Strengthening teaching and learning based on the Teaching as Collective Leadership (TACL) framework: The impact of Enseña por Colombia

• In Event: The impact of developing collective leadership: From student holistic outcomes to systemic change

Proposal

Enseña por Colombia (ExC) is a non-profit organization committed to fostering educational quality in Colombia. As part of the Teach for All network, ExC recruits, selects, trains, and supports exceptional and committed professionals to become teacher leaders (Ecos) in underserved schools. These fellows participate in an intensive and rigorous training and ongoing support program during two years in collective leadership and pedagogy, preparing them to foster significant learning among their students.

In 2022 Teach For All and ExC started working in a collaborative project aimed at studying the impact of making adaptations to ExC’s teacher training and support processes inspired by Teaching as Collective Leadership (TACL). TACL is a new, practical, and locally customizable framework for teachers, coaches, and program designers to develop students as leaders for a better future through collective, constructive, holistic, iterative, and relevant learning experiences. The adaptations involved the development of a new module for teacher training centered in 4 prioritized social and emotional learning (SEL) skills (self-leadership, responsible decision making, relationship abilities and purposeful teamwork), a repository of strategies to foster SEL in the classrooms, and new formats for classroom observation and feedback for teacher support.

This presentation will focus on the answer of the four fundamental research questions of this study:

1. Impact on Teachers: What is the impact of the new teacher training module on the socio-emotional skills and pedagogical practices of Enseña por Colombia (ExC) teachers?
2. Impact on Students: What is the impact of the new module on the academic and socio-emotional learning of ExC students?
3. Overall Impact of ExC: What is the overall impact of ExC on the academic and socio-emotional learning of students?
4. Perception of Impact: What is the perceived impact of the training module from the perspective of the academic community, including principals, teachers, and coordinators?

To address these research questions, the study employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies through the 2024 school year. To estimate the impact of the new training strategy on teachers and students, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted, in which the SEL module was randomly assigned to half of the schools currently reached by ExC. To implement this assignment, the Ecos from the Treatment schools had access to the SEL module materials and received support from their teacher coaches with tools designed for the SEL module. The Ecos from the Control schools received regular support from their teacher coaches and did not have access to the SEL module materials. Moreover, to estimate the effect of ExC on student learning, a Difference-in-Differences with Matching methodology is used using data from the nationwide Saber 11 test and other academic metrics. Finally, qualitative methods such as interviews, focus groups, and classroom observations were utilized to capture the perceived impact of the training module from the perspective of the academic community and external observers.

Author

• Edwin Cuellar, Enseña por Colombia