Career Advancement for Teachers Targeted in New Report
On December 12, the National Network of State Teachers of the Year (NNSTOY) and Pearson’s Center for Educator Effectiveness released a research report at an interactive launch event at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.
At the event, a panel of several former teachers of the year joined American Enterprise Institute Resident Scholar Frederick Hess to discuss the conditions necessary to develop sustainable career pathways that might make teaching a more attractive career option for a new generation of educators. The panel also discussed the benefits of teacher preparation resources such as edTPA and the role of educator preparation programs in enhancing teacher leadership roles.
The new report, Creating Sustainable Teacher Career Trajectories: A 21st Century Imperative, highlights the importance of making teaching a more attractive career option for a generation that expects flexibility in the workplace, collaborative work structures, differentiated roles, and compensation systems that recognize performance and differing levels of responsibility.
According to the report, teacher leadership roles must be articulated as part of an overall vision and set of values that accepts and expects teachers to participate in leadership. When new roles are unrelated to a broad vision of teacher participation, leadership positions do not receive the systemic support necessary for success and change. Studies have shown that leadership positions can yield significant personal benefits to those involved. Intellectual and professional growth and decreased isolation are personal gains teachers reported by some in their new leadership roles. Moreover, keeping effective teachers from leaving the classroom is important for many reasons, among them that “replacing an effective teacher typically takes 11 candidates,” according to panelist Catherine Fisk Natale.
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Tags: AACTE in the community, AACTE partner organizations, research, teacher leaders
