Learning From the Galileo Experience: Comparing Multidistrict and University-Based Teacher Leader Preparation

• In Event: Roundtable Session 90
  In Roundtable Session: Teacher Leader Model Standards and Teacher Leader Preparation Programs

Abstract

The Masters in Teacher Leadership at Oakland University owes it beginnings to the Galileo Leadership Academy, which has provided intense leadership development since l997 for over 600 teachers from 23 school districts in Southeast Michigan. Founded by a group of concerned superintendents, the Galileo Academy was purposefully designed to push against “notions of leadership grounded in position, power and mandate” (Childs, 2005). By design, districts select teams of teachers to participate in the two-year program, which consists of 14 mini-retreats. Anchored by action research, the curriculum of the Galileo Leadership Academy is guided by four questions: Who am I? Where am I? How do I lead? and What can I do? These questions are addressed through a combined emphasis on exemplary classroom practice, shared forms of leadership and transformative professional development. In addition to growing teacher leaders’ knowledge-base, time is also devoted to helping participants develop their facilitative skills as leaders of change.

Building on the success of the Galileo Leadership Academy, the Masters in Teacher Leadership at Oakland University was initiated in 2008 as a degree-granting teacher leadership program open to teachers outside of the 23-district Galileo Consortium. From the beginning, program developers imagined empowering teachers to become leaders committed to making schools culturally relevant and socially just through supportive learning environments that set and maintain high expectations for all students. Using a cohort-model, the two-year program combines Saturday classes with online discussion and on-site mentorship by program faculty. With action research threaded throughout the program, coursework is developed around three curricular strands: teacher leader’s ability to strengthen performance in their own classroom; teacher leader’s knowledge and ability to support teachers’ efforts to improve student learning; and teacher leader’s ability and influence to build capacity within a school organization. Additional attention is given to developing teacher leaders’ skill with emerging technologies.

In this paper, we examine the development over time of the Galileo Leadership Academy curriculum, which we then contrast with the newer Masters in Teacher Leadership offered at Oakland University. Using the Teacher Leader Model Standards as a framework for analyzing collected curricular materials, we demonstrate how two leadership preparation programs, with distinct formats and content, can still achieve similar aims – teacher leaders who are confident in their classroom expertise and eager to lead change with their colleagues. At the same time, participant interviews highlight the challenge both programs face at preparing teacher leaders for school contexts that may not fully embrace this new role. We conclude by suggesting that individual agency (see Lieberman & Friedrich, 2010) and political acumen are necessary elements of teacher leadership preparation.

Authors

• Cynthia L. Carver, Oakland University

• Caryn M. Wells, Oakland University