Teacher Leadership Academy

The goal is to infuse teachers with confidence and a mental model of distributed leadership while at the same time incorporating a vision that defaults to teachers as a partner in decision-making as opposed to the I-am-just-a-teacher mentality.

Other resources for supportive guidelines:

• Invest to Lead: How to Structure and Fund Teacher Leader Roles to Earn the Greatest Return: Better Instruction and Increased Student Achievement 

• Unleashing Teacher Leadership: How Formal Teacher Leader Roles Can Improve Instruction

Limit of 35 teachers, based on the book:

Power with Teacher Leaders: Their Roles, Influence, and Impact

Our staff utilizes a diagnostic teaching method which means the academy is constantly evolving to fit the needs of the clients as well as the trends in which education is shifting federally, state-wise and locally. All session’s activities are constructed via protocols while teacher leaders are engaged in kinesthetic movement, utilizing their tactile and interpersonal intelligences.

The Teacher Leadership Academy (TLA) is designed for emerging teacher leaders who serve in various roles within LEAs. The academy focuses on developing and strengthening leadership-based competencies, enabling teacher leaders to positively impact student achievement and promotes collegial professional growth. 

History of TLAs in the region:

Dr. Lizzy Perez has established a variety of TLAs. Most notably and recognized at the state level has been serving as a facilitator of the Alamo Heights ISD TLA for the past nine years. 
In addition, Lizzy formed a rural TLA in Floresville in 2015 which brought together three other districts: La Vernia ISD, Pleasanton ISD, and East Central ISD. 

Also, Dr. Pérez formed a TLA region-wide for three years while serving as a leadership specialist at Education Service Center, Region 20. This academy was open to any teacher across the region which was supported by the teacher leader’s principal throughout its entirety. 
Having been a teacher for ten years and a school administrator for 10 years, Dr. Lizzy Pérez understands the role of teacher leader so well. 

Creating an academy from start to finish is no easy task, but it comes with passion, a safe climate, and an intentional design to align to TEA’s strategic plan. What sets this apart from other academies is that Lizzy gets down to the personhood and is able to bring about authenticity with teacher leaders.

The layout of the academy depends on the needs and requests of the LEA or charter school. The academy can be conducted on six half-days a year, three full-days a year, six full-day Saturdays or three half-day Saturdays; whatever fits the campus or district’s schedule.

The best situation is to have a district cohort (feeder pattern), a campus joins another campus, or a rural school cohort to get more value of the academy’s worth.

Teacher leaders will receive 40-credit hours (CEUs); 24 hours in professional development sessions and approximately 16 hours getting coached by a district or campus leader and working on their Risk-Taking Opportunity (RTO) that starts at the beginning of the year and goes on throughout the year.

What we emphasize in the academy is that teacher leadership does not mean one has to aspire to the principalship. Teacher leaders can grow the campus culture in a variety of ways without ever having to step out of their role as a teacher.

TLA is a year-long program design based on the needs of the district and aligns with the Texas teacher standards and T-TESS Domain 4: Professional Practice and Responsibilities.

Depending on the needs of the teachers, the academy provides interactive scenarios, vignettes, case studies, discussion and reflection. Whereas, we may use the book The Power of Teacher Leaders: Their Role, Influence and Impact as a basis for the work, we also pay direct attention to any needs surround areas like coaching, culture, and non-technical skills.