Teacher Leader Corps Toolkit

Investing in teacher leaders is a proven strategy for enhancing school culture, promoting collaboration, and ultimately improving student outcomes¹. Building a corps of teacher leaders is a sustainable way to promote teacher leadership while accomplishing your school’s educational technology goals.

What is a Teacher Leader Corps (TLC)?

A TLC is a team of forward-thinking educators who advocate the use of technology to enrich learning experiences. These are passionate teachers who meaningfully integrate technology into their lessons to improve student outcomes while providing additional support to their colleagues, which accelerates change across the school campus. TLC members are not necessarily the tech whizzes of the school. Instead, they are enthusiastic individuals willing to embrace new teaching methodologies, regardless of their prior tech experience, and are open to sharing their learning with their peers.

Why does a school need a TLC?

A TLC can diffuse best practices for Powerful Learning propelled by technology across a school campus, facilitate knowledge-sharing and idea generation, and ultimately impact student learning. TLCs provide leadership opportunities for teachers, fostering a sense of responsibility and investment in their school’s success, which translates into increased motivation and a positive ripple effect throughout the school community². Moreover, providing structures for teacher leaders to collaborate in a joint effort to reach technology-infused goals will have a greater impact on their professional development and on student outcomes than teachers going it alone³.

Cultivating leadership teams is a key component of the Leadership for Digital Transformation domain of Digital Promise’s K-12 Digital Equity Framework.

The phases of building a TLC

Anyone at a school can start a TLC. Typically, a principal, assistant principal, instructional coach, educational technologist, or teacher leader will lead the charge. Building an effective TLC can be broken down into four phases: recruit, onboard, lead, and empower.

• Recruit – Identify who might be open to teacher leadership opportunities through surveys or peer or leader recommendations.
• Onboard – Set up TLC members to be successful through a thoughtful onboarding process that builds enthusiasm and commitment while establishing clear expectations.
• Lead – Guide TLC members to continue building their expertise in technology while encouraging them to begin sharing their knowledge with others.
• Empower – Empower your teacher leaders to lead professional development and encourage those outside the TLC to visit TLC classrooms for model lessons.

What is the TLC Toolkit?

Based on more than a decade of experience with Verizon Innovative Learning Schools, in which TLCs are a core element of a school’s success, the TLC Toolkit was developed to address the growing need for meaningful technology integration in education. The toolkit provides the tools and resources needed to help schools start and sustain a team of teachers who can lead and support their colleagues in integrating technology into the classroom and beyond.

Ready to learn more? Explore our resources on cultivating teacher leadership within your school. Together, let’s create a brighter future for our students.

Do you like what you see? Download this TLC Toolkit 1-pager for editable links to the resources found in the TLC Toolkit.