The Teachers Leading Change certificate focuses on understanding and developing leadership skills that enable teachers to engage effectively in shared leadership and proactively expand their sphere of influence in meaningful ways. A core tenet of the program is that teachers start to or continue to see themselves as leaders, to effectively take on a leadership stance and to do so in a way that feels authentic and builds on each teacher’s own histories and priorities for growth. 

The courses in this certificate provide you with ideas and tools for leading change in a variety of educational spaces, including within district workshops and community networks.

At the end of this certificate, you should:

  • learn ways to cultivate authentic professional learning communities and a school climate that builds upon the strengths and expertise of teachers as leaders;
  • discover ways to facilitate purposeful coaching activities that foster teacher learning; and
  • explore and build upon ways that teacher-led networks support change and engage teachers as knowledge builders and creators.

We strongly encourage students to take the core courses in sequence.

Course Descriptions

Asynchronous Subject Courses (2 Credits Each)

Learn ways to cultivate authentic professional learning communities and a school climate that builds upon the strengths and expertise of teachers as leaders.

Discover and practice ways to facilitate purposeful coaching activities that foster teacher learning. Readings and course activities also expand on notions of “instructional coaching,” exploring ways to deepen and extend the sharing and creating of professional knowledge as a teacher leader, such as by serving as peer facilitator or mentor to new teachers in the profession.

Explore and build upon ways that teacher-led networks support change and engage teachers as knowledge builders and creators. You will delve into the rich history of teachers working together to revitalize their profession and advocate for a more just, humanizing world.

Synchronous Capstone Course (4 Credits)

The overarching goal of this course is to revisit and synthesize concepts, practices and resources from the three previous asynchronous courses in this certificate and to develop a plan of action that addresses a pressing need in public education that builds on participants’ own interests and strengths as well as needs and visions of the school or larger community.