Research On The Tennessee Teacher Leader Network Program In America

The concept of teacher leaders originated from the educational reform in the 1980 s in the United States.In recent years,various programs aimed at cultivating teacher leaders have been implemented in various states in the United States.China has also implemented some practical innovations such as famous teachers studios and teacher executive principals,but there are still some problems in the training practice of teachers leaders,such as the limitations of the scope of training objects,the weak sense of teacher leadership,the inadequate degree of social support and so on.Since its implementation in 2013,the Tennessee Teacher Leader Network(TLN)program based on the concept of educational equity,has focused on diverse cultural backgrounds and the needs of diverse learners,implemented shared and innovative cultivation models,effectively combined institutions,schools and other resources,and trained many outstanding teachers.Through thinking and analyzing the practice of teacher leaders training in China,this paper takes the "Teacher Leader Network"(TLN)program as the research object,in order to provide useful enlightenment and reference for teacher leaders training in China.This paper consists of seven parts.In the introduction part,it mainly elaborates the origin of this study,defines the relevant concepts,analyses the research status of teacher leaders training at home and abroad,and clarifies the design of this study.Based on parallel leadership theory,distributed leadership theory and participatory leadership theory,with literature law,comparative law,and case law as the main research methods,the research steps are as follows: First,analyzing the background and formation stage of the TLN;Second,explaining the status of the TLN from the aspects of composition and operation;Third,taking the Robertson County Schools as an example to specifically analyze the status of teacher leaders training practice;Fourth,elaborating and analyzing the characteristics of the program;Fifth,based on the reflection of the problems existing in the practice of teacher leaders training in China,putting forward operational suggestions to improve the training of teacher leaders in order to improve the quality ofteachers in China.The body consists of six parts:The first part points out that Teacher Leader Network(TLN)is jointly implemented by the state and districts to create shared teacher leaders training models,which is influenced by the promulgation of the US Federal Government's Education Policy "Every Student Succeeds Act"(ESSA)and the implementation of Tennessee's "Race to the Top"(RTTT),as well as the internal impetus of teachers' professional development needs,it has gone through three stages: the propaganda and organization of the teacher leader training plan in the early stage,the development of the teacher leader training work in the middle stage,and the improvement of teacher leader training in the later stage.The second part describes the static state of TLN from the aspects of project concept,training content,training methods and guarantee conditions.The programme is based on the concept of training teacher leaders for educational equity and developing multi-shared teacher leaders training model.It sets curriculum content consistent with academic standards,emphasizes the cooperation between state and regions in training teacher leaders,and develops regional-based teacher leaders training models,so as to promote the development of teacher leaders and improve students academic performance.In addition,TLN shares all kinds of resources,such as policy support and financial support from the US federal government and the Tennessee State Government.It is supported by the State Collaborative on Reforming Education(SCORE)and Tennessee Teacher Leader Collaborative(TTLC)and other organizations to promote the development of teacher leaders.The third part describes TLN dynamically from the aspects of implementation preparation,implementation process to implementation effect.TLN has formulated strict registration conditions and professional selection process,clearly assigns the responsibilities of state and regions.Teacher leaders are trained by dividing the roles and responsibilities of teacher leaders,arranging curriculum,leading practices,making self-reflection and supervision and evaluation.The main achievements are the cultivation of a large number of outstanding teachers,the improvement of the performance of primary and secondary school students,and the development of a variety of teacher training models.The fourth part describes the specific practice of Robertson County Schools,and provides an in-depth look at the implementation of the TLN.Robertson County Schoolsadheres to the concept of educational equity.In order to improve students' reading level,it train literacy leaders by setting up reading courses and carrying out leadership practice.The fifth part is to elaborate and analyze the characteristics of the TLN program.The program emphasizes the concept of educational equity,pays attention to the sharing training model,attaches importance to the multi-faceted security system,pays attention to the state and regional cooperation practice methods,and adopts diversified evaluation methods.It has a universal theoretical foundation and has produced a wide range of effectiveness in training teacher leaders.In addition,Tennessee supports the development of teacher leaders and emphasizing the effectiveness of diversified teacher leader training model.The sixth part is based on the reflection on the problems existing in the training practice of teacher leaders in China,and puts forward some suggestions to improve the training practice of teacher leaders in China: changing the traditional concept of minority teacher can lead,emphasizing the expansion of training object;implementing the training model based on teacher leadership,focusing on the flexibility of teacher training model;establishing a pluralistic democratic evaluation system including the dimension of teacher leadership;improve the security system for personnel,materials and funds.