How does a teacher progress along the Career Continuum? The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) considers Board certification as the bridge from Professional Teacher to Teacher/School Leader. When an educator attempts certification, they provide evidence of accomplished teaching, as described in the Architecture of Accomplished Teaching and the standards for each certificate area. Providing a teacher career continuum is a way to achieve improvements in student learning and outcomes in education. Board certification does not represent the pinnacle of a career, but serves as a platform to become leaders in their schools, districts, and the profession. Teacher leaders should model what the Five Core Propositions look like in practice. At the district and state levels, teacher leaders can support other educators at various points in the career continuum. As NBPTS states, the goal is that “every student will learn from accomplished teachers every day.” When you think about Core Proposition 5 and the members of your Professional Learning Community, who are the peers who have helped inspire you to be at the point you are today? Consider all the “leader-like” activities that you have initiated or benefitted from, in both formal and informal roles. Teacher leadership does not have to be formalized or linear, but it should be active and continually evolving. Educators can use peers and current activities to become a valuable member of a learning community and move forward on the career continuum. How? Seek and build partnerships with others in such areas as instructional policy, curriculum design and professional development. Evaluate school progress toward local and state education goals and seek collaboration with instructional specialists to maximize student learning. “Next Steps” to Leadership: · Identify teacher leaders you want to interact with · List all the leadership activities you are currently involved in · Complete a selfassessment to identify your strengths and areas of growth · Develop a plan: where do you want to be in five years? Ten years?
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