containing reflections, teaching materials, unit plans, and videos that showcase Common Core-aligned resources (such as MDC and LDC tools), vetted by National Board Certified teachers.

Hope Street Group recognizes the powerful role that effective teachers play in increasing student success. As a result, their vision is to spread the implementation of relevant and robust teacher evaluation systems that are built with the involvement and input of teachers and accepted by all major stakeholders. Hope Street Group (www.hopestreetgroup.org) has selected several teachers “fellows” across the state to lead in this work. These teacher fellows will take policy to practice with teachers on the ground and virtually, gather feedback from crowd-source convenings, translating into usable recommendations, implementation adjustments or scaling opportunities, and provide expertise to document and disseminate all work efforts.

The Fund encourages all teachers to find ways to elevate their voices, get connected, and transform education in Kentucky!