State-wide support for teacher leadership: Implementing standards to evaluate teacher leader practices and inform professional growth activities

This project used the improvement-science structure of a 90-Day-Cycle to support the implementation of the NC Teacher Leadership Specialist (TLS) Standards in two County School Districts in North Carolina by providing professional development with facilitated reflection activities and by collecting data regarding the depth and appropriateness of the standards for guiding and evaluating district-specific teacher leadership roles and activities. The outcomes from this project offered NCDPI deeper state-level awareness of district-specific teacher leadership roles by identifying models of teacher leadership practice and existing support structures and assessing the level of alignment between the TLS standards and those practices. The outcomes of this project yielded recommendations to guide the development of statewide resources for supporting teacher leadership, in order to better align them with actual district-level teacher leader roles, as well as identify focus areas for the development of future professional development resources. The narrative concludes with recommendations moving forward in light of new legislative influences on teacher leadership in North Carolina.